Like most once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, it came with a catch: relocation to London, half a world away from the couple's home in Perth.

In an era of global careers, it is the dilemma that countless Australian couples have had to confront: for one person to fulfil their career potential, the other must put their career on the backburner. Rarely, though, is that sacrifice made by the chief executive of a sizeable, high-profile company.

That was the dilemma facing Gaines, who just 14 months earlier at the age of 37, had landed her big break when named chief executive of the Holmes à Court family's flagship company, Heytesbury.

Peter Ker has the full profile here.

Commonwealth Bank in its submission has warned the royal commission to tread carefully with its final recommendations around lending or risk a massive transfer of responsibility from borrowers to lenders.

"[Which will make it] less likely that credit will be made available by the larger financial institutions or be higher priced, which will inadvertently push lending into the unregulated shadows of the financial services system," the bank says.

James Frost has the full story here.

LendLease is weighing 5.3 points from the index with a 14 per cent loss. South32 is the only other share weighing more than a point, down 1.5 per cent.

Emeco Holdings is down 6.3 per cent, Afterpay Touch has fallen 4.8 per cent and Corporate Travel Management is down 4.6 per cent.

ANZ is leading the market gains, up 1 per cent while CSL is up 0.9 per cent and Westpac is up 0.4 per cent.

The biggest gains on the index are very subdued. REA Group is up 2.1 per cent, Webjet is up 2 per cent and APA Group is up 1.9 per cent.

All eyes back on the fundamentals – that's the attitude now. The Fed have kept interest rates on hold – that much was already baked into the price. Market activity to close the week will primarily be dictated now by how market participants interpret the language in the Fed's accompanying policy statement. It's been considered rather neutral thus far, and for equity markets, that's not necessarily a positive result.

Almost inexplicably, the US Dollar has rallied upon the release, despite very little new information being revealed in the statement. The argument for that may be that given October's stock market volatility, a more dovish Fed was expected – true to form, this Powel-led Fed is not for turning, apparently sticking to the central bank's existing outlook.

Read the full 8@eight here.

AUD -0.3% to 72.50 US cents (Overnight peak 73.02)

On Wall St at 3pm: Dow -0.2% S&P 500 -0.6% Nasdaq -0.7%

In New York, BHP -1.5% Rio -0.4% Atlassian -2.9%

In Europe: Stoxx 50 -0.2% FTSE +0.3% CAC -0.1% DAX -0.5%

Spot gold -0.1% to $US1224.82 an ounce at 1.35pm New York

Brent crude -1.5% to $US71.01 a barrel

US oil -1.3% to $US60.89 a barrel

Iron ore +1.3% to $US76.27 a tonne

Dalian iron ore +1.4% to 522 yuan

LME aluminium +0.3% to $US1990 a tonne

LME copper flat at $US6155 a tonne

2-year yield: US 2.96% Australia 2.07%

5-year yield: US 3.09% Australia 2.30%

10-year yield: US 3.23% Australia 2.75% Germany 0.45%

US-Australia 10-year yield gap as of 7am AEDT: 48 basis points

The statement reflected little change in the US central bank's outlook for the economy since the last policy meeting in September, with inflation remaining near its 2 per cent target, unemployment falling and risks to the economic outlook appearing to be "roughly balanced".

Policymakers, however, noted that business investment had "moderated from its rapid pace earlier in the year", a possible drag on future economic growth.

Read the full story here.