Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The Australian sharemarket edged higher on Friday after a choppy night globally. The S&P/ASX 200 finished the day up 35.3 points, or 0.4 per cent..... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: U.S. stocks rose on Friday, ‌with the Dow reaching an intraday record high, as investors cheered signs of progress in talks to end the Middle East conflict and a strong corporate earnings season..... [more]

• European Market Report: European stocks closed higher on Friday amid optimism about an end to the U.S.-Iran war thanks to negotiations between the two nations making "some progress.".... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian stocks ended higher on Friday, extending gains from the previous session on rising hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Middle East conflict..... [more]

Australian Business News

• Millions of Aussies with shares could see their actual tax rate rocket to 60 per cent due to a quirk of the pre-1999 inflation indexation method for capital gains proposed in the federal budget, a former Treasury official has claimed..... [more]

• How Labor could sting you with 70% CGT for buying and selling shares. Love stock picking? Labor’s CGT changes could leave you walking into a tax bomb, according to modelling by Stockspot's Chris Brycki..... [more]

• Labor cabinet secretary Andrew Charlton has conceded the federal government’s proposed change to capital gains tax “doesn’t interact well” with some small businesses and start-ups amid intense backlash from the sector..... [more]

• ‘Our 47% business partner’ Albanese: What the viral CGT memes get wrong about tax.... [more]

• Discerning the differences in private credit labelling. Negative perceptions of Private Credit are being driven, in part, by the manner in which sponsor-backed direct lending is being mislabelled.... [more]

• WiseTech has begun informing staff that they will lose their jobs as part of redundancies the company has said are due to artificial intelligence advancements – although an email to staff in China omitted the word “AI” after a court case.... [more]

• Digital advice and wealth platform, InvestSMART Group, has made arrangements to offload its investor newsletter, stock research and exchange traded fund (ETF) business, Intelligent Investor, to Teaminvest Private Group..... [more]

• A superannuation trustee has been accused of failing to act in the best interests of its members by allegedly allowing thousands of them to invest more than $65m into a fund that ultimately collapsed. Equity Trustees Superannuation .... [more]

• Investing in war. Human rights orgs mull legal action against Future Fund, super funds.... [more]

• Dateline Resources has taken a big jump towards gold production in North America, appointing global project management heavyweight Alvarez & Marsal (A&M).... [more]

• White Energy Company (ASX:WEC) is up more than 48% on news it has entered into a non-binding indicative term sheet to acquire strategic coal assets in the US and Australia..... [more]

• Solis reunites lithium dream team for Brazilian rerun.... [more]

• Constellation Resources has significantly strengthened the case for a potential basin-scale natural gas opportunity in WA after finding natural gas and helium..... [more]

• Snowy Hydro executives were paid more than $1 million in bonuses linked to performance last year, even as costs for the multi-billion-dollar renewables project Snowy 2.0 spiralled..... [more]

• Guzman y Gomez is closing its US business after failing to establish itself in a market already rich with Mexican food, confirming the American country’s reputation as a “graveyard” for Australian fast food companies..... [more]

• Webjet (ASX: WJL) has landed in that awkward category of stocks where plenty of value sits on the table, but deteriorating fundamentals could drag the share price lower still..... [more]

• Agave industry gains momentum as growers explore potential of spiky succulent beyond spirits.... [more]

• Seek Shares (SEK) Hit Decade Low as Pressures Mount: The Latest.... [more]

• Australian supermarket giant Coles is investigating concerns about gift cards purchased in one of its stores, after a customer's social media video about "fraudulent" Apple vouchers went viral..... [more]

• Opinion - Michael Brennan: Where have all the fiscal hawks gone? We need to find some – and quickly. Sometime in the last two decades, the fiscal hawk became an endangered species. They once populated a broad terrain.... [more]

• Comment/Analysis - James Mickleboro: Here's the average superannuation balance at age 65. Is the average enough for a comfortable retirement? Let's find out..... [more]

• Analysis - Helen Hodgson: Do Australians really ‘work half the week’ just to pay their income tax? See for yourself. The next federal election in 2028 looks set to be a battle of the tax plans..... [more]

World Business News

• Americans are paying $2 billion more for gas this Memorial Day weekend than they did last year. What the second most expensive Memorial Day ever for gas says about what to expect this summer.... [more]

• 9,000 could be the new number to watch for the S&P 500. JPMorgan Private Bank said that it sees a path for the benchmark index to smash through 9,000 over the next year, implying a 22% rally from current levels..... [more]

• President Donald Trump on Friday oversaw the White House swearing-in of the new Federal Reserve chair and said he would like Kevin Warsh’s help in stimulating the economy.... [more]

• A pair of U.S. ​banking regulators have signed off ‌on plans submitted by the nation's largest banks detailing ​how they could be ​safely unwound in bankruptcy. The ⁠Federal Reserve and Federal ​Deposit Insurance Corporation.... [more]

• Ask AI or just Google it? Google makes a big change to a little search box.... [more]

• Anthropic set to close $30 billion funding at over $900 billion valuation.... [more]

• Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said he believes there’s opportunity to expand the automaker’s partnerships in North America to fill plants and increase sales — and potentially to produce Chinese-branded vehicles outside of the U.S..... [more]

• Wall Street is buzzing following reports that IMAX is exploring a sale. Shares of the movie theater technology company were up roughly 14% Friday on speculation about potential buyers..... [more]

• One of Wall Street's biggest tech bulls says SpaceX and Tesla could merge next year.... [more]

• SpaceX got within a half-minute of launching its newest and biggest Starship on a test flight Thursday evening before a cascade of problems halted the countdown..... [more]

• Fitch affirms Alberta at AA on oil windfall, debt reduction.... [more]

• Senior Walmart(WMT.O), executives, including ​COO of warehouse chain ‌Sam's Club, Tom Ward, and head of store operations ​for the retailer's U.S. ​business, Cedric Clark, are leaving, ⁠marking a major management reshuffle.... [more]

• ECB rebuffs proposals to boost euro stablecoins as too risky.... [more]

• The UK government pitched the creation of a single market for goods with the EU as the cornerstone of an ambitious attempt to reintegrate British trade back into Europe. During recent visits to Brussels.... [more]

• UK public sector borrowing last month hit the highest total for April since the Covid pandemic in 2020, highlighting the challenges facing the government..... [more]

• UK business activity has declined for the first time in a year in the face of “perfect storm” of pressure from political uncertainty and the Iran war, according to new figures..... [more]

• Morrisons is planning to close 100 stores over the coming months, as it blamed government policy choices for rising costs. The supermarket chain said the affected convenience stores had been loss-making for some time.... [more]

• Germany's residential construction drops to 13-year low.... [more]

• Spotify believes it will become much more profitable over the next four years by leveraging AI to build a "large taste model" that supports interactive sharing over passive listening..... [more]

• Chinese fast-fashion company Shein to buy eco-friendly retailer Everlane. Everlane CEO confirms sale in letter to employees and says it will stay true to ‘sustainability’ commitments.... [more]

• Asian Currencies Hit by Iran War, Adding to Economic Strain. Soaring oil prices and a surging dollar are testing Asia’s foreign-exchange reserves, which were built up after the 1997 crisis..... [more]

• ULVAC to make rare earth melting furnaces in Japan. Top producer of equipment used to make rare earth magnets looking to markets outside China.... [more]

• Chinese AI firms MiniMax Group and Knowledge Atlas Technology – better known as Zhipu AI – will join the Hang Seng Tech Index next month. Their inclusion follows investor criticism.... [more]

• Indian automaker Eicher Motors (EICH.NS), beat quarterly profit ​estimates on Friday, as last year's tax ‌cuts boosted demand for its high-margin 350-cc motorcycles..... [more]

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced a record dividend payout of Rs 2.87 lakh crore to the government for FY 2026-27..... [more]

• India's economic outlook is clouded by supply-side pressures, the ​central bank said in its ‌monthly economic report on Friday.... [more]

• Abu Dhabi is ‘doubling down’ on tourism despite Iran war.... [more]

• Comment - Philip van Doorn: Nvidia’s on a new path, and if you own an S&P 500 index fund your money is riding on it..... [more]