Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The Australian sharemarket shed early gains and closed flat the S&P/ASX 200 closed on Wednesday at 8933.9, down slightly by 7.7 points..... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: The S&P 500 breached the 7,000-point mark for the first time on Wednesday, driven by unrelenting optimism over artificial ​intelligence and expectations of strong Big Tech earnings as well as monetary policy easing..... [more]

• European Market Report: European stocks were subdued on Wednesday after two days of gains. A cautious undertone prevailed ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision and earnings from major tech companies..... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and earnings from mega-cap tech companies..... [more]

Australian Business News

• Aussie dollar rally creates winners and losers on the ASX 200.... [more]

• The RBA looks on track to raise rates by 25bp in February and likely follow up with another hike in May. As foreshadowed by the monthly CPI, the RBA’s preferred measure of underlying prices.... [more]

• Advances in artificial intelligence, financial technology and online advertising are creating a perfect storm of investment risk for Australians insufficiently prepared to manage their own retirement savings, according to ASIC boss Joe Longo.... [more]

• Commonwealth Bank, ANZ suffer outages.... [more]

• Queensland Government focused not for profit superannuation fund, Brighter Super, has recruited Aware Super’s deputy chief investment officer, Damien Webb, as its new Chief Investment Officer..... [more]

• Australia's need for electricity is breaking records, with demand in the country's biggest grid reaching an all-time high for the final quarter of the year..... [more]

• Great Southern Mining has unveiled shallow gold hits at its Mon Ami project in Laverton, Western Australia, hinting at a potentially new parallel lode that could expand the deposit’s existing 55,500-ounce resource..... [more]

• Maronan Metals shareholders popping the cork to celebrate big jump in copper and gold recoveries.... [more]

• Queensland-based explorer True North Copper has beefed up its Wallace North copper-gold mineral resource after incorporating the numbers from two reverse-circulation (RC) drillholes completed last year..... [more]

• Paladin Energy Shares Add 37% YTD as Uranium Rally Powers Stock to 52-Week High.... [more]

• China’s ambassador to Australia says plans by the Albanese government to remove the Port of Darwin from Chinese ownership will put at risk future trade growth and force an intervention by Beijing. Ambassador Xiao Qian hit out.... [more]

• Last year’s anti-sweat biotech darling Botanix falls -10% on poorly received quarterly.... [more]

• Global demand for Australian wine is continuing to dwindle, with Wine Australia's latest export report showing an 8 per cent decrease in 2025. Released today, the report found the export market slumped to $2.34 billion last year.... [more]

• Domino's Pizza announces Board refresh as turnaround continues.... [more]

• Amazon has made its first foray into fresh produce deliveries after striking a partnership with premium grocery chain Harris Farm, putting the international megastore into direct competition with Coles’ and Woolworths’ core products..... [more]

• Opinion - Greg Jericho: The easy thing for the RBA to do next week is raise interest rates. The smart move is to wait. Oh no, inflation went up in one month – we need rates to do something! But first, let’s take a closer look at those figures.... [more]

• Analysis - Adrian Lowe: Why Amazon Prime-Harris Farm Markets tie-up will spook Coles and Woolworths.... [more]

• Comment/Opinion - Shani Jayamanne: Make your 40s matter more than your 20s It’s never too late to maximise your outcomes. I’m passionate about getting investors into the market early..... [more]

• Analysis/Comment - Janine Dixon & Jason Nassios: A new company tax mix has been proposed. We need to be careful how we assess it.... [more]

World Business News

• Gold prices surge to new record high on haven demand.... [more]

• Silver Prices Are Surging Even Faster Than Gold. Silver has risen roughly 60 percent this month alone. What is going on?.... [more]

• Federal Reserve may keep rates unchanged for months as economy shows signs of health.... [more]

• U.S. companies are pulling future borrowing into the present, racing to refinance debt while credit remains cheap..... [more]

• The U.S. has a strong dollar policy and that means setting the right fundamentals, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday, while denying that Washington was intervening in currency markets .... [more]

• The AI trade is on fire on Wednesday. Earnings from international chip makers have sparked a fresh rally in US tech stocks, helping to power the market to fresh records..... [more]

• Starbucks rewards investors who have been betting the turnaround is taking hold. The stock rallies, as comparable-store sales rise again, and by the most in two years, to offset another profit miss.... [more]

• Shoe brand Allbirds on Wednesday became the latest retailer to shift its focus from physical stores to online retail to increase profitability. The company announced that it will close its remaining full-price stores in the U.S..... [more]

• Boeing just announced the end of years of deep financial losses, a turnaround for a company after nearly seven years of bad news. The US aircraft maker reported $8.2 billion in net profit in the fourth quarter.... [more]

• Google will pay $135 million to settle a proposed class action by smartphone users who accused Google of programming its Android operating system to collect their cellular data without permission..... [more]

• Loparex Sounds Out Private Credit Firms for Up to $1.5 Billion.... [more]

• As layoffs pile up, workers are feeling increasingly anxious about the job market. In the U.S., economists have said that businesses are largely at a “no-hire, no fire” standstill, leading many to limit new work, if not pause openings.... [more]

• Amazon is laying off 16,000 employees as AI battle intensifies.... [more]

• Parcel delivery giant UPS says it will cut up to 30,000 jobs this year as it further reduces shipments for its biggest customer, Amazon. The world's largest package delivery company has been scaling back deliveries.... [more]

• Hair-Loss Pill Maker Veradermics Seeks $213.6 Million in US IPO.... [more]

• The Bank of Canada on Wednesday held its policy rate ‌at 2.25%, as widely expected, and Governor Tiff Macklem said a high level of trade uncertainty made it difficult to predict when and how rates might next change..... [more]

• Elon Musk’s SpaceX is considering a flotation valuing the rocket company at $1.5tn (£1.1tn) that will reportedly be timed for early summer to coincide with a planetary alignment and the multibillionaire’s birthday..... [more]

• Donald Trump’s representative in the UK has criticised a clean energy deal championed by Ed Miliband, claiming it "will not resolve the UK’s energy needs"..... [more]

• The Original Factory Shop calls in administrators, putting 1,200 jobs at risk. Crisis on UK high street deepens as private equity owners of homeware chain with 137 stores pins collapse on ‘extremely challenging’ climate.... [more]

• Job fears are mounting at drinks firm BrewDog, which is set to close all of its distilling brands, including Duo Rum, Abstrakt Vodka, and Lonewolf Gin, produced at its Ellon distillery in Aberdeenshire..... [more]

• EasyJet warned over 'misleading' £5.99 cabin bag fee.... [more]

• Excessive regulation is hurting European financial markets and local fund managers, favouring ‌the spread of passive investing dominated by large U.S. players, the head of French asset manager BDL Capital Management said .... [more]

• VW to Ramp Up Exports From China as EV Price War Hits Carmakers.... [more]

• German investigators searched the offices of Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest, on Wednesday in connection with an investigation into possible money laundering, officials said..... [more]

• Debased dollar and soaring gold hand China a rare opening. With Trump alienating allies and undermining trust in the buck, China has a golden chance to make the yuan great.... [more]

• Beijing has begun approving imports of Nvidia’s H200 graphics processing units (GPUs), according to two sources familiar with the matter, ending regulatory uncertainty over the US tech giant’s second most powerful ai chip.... [more]

• Chinese-language crime networks now drive 20% of crypto laundering. New research shows Chinese networks processed $16.1 billion in 2025, or around $44 million daily across 1,799+ active wallets.... [more]

• India's Gland Pharma posts higher quarterly profit on strong US, Europe demand.... [more]

• Indian stocks are on track for their worst start to a year in a decade, piling pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to deliver fresh catalysts for economic growth.... [more]

• SBI Cards and Payment Services (SBIC.NS), reported a jump in third-quarter profit on Wednesday, aided by higher consumer spending on credit cards during the Indian festive season..... [more]