Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The Australian sharemarket reversed early losses and posted a solid gain. The S&P/ASX200 rose 59.90 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 8717.70. .... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: The S&P 500 and ​the Nasdaq were muted on Wednesday in choppy trading, as investors remained cautious while awaiting progress in Middle East ‌talks..... [more]

• European Market Report: European stocks failed to hold early gains on Wednesday as the mood turned cautious around mid-afternoon and investors assessed news about U.S.-Iran peace efforts and stayed largely reluctant to make significant moves.... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday, with Chinese and Hong Kong markets declining after China punished three brokerages for offering mainland investors access to overseas stocks without licenses..... [more]

Australian Business News

• Australia’s inflation rate will fall in April, thanks to the government temporarily pausing a tax excise, but it is unlikely to stop the Reserve Bank raising interest rates again this year..... [more]

• Inflation actually fell in Australia last month, thanks to temporary government fuel discounts that saw fuel prices come down by 7% from their record peaks in March..... [more]

• Commonwealth Bank CEO backs capital gains tax changes for property investors.... [more]

• The collapse of the Shield and First Guardian funds will impact the scale of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) levy paid by superannuation funds. The Treasury has released for discussion.... [more]

• Three portfolio decisions to consider after federal budget changes. The tax landscape may be shifting, but these fundamental levers still drive your long-term success..... [more]

• The Labor MP Jerome Laxale says it’s “reasonable to expect more” from mining giants, breaking ranks to publicly back changes to the generous tax concessions blamed for holding back decarbonisation after revelations BHP.... [more]

• Think BHP is “overvalued” at $60? Think again… BHP’s record share price is rational, as the firm pivots to copper mining which commands higher valuation multiples..... [more]

• Provisional approval has been granted for one of the world's largest critical minerals projects. The Copi Mineral Sands Project is a planned $693 million mineral sands mine around 180 kilometres south-west of Broken Hill.... [more]

• Alcoa Corporation (ASX:AAI) has been a clear winner of the US-Iran war when it comes to Strait of Hormuz shipping concerns, because that corridor carries a lot of the aluminum seaborne trade, now flowing less freely..... [more]

• Critica Limited has taken another big step forward at its giant Jupiter rare earths project in Western Australia’s Mid West after pilot beneficiation work in Vietnam markedly upgraded feed material.... [more]

• Novo Resources has regained full control of its expansive Egina gold project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, after the $28 billion gold producer Northern Star Resources decided to walk away from its non-core exploration earn-in..... [more]

• How the west charged ahead in the mega battery race Around the world, battery installations are growing at a meteoric rate, and Australia is a world leader. One state in particular shows how the ‘niche’ technology has become a major .... [more]

• A fight for control of Australia’s troubled Whyalla steelworks has narrowed to a shortlist of two potential buyers, pitting coal billionaire Matt Latimore against India’s third-largest steelmaker..... [more]

• Whyalla locals call for more certainty around steelworks' future amid news of final bidders.... [more]

• Endeavour Group tumbles to all-time lows as strategy reset cuts dividend outlook.... [more]

• Two Perth biotechnology companies are positioning themselves at the front line of Australia’s future biosecurity defence, combining cutting-edge molecular diagnostics with automated large-scale testing.... [more]

• Shares in Noxopharm Ltd (ASX:NOX) surged on Tuesday after the biotech unveiled new data supporting the cancer-fighting potential of its Sofra platform, adding further momentum to the growing investor focus.... [more]

• EMVision Medical Devices has taken another step toward commercialising its portable stroke scanner technology after completing an aeromedical feasibility and usability study with the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS)..... [more]

• Xiaomi shares (HKG: 1810) are sliding sharply today, following a disappointing first-quarter earnings report and a high-profile broker downgrade that cast doubt on the company’s ability to navigate surging component costs..... [more]

• ABC director of news Justin Stevens abruptly resigns, citing personal and professional reasons.... [more]

• Opinion - Elizabeth Knight: The Rinehart-backed deal that’s created a smorgasbord for conspiracy theorists. Since the Seven West merger, there has been a non-stop tussle over operational control of Southern Cross Media.... [more]

• Analysis - Marian Wilkinson: BHP is rightly sensitive about its reputation as a corporate leader on climate change.... [more]

• Comment - Stephen Bartholomeusz: Idolatry of profit’: Pope Leo takes on AI’s wannabe trillionaires. The Pope takes a stand against those who want the morality and ethics of artificial intelligence.... [more]

• Opinion - Tristan Harrison: How to become a millionaire on a $70,000 salary. Australians have a great opportunity to become wealthy..... [more]

World Business News

• Gold prices drop as uncertainty swirls over U.S. and Iran peace talks.... [more]

• The U.S. dollar, long stuck in a tight trading range, could be in for a break higher as the Federal Reserve shifts its focus to fighting worrisome signs ​that inflation is heating up..... [more]

• The typical CEO compensation package rose nearly 6% in 2025 to $17.7 million, as company boards rewarded their top executives for bigger profits and higher stock prices, and gave them incentives to stick around.... [more]

• There’s been a “remarkable” increase over the past few years in Americans struggling to put food on the table, and that’s likely contributing to record-low consumer sentiment readings, new Federal Reserve Bank of New York research.... [more]

• Investors betting the Iran war is ending are buying up travel stocks. Shares of travel names Delta, United and MGM were among the S&P 500’s biggest gainers on Wednesday — even as one strategist called the market’s optimism.... [more]

• OpenAI and Anthropic dig in against each other on AI jobs apocalypse. AI's most powerful CEOs are splitting into warring camps over whether their own technology will gut white-collar work or supercharge it .... [more]

• Micron investors are partying like it’s 1987. Analysts say the stock still looks pretty cheap. The stock is trading at a forward earnings valuation that is less than half that of Nvidia’s, and just over a third of the PHLX Semiconductor Index’s.... [more]

• Tech giants back new data center climate initiative. Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta are teaming up with a nonprofit investor to accelerate new technologies using data centers as test cases..... [more]

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday that his bank could spend up to $20 billion on an acquisition in the coming years. A deal that size would be the largest of Dimon’s 20-year tenure atop JPMorgan and test regulators’.... [more]

• Uber raises stake in Delivery Hero to 24.99%, filing shows.... [more]

• BofA hires John Gallagher from JPMorgan for credit trading unit.... [more]

• Abercrombie shares jump 12% on earnings beat even as Iran conflict hits sales.... [more]

• Meta shares rise over on premium subscription rollout.... [more]

• Astronomical prices for tickets to the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament have sparked an investigation by the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey..... [more]

• Prediction markets look to institutional investors for next phase of growth.... [more]

• Lululemon is ending its feud with founder Chip Wilson. The athletic apparel company entered into an agreement with Wilson on Wednesday that ended a messy proxy contest the founder started late last year.... [more]

• Flying Tiger is the latest retailer to be snapped up by Modella Capital, the British investment firm which already owns the former high street arm of WH Smith, now called TG Jones..... [more]

• Net-zero-related industries are supporting more than 105,000 jobs in Scotland and contributing £10.2bn to the economy, according to industry research..... [more]

• Shares of European chipmaker X-FAB (XFAB.PA), surged on ​Wednesday after retail buying tied to a viral social media post, ‌in the latest sign of speculative trading in semiconductor stocks..... [more]

• Manchester United have taken a £22m hit from the sacking of their former manager Ruben Amorim but cut their losses in half thanks to improved performance on the pitch and the cost-cutting zeal of the co-owner Jim Ratcliffe..... [more]

• LEGO Foundation donates $97 million to bring play-based learning to children impacted by conflicts.... [more]

• A planned joint venture between Eni (ENI.MI), and Malaysia's state energy company ​Petronas, named SEARAH, is expected to ‌have a net income of $2.7 billion and revenue of $6.7 billion in 2030, according to preliminary ​estimates.... [more]

• China’s drug regulator clears wave of home-grown innovative medicines amid biotech boom. Domestic firms dominate China’s drug approvals amid jump in spending and out-licensing deals as regulator speeds path to market.... [more]

• Foreign and Chinese banks in Hong Kong are moving quickly to comply with a ​Beijing-led crackdown on cross-border investment, according to documents and sources ‌with knowledge of the matter..... [more]

• Alibaba Group Holding’s latest artificial intelligence model has clinched a top-tier spot on a major global coding leaderboard, making the Chinese technology giant the only developer other than Anthropic .... [more]

• TSMC CEO Pledges 30%-Plus Incentive Bump as AI Profits Soar.... [more]

• Africa’s next generation of power projects is increasingly being built around solar and wind power and battery storage, as governments and investors shift away from coal and large hydropower dams.... [more]

• India rice exports decline as Iran war curbs basmati shipments to Gulf.... [more]

• Opinion - Shane D. Shook: America is losing the AI productivity war to 3.5 million Chinese STEM graduates. Big Tech’s structural mistakes are costing stock investors and fueling a massive talent crisis.... [more]