Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The S&P/ASX 200 (XJO) finished 40.3 points lower at 8,630.4, smack–bang at the mid-point of the session's range, 0.46% from its session high/low..... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: The S&P 500 hovered near ​its record highs on Wednesday as chip stocks and megacap tech shares rose, even though hot producer prices data reinforced ‌bets that the Federal Reserve would keep monetary policy restrictive..... [more]

• European Market Report: European stocks closed higher on Wednesday, bouncing back fairly well from previous session's losses, as investors reacted to earnings and looked ahead to the U.S.-China summit in Beijing,.... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday as strong momentum in technology stocks helped investors look past concerns over rising U.S. inflation and the Middle East tensions..... [more]

Australian Business News

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s federal budget was meant to win over young people by axing negative gearing. Too bad they weren’t listening. The PM and Treasurer Jim Chalmers dropped the budget yesterday.... [more]

• Coalition vows to repeal Labor’s ‘toxic’ negative gearing and capital gains tax budget changes. Opposition leader Angus Taylor and shadow treasurer Tim Wilson say future Coalition government would reinstate.... [more]

• Labor’s sweeping changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax are set to increase investor appetite for shares that pay dividends, commercial property, and self-managed super funds as the tax landscape.... [more]

• ‘They’re more worried’: Gap in economic forecasts between RBA and Treasury reveals ‘uncertainty’ at heart of the federal budget.... [more]

• Super funds welcome CGT exemption.... [more]

• What the hell just happened to CBA? CBA crashed 10.4% in its worst session since listing in 1992, as a soft Q3 result collided with sweeping Budget tax reforms..... [more]

• Commonwealth Bank had its biggest one-day sell off since Covid, as customers fall behind on their repayments, stoking fears of future financial losses. In a grim market update, Australia’s largest bank said it saving.... [more]

• Blast furnace worries grow as Whyalla steelworks remains 'fiscal risk' to federal budget.... [more]

• Terrain Minerals has launched one of its biggest induced polarisation (IP) geophysical surveys yet at the company’s Smokebush gold and silver project, 350 kilometres north of Perth in WA,.... [more]

• PLC Resources is about to put the drill bit into the company’s Rochefort gold prospect in Western Australia’s prolific Murchison region for the first time, with a maiden reverse circulation (RC) program.... [more]

• MetalsGrove Mining has taken a big leap forward at its Central West gold project in Côte d’Ivoire, locking onto two parallel gold anomalies, each stretching more than 2.5 kilometres..... [more]

• Arafura Rare Earths (ASX: ARU) has signed a binding offtake term sheet with global trader Traxys North America for up to 500 tonnes per annum (tpa) of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide from the Nolans rare earths project..... [more]

• Australia's biggest native title payout is based on a flawed formula and should be appealed, experts have said, after traditional owners in Western Australia's north were awarded more than $150.1 million in compensation..... [more]

• BHP shares just hit a new all-time high. Here's why.... [more]

• A legal stoush between a regional council and one of Australia's largest coal mines over an access road has deepened in the Queensland Supreme Court. In a decision handed down today, Justice Sean Cooper gave Bravus .... [more]

• Neurizon has received Bellberry Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval for its Phase I formulation study of NUZ-001, a key step in developing an oral liquid version of its lead compound in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.... [more]

• Healius Shares Plunge to Record Low After Earnings Downgrade: The Details.... [more]

• Nexsen Ltd (ASX:NXN) has secured its first hospital partner in Asia after signing a binding term sheet with GHK Hospital Ltd, operator of Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong,.... [more]

• Plans for a $1.5 billion Trump tower on the Gold Coast have been dumped, with an argument developing over why. Less than three months ago, Altus Property Group chief executive David Young had trumpeted plans for the “six-star” tower.... [more]

• The parent company of Canvas, the online learning platform used by hundreds of thousands of Australian students and teachers, has struck a deal with the cybercriminal gang that stole personal data from an estimated 275 million.... [more]

• Opinion - Simon Kuestenmacher: The evolving role of super funds in Australia’s economy.... [more]

• Comment - Mike Taylor: Budget 2026 is all about transition. Financial advisers and accountants are going to be kept busy helping clients navigate the changes announced by Treasurer.... [more]

• Opinion - Michael Pascoe: Scary alert! Like negative gearing? Buy shares! Michael Pascoe thought no budget had had a bigger build up than this one. As it turns out ….... [more]

World Business News

• Trump’s China visit could rattle markets if it doesn’t bring an Iran breakthrough. There are concerns that a lack of Chinese intervention in the Iran conflict could prompt renewed U.S. military action as early as next week.... [more]

• How the US and China's oil markets are 'shielding' the world economy from spiraling prices.... [more]

• US and China seek to repair damage from tariff war that sent trade into a freefall.... [more]

• China Increasingly Views Trump’s America as an Empire in Decline. For decades, many Chinese viewed the United States with a mix of admiration, envy and resentment. President Trump’s volatile second term shattered that image..... [more]

• U.S. wholesale inflation came in hot last month. Producer prices rose 6% from a year earlier, the highest point in more than three years, as the Iran war pushes up energy prices and intensifies pressure on companies.... [more]

• This White House darling just became the 12th-most valuable private company. An IPO will be coming. Defense contractor Anduril, which is helping build President Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ antimissile shield.... [more]

• A brand new memory stock ETF has quickly become the hottest thematic trade since Covid.... [more]

• SEC’s Woodcock flags private credit stress, retail fraud risks.... [more]

• LinkedIn planned to inform staff of layoffs on Wednesday, in a widening of technology ​sector cuts this year. The Microsoft-owned (MSFT.O), social network plans to cut about ​5% of its headcount.... [more]

• Elon Musk’s lawyer began his cross examination of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in court on Tuesday with a brief question: “Are you completely trustworthy?”.... [more]

• Anthropic is launching a new package for small businesses, betting that mom and pop shops, solo entrepreneurs and lean teams are the next big market for AI agents..... [more]

• Nvidia's push to dominate self-driving cars.... [more]

• BP will meet with union leaders on Monday to resume contract negotiations ​for workers at its Whiting, Indiana, oil ‌refinery, the company and United Steelworkers union said on Wednesday..... [more]

• Apple (AAPL.O), on Wednesday echoed Google's criticism of EU antitrust regulators' efforts to force the search giant to ​help AI rivals access its services, warning the proposed ‌measures pose risks to privacy, security and safety..... [more]

• Bank of England's Mann sees risk rate hikes could rock gilt market.... [more]

• Nissan ponders building cars for Chinese rivals at Sunderland plant. CEO admits talks with Chery as other European carmakers discuss plans with Chinese firms to share factory space.... [more]

• Sterling fell on Wednesday and was on track for its first weekly decline in six weeks, with market participants assessing political developments in Britain as ​Prime Minister Keir Starmer resisted calls to resign..... [more]

• Tui sees summer sales fall 10% due to cautious UK customers.... [more]

• The laboratory testing company Intertek has become the latest FTSE 100 business to agree to a takeover, backing a £10.6bn approach from a private equity firm owned by Sweden’s billionaire Wallenberg family..... [more]

• In a landmark German case targeting chocolate "shrinkflation", a court has found that the manufacturer of Milka's classic Alpine Milk bar cheated consumers and broke competition law..... [more]

• Chinese tech indexes close at all-time highs as investors await Trump-Xi summit. Both the ChiNext and SSE Star 50 indexes closed at record highs on Wednesday, as investor optimism over China’s tech sector surges.... [more]

• Alibaba CEO signals capex boost as China tech giant forges full-stack AI path.... [more]

• Arm, SoftBank Tried to Buy Cerebras in 11th Hour.... [more]

• Japan's biggest oil and gas explorer Inpex (1605.T), on Wednesday raised its full-year net profit forecast, citing higher expected crude oil prices and a ​weaker yen amid the Middle East crisis..... [more]

• 1MDB financier Jho Low seeks pardon from Donald Trump. Fugitive faces charges including corruption and money laundering in US and Malaysia for role he allegedly played in scandal.... [more]

• India's Tata Motors warns of costs from Iran war after profit surge.... [more]

• Air India crisis deepens ahead of final Ahmedabad crash report.... [more]

• Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday asked exporters to target $1 trillion in goods and services exports in the current financial year, after India recorded an all-time high outbound shipment value.... [more]

• India proposes to loosen borrowing norms for mutual funds.... [more]

• Opinion - Chris Chen: Asia is quietly and quickly buying up America. Next decade of Asian growth will be defined as much by what Asian firms own in US as by what they produce at home.... [more]

• Explainer - Bloomberg: Why Modi Wants Indians to Stop Buying Gold..... [more]