Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The Australian sharemarket moved higher on Wednesday as investors digested a raft of company results, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 48.10 points or 0.5 to 9007.00, the third day in a row of gains..... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: The main U.S. indexes advanced on Wednesday as technology shares recovered some lost ground after an AI-led selloff, while investors awaited minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting later in the day..... [more]

• European Market Report: European stocks traded higher on Wednesday as geopolitical tensions eased, and investors reacted to reports of a leadership change at the European Central Bank..... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian stocks rose in thin holiday trading on Wednesday as U.S.-Iran nuclear talks showed progress, Japan clocked a smaller-than-expected trade deficit in January,.... [more]

Australian Business News

• The gloves will come off “in a Queensland kind of a way” when negotiations resume with the Albanese government over the GST carve-up after the Sunshine State was left wanting, Premier David Crisafulli has warned..... [more]

• Inflation has outstripped wage growth for the first time in more than two years, despite many workers receiving a recent boost to their pay packet. December quarter wages data released on Wednesday.... [more]

• Figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that over the year to December, wages grew by 3.4%. For households, however, the number that really matters is what happened to wages after inflation..... [more]

• Millionaire Gary Stevenson's dire warning for Australian property market losing the 'fair go'..... [more]

• Regional city where house prices are rising 40 times faster than Sydney. When 30 Cullen Road, Wagga Wagga, sold in August 2024, the current owner was able to pick it up for $450,000..... [more]

• King River Resources has moved to acquire the high-grade Mindoolah gold project, 70 kilometres northwest of Cue in Western Australia’s Murchison region..... [more]

• Santos, the second-largest Australian oil and gas producer, is planning to cull one in 10 jobs and may sell some of its assets after a year of lower fossil fuel prices contributed to a steeper-than-expected profit fall..... [more]

• Premier1 has kicked off drilling at its Mt Kersey gold prospect, one of the few remaining gold targets in the prolific West Australian Yalgoo greenstone belt that have been barely touched..... [more]

• BlueScope’s board said it will consider a new offer for the group after its spurned suitors, Kerry Stokes SGH and US group Steel Dynamics, came back with a higher offer valuing the steelmaker at $15 billion..... [more]

• St George Mining continues to expand the mineralised footprint at its Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Brazil, with the latest batch of drill assays delivering “exceptional” results, including the thickest mineralised interval so far..... [more]

• Capstone Copper Shares (CSC) Dive on Flat Production and Rising Costs.... [more]

• JB Hi-Fi dips and rips: Earnings beat and dividend hike ease valuation fears. Atlas' Hugh Dive on why he's backing JB Hi-Fi despite valuation concerns and what sets it apart from struggling rivals..... [more]

• Shares in ASX-listed family tracking platform Life360 Inc. (ASX:360) edged higher on Wednesday after the company announced a deeper integration with global ride-hailing group Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER, XETRA:UT8)..... [more]

• Nick Scali sinks despite H1 beat as January trading update spooks investors.... [more]

• The Federal Government has been accused of placing small accounting businesses under pressure by side-stepping imposing the measures necessary to enforce accountability on the accounting and auditing consultancies..... [more]

• The consumer watchdog’s lawsuits against Coles and Woolworths are just part of its plans to clamp down on misleading pricing, its chair has signalled, stressing that shoppers under pressure from the cost of living relied on.... [more]

• The consumer regulator is in the spotlight as its landmark court case against Coles plays out in Melbourne, with supermarkets and pricing claims to remain in the watchdog's sights this year..... [more]

• A hacker has exposed personal data belonging to hundreds of thousands of Australians it allegedly stole from a Sydney finance technology company. Finance platform youX confirmed its systems were accessed.... [more]

• Opinion - Elizabeth Knight: How did Westpac let a $44 mortgage snafu become a PR disaster?.... [more]

• Comment - Samantha Menzies: This superannuation myth could derail your retirement.... [more]

• Analysis - David Llewellyn-Smith: Could this be the end of iron ore? An expert weighs in. Financial experts are teetering on the edge in recent days, with some warning that iron ore will crash ‘sooner rather than later’..... [more]

• Comment - Simonelle Mody: An overlooked driver of ETF performance.... [more]

World Business News

• Crypto winter couldn't kill the vibe at this week's big bitcoin event in NYC..... [more]

• Advances in AI are unlikely to push down interest rates in the short term, a key Federal Reserve official said Tuesday — a stark contrast to Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh’s plan for slashing borrowing costs..... [more]

• Bayer reaches $7.25B settlement over Monsanto's Roundup accusations.... [more]

• Bayer's (BAYGn.DE), shares slumped as much as 12% on Wednesday, wiping out the previous day's gains, as investors questioned whether a proposed $7.25 billion settlement of cancer lawsuits over its Roundup weedkiller.... [more]

• As Walmart and Target head in different directions, all eyes are on their new CEOs.... [more]

• Meta to buy millions more chips from Nvidia.... [more]

• Mark Zuckerberg arrived in court Wednesday morning to testify for the first time before a jury about claims that his social media platforms harmed children and teens..... [more]

• Meta Platforms (META.O), CEO and billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is set to be questioned for the first time in a U.S. court on Wednesday about Instagram's effect on the mental health of young users.... [more]

• Elon Musk’s xAI Gets $3 Billion Investment From Saudi-Backed A.I. Firm Humain, which was created by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year, said it made the investment just before xAI was acquired by SpaceX,.... [more]

• OpenAI, Anthropic Deals Power Abu Dhabi’s $100 Billion AI Bet. Government-backed AI investor MGX has a bullish plan to spend up to $10 billion annually over the next few years..... [more]

• Starbucks (SBUX.O), faced fresh pressure on Wednesday from a coalition of investors including public-sector pension funds that urged shareholders to vote against the reelection of two directors, citing persistent failure.... [more]

• Microsoft pledges $50 billion to tackle AI inequality as it warns of a ‘growing divide’.... [more]

• Apple Decouples From Nasdaq, Offering Alternative to AI-Fueled Volatility.... [more]

• Canada's annual inflation rate in January accelerated at a slower pace than the previous month as a big drop in gasoline prices helped cushion the impact of higher food and clothing prices, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday..... [more]

• Food prices are surging in Russia. Is the war hitting Russians in the pocket?.... [more]

• Why ECB’s Lagarde may leave her post early. Lagarde and Macron may want to future-proof the European Central Bank against a ‘Eurosceptic’ government in France.... [more]

• Ministers are considering a slower rise in the minimum wage for younger workers, amid fears over rising youth unemployment. Labour had promised in its manifesto to equalise national minimum wage rates.... [more]

• Inflation in the U.K. fell to a 10-month low largely on the back of lower food and gas prices, official figures showed Wednesday, a downward move that has reinforced expectations that the Bank of England will cut interest rates in March..... [more]

• BAE Systems. The boss of Britain’s biggest defence company has urged ministers to publish a long-delayed blueprint for military spending as soon as possible, as it posted record sales driven by a global increase in demand.... [more]

• Defence giant BAE Systems has hailed record results for 2025 while staff at its Lancashire sites continue striking over pay. One of Britain's biggest unions, Unite, has called the weapons maker's £2.6bn annual profit "obscene".... [more]

• Britons living in Europe face repayment hikes amid Reeves student loans row. UK graduates in Germany, Belgium and possibly other countries informed of rises as salary threshold is cut.... [more]

• The number of businesses collapsing into administration has surged by more than 40% in January as a raft of well-known names on the high street hit the wall. Official figures from the Insolvency Service.... [more]

• Orange posts solid 2025 results as Africa & Middle East drive growth.... [more]

• The rising risk of China turning Japanese. Beijing’s stimulus push may delay crisis, but without deeper reform, China risks a slower version of Japan’s long stagnation. The world today is witnessing an unsettling sense of economic deja vu..... [more]

• China’s more than 100,000 home furnishing companies - most of which are micro businesses - have entered a tumultuous phase as a property slump and persistent deflationary pressure prevent them from making profits..... [more]

• Japan plans to invest up to $36 billion in US oil, gas and critical mineral projects, the first tranche of its $550 billion commitment under the trade agreement it struck with President Donald Trump..... [more]

• Japan’s exports surge 17% in January, on strong shipments to China and other Asian markets.... [more]

• Russian crude shipments in January made up the smallest portion of India's oil imports since late 2022, according to data from industry sources, while Middle Eastern supplies rose to their highest share over the same period..... [more]

• Historic trade deals put India on global stage - but challenges remain.... [more]

• The Indian rupee closed nearly flat on Wednesday after drifting in a narrow range through the session, with traders pointing to both importer and exporter merchant flows alongside intermittent dollar sales by state-run banks..... [more]