Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The Australian sharemarket fell slightly on Friday, but the local bourse held on to much of its gains from earlier in the week. The S&P/ASX200 dropped 0.14 per cent to 8960 on Friday.... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: U.S. stocks closed mixed on Friday, with investors ​pressing pause as they headed into the weekend and kept an eye on ongoing Middle East peace negotiations..... [more]

• European Market Report: The major European markets closed higher on Friday with investors picking up stocks amid hopes the upcoming diplomatic talks between the U.S. and Iran this weekend will yield a positive outcome..... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian stocks ended mixed on Friday amid lingering tensions around Israeli strikes across Lebanon and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, despite the ceasefire agreement..... [more]

Australian Business News

• The global supply chain shock from the Middle East conflict reinforces our view on emerging markets (EM): focus on quality and selectivity. We eye the impact of higher energy prices in the U.S. March CPI this week .... [more]

• Australian motorists are being encouraged to conserve fuel and drive less in a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign launched in response to the energy crisis. Titled “every little bit helps”,.... [more]

• Australians warned supply crisis is far from over. More than 170 service stations are still without diesel as Australia braces for ongoing uncertainty and lasting economic pain from the energy crisis..... [more]

• Cost of living fears have Australians underestimating how long their superannuation would last and over-estimating costs, leading to a more anxious retirement. New figures by Challenger and YouGov found just 52% of Australians.... [more]

• ‘Don’t panic’: Cash isn’t king when it comes to super. Ups and downs are a part of life, and especially when it comes to your superannuation pool..... [more]

• Cost of living drives Australian shoppers to ‘pantry loading’, as ‘you can do so much with beans’. Fears the Middle East conflict could lead to higher food prices – and even shortages – put long-life pantry staples back on the menu.... [more]

• CBA Shares Hold Break Above $180, As Big Four Banks Rally This Week.... [more]

• Smaller and independent supermarkets say they are facing increased pressure to keep grocery prices stable as the cost of keeping shelves full continues to rise. Increased costs of fuel and fertiliser as a result of trade disruptions.... [more]

• Australia in no position to ease Asian gas crunch, data shows.... [more]

• The WA government is considering creating its own "strategic stockpile" of diesel, saying the state's size and the reliance of the agriculture and resources industries on the fuel warrants a separate reserve..... [more]

• TAL, McCrindle launch index to track client sentiment.... [more]

• Early field trials at the Samphire uranium project near Whyalla in South Australia have returned a recovery rate better than 55% halfway through its leaching of its first test pattern, backing Alligator Energy’s low-cost production plan..... [more]

• Zenith Minerals has taken a big step towards proving up the true scale of its Red Mountain gold project in Queensland. Deep diamond drilling has now plumbed the depths of gold mineralisation.... [more]

• Battery materials company Novonix (ASX: NVX) has this week received confirmation that the U.S. government has certified its Riverside project in Chattanooga, in connection with US$103 million in tax credits..... [more]

• Gold ETFs defy March outflows to extend quarterly inflow streak. Despite heavy March selling, global gold ETF AUM rose for the seventh consecutive quarter in Q1 2026, ending 9% above 2025 levels..... [more]

• Aurum Resources has delivered a major milestone at its satellite Napié gold project in Côte d’Ivoire, announcing a 34 per cent jump in its latest mineral resource estimate..... [more]

• Long running legal stoush between miners Gina Rinehart, Angela Bennett over billions in mining royalties nears climax. Billions of dollars hang in the balance.... [more]

• Why Trump's ceasefire triggered a 7% surge in Aussie tech.... [more]

• The Albanese government is in talks with Southeast Asian countries to bolster Australia’s fertiliser stocks amid supply shocks from the Iran war. With Iranian drones and missiles making the Strait of Hormuz too perilous to transit.... [more]

• Shareholders in ASX-listed company Brambles could receive millions of dollars in compensation nearly a decade after filing a class action, after the Federal Court found the logistics giant failed to keep investors informed.... [more]

• Bendigo Bank rebuffs pressure to reveal staff impact of outsourcing.... [more]

• Comment/Analysis - Kerry Sun: A well-protected market that's refusing to crash. A short heavy market exhibiting extreme fear meets soaring oil prices and high inflation..... [more]

World Business News

• Wall St Week Ahead US earnings season set to test war-rattled stocks.... [more]

• Trump announces blockade of Strait of Hormuz as Vance leaves Pakistan talks with no deal. How financial markets are reacting..... [more]

• The largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades caused a sharp spike in inflation last month, creating major challenges for the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve and heightening already substantial political hurdles.... [more]

• The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has led the post-ceasefire surge in US stocks, but JPMorgan's former quant chief thinks the blistering relief rally is poised to reverse..... [more]

• Oil-price disconnect obscures unprecedented energy shock.... [more]

• The recovery in the U.S. stock market since the beginning of April could soon face its first critical test, as the first-quarter corporate earnings season is about to get underway..... [more]

• Citi flags 16 stocks to buy that are primed to pop after Q1 earnings.... [more]

• Why is quantum computing seen as a challenge to Bitcoin?.... [more]

• Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point will not pursue ​a proxy fight at real estate data company CoStar Group (CSGP.O), and sold its entire stake in the ‌owner of Apartments.com and Homes.com.... [more]

• How Beyond Meat sank from a $14 billion plant-based protein powerhouse to a penny stock.... [more]

• How liquid is gold in practice?.... [more]

• How Kodak is trying to turn around its business after teetering on bankruptcy..... [more]

• Banks Are Warned About Anthropic’s New, Powerful A.I. Technology. In an unusual move, the Treasury secretary and the Federal Reserve chair gathered bank executives to caution about cyberthreats posed by artificial intelligence..... [more]

• IBM (IBM.N), has agreed to pay $17 million to settle a U.S. government ​probe over the firm's diversity, equity and inclusion practices, ‌which President Donald Trump's administration has cracked down on.... [more]

• A federal judge on Friday temporarily barred Arizona from enforcing its gambling laws against predictive market operators and put the brakes on a criminal wagering case that the state has filed against Kalshi..... [more]

• More European countries should foster European capital markets by introducing funded pension systems similar to those in the Nordic ​countries and the Netherlands, Sweden's minister for financial markets said on ‌Friday..... [more]

• The Government has announced plans to speed up planning approvals for the Sizewell C nuclear project and a major sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant..... [more]

• Britain could adopt single market rules without MPs’ vote as part of UK-EU reset. Ministers planning new legislation for alignment without full parliamentary scrutiny if in national interest.... [more]

• Germany must ensure it matches France's holding in a planned 20 billion euro ($23 billion) listing ​of Leopard tank maker KNDS, a high-level German labour leader said, ‌adding that this will require Berlin taking more than.... [more]

• What is behind Ireland’s fuel protests? With the nationwide fuel protests entering a fourth day on Friday, here is an explanation of some of the key points..... [more]

• Irish prime minister announces fuel tax cuts to stop protests over soaring pump prices.... [more]

• Contracts on Polymarket for the likelihood of opposition leader Peter Magyar becoming the next prime minister of Hungary exceeded 80% for the first time as voting was under way in Sunday’s election..... [more]

• The chairmen of China’s battery and solar giants have called for more top-down regulations to rein in cutthroat competition, warning that unchecked overcapacity is squeezing profits and threatening the industry’s stability..... [more]

• Bank of Japan monetary policy could be an option to tame rising prices by boosting the yen, ​Japan's trade minister said on Sunday, as the central ‌bank weighs raising interest rates this month to counter inflation spurred by the Iran war..... [more]

• Japan approves additional $4 bln for chipmaker Rapidus.... [more]

• China has staked roughly US$145 billion in investments and construction contracts across the Middle East, while Iranian oil alone accounts for 13–14% of its imports. Yet Beijing maintains no permanent military presence.... [more]

• Saudi Arabia restores full capacity on East-West oil pipeline to 7 million bpd after attacks.... [more]

• Iran ceasefire won’t easily ease emerging Asia’s pain. For India, Indonesia and Thailand, the Iran war isn’t just an oil shock — it’s a fiscal, currency and growth threat all wrapped into one.... [more]

• Analysis - Lisa Eadicicco: Meta just provided its clearest look yet at its AI plan. It’s about time.... [more]