Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The Australian sharemarket edged lower on Thursday, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 8.6 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 8525.70. The Aussie dollar was trading at US69.53¢ at 4.45pm AEDT..... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: Wall Street's main indexes dropped on ​Thursday following gains in the previous session, as conflicting signals from the U.S. and Iran on the prospects of a de-escalation ‌in the Middle East kept investors on edge..... [more]

• European Market Report: European stocks declined on Thursday as uncertainty lingered on the status of Middle East peace talks..... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian stocks gave up early gains to end mostly lower on Thursday after two consecutive days of gains on hopes for a de-escalation in the U.S.-Iran conflict..... [more]

Australian Business News

• Labor has backed in a pay rise for 2.7 million minimum wage earners as the Fair Work Commission deliberates further pay hikes. On Thursday, the Albanese government submitted to the Annual Wage Review.... [more]

• Federal government urges rise in minimum wage above rate of inflation.... [more]

• Petrol stations are reporting a surge in demand of up to 25% in the last fortnight alone on top of already major spikes earlier in the Iran war as Anthony Albanese comes under pressure to devise a national plan to cushion Australia.... [more]

• Number of WA service stations out of diesel increases by 207 per cent overnight.... [more]

• Petrol stations and suppliers found guilty of unfairly raising prices as a result of the war in the Middle East will be slapped with tough new penalties under measures passed by the federal government..... [more]

• What Australians must focus on at 55 to build enough superannuation before retirement. Your 50s may be the most powerful decade for super growth..... [more]

• With the Government still yet to deliver the next tranche of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes (DBFO) legislation, a panel of superannuation executives and trustees has pointed to the still grey dividing line.... [more]

• Why is gold falling despite Iran war uncertainty? Economic forces, not geopolitics, are dictating gold’s path as volatility rises..... [more]

• Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie says he is open to a 25 per cent tax on gas profits, soaring off the back of the Iran war. The Greens and former Climate 200-backed Senator David Pocock have championed a 25 per cent export tax.... [more]

• Pacgold Limited has substantially expanded its exploration footprint at its St George gold-antimony project in Far North Queensland, with recent surface sampling defining a mineralised corridor stretching more than 30 kilometres..... [more]

• Killi Resources jumps as much as +35% on gov’t grant for Mt Rawdon West drilling.... [more]

• Osmond pitches Spanish critical minerals play to feed robotics boom. The ASX-listed explorer has just taken centre stage at the prestigious Swiss Mining Institute conference in Zurich,.... [more]

• ETM returns to rare earths hotspot with $10m Greenland push.... [more]

• ‘Makes Covid look like a tea party’: Australian food prices could rise for the next year, farmers warn. Iran conflict could see shortages not just in fuel, but fertiliser and fossil fuel resins – used to make milk bottles.... [more]

• A Victorian shire recovering from a bushfire that destroyed more than 50 homes and businesses wants the federal government to force fossil fuel companies to help fund climate disaster recovery nationally..... [more]

• Corazon Mining has officially pulled the trigger on a maiden diamond drilling campaign at the company’s Two Pools gold project in Western Australia..... [more]

• Soul Patts Shares Close Green: Dividend Raised Again as Merger Lifts NAV.... [more]

• “We’ve been preparing ourselves for this for five years”: Soul Patts' Todd Barlow. Soul Patts’ CEO flexes cash generation and diversification, delivering a bumper dividend increase even as volatility rattles markets..... [more]

• Qantas will increase flights between Australia and Europe, as it responds to the strong demand driven by the fallout from the Iran war, which has led to thousands of flight cancellations by airlines using the Persian Gulf as a transit hub..... [more]

• BCAL Diagnostics accelerates Avantect rollout through Sonic and Healius networks.... [more]

• Australian tech figure Mike Cannon-Brookes’ fortune has been stripped of about $1bn as AI from Amazon and Anthropic threaten flagship software at Sydney-based Atlassian..... [more]

• Opinion - Greg Jericho: Rising profit margins turbocharged Australia’s latest inflation figures – but something worse is just around the corner.... [more]

• Analysis - David Swan: The walls are closing in on Mark Zuckerberg.... [more]

• Opinion - Stephen Bartholomeusz: The insider trading shadow hanging over Trump’s sudden backdown.... [more]

World Business News

• Gold’s tumble has created opportunities to buy these stocks at bargain prices. The gold miner sector has taken a beating since the Iran war started, but history suggests the selling may be short-lived.... [more]

• Goldman says to buy these 3 energy stocks that will see profit upside from Iran-war disruptions.... [more]

• US filings for jobless aid tick up last week to 210,000 but remain at historically healthy levels.... [more]

• Legendary investor Mohamed El-Erian warns that the economic impacts from the Iran war are about to hit a tipping point.... [more]

• Fannie Mae accepts first crypto-backed mortgage product.... [more]

• The US housing market was supposed to turn a corner this year, but economic uncertainty and a jump in mortgage rates fueled by the US-Israeli war in Iran are complicating affordability for American homebuyers..... [more]

• Trump's attacks on offshore wind could hurt infrastructure spending across the economy.... [more]

• How Anthropic's Pentagon deal could get revived..... [more]

• Six months and millions of dollars down the drain, OpenAI is pulling the plug on what it once called “the most powerful imagination engine ever built.” There seems to have been two key missteps in the Sora saga.... [more]

• Musk eyes 30% retail allocation for SpaceX IPO.... [more]

• Elon Musk is discussing allocating as much as 30% of SpaceX’s initial public offering to individual investors — at least three ​times the usual retail slice — leaning on his rabid fan base and other loyal backers to help steady the stock .... [more]

• The hot Fundrise VCX fund falls 45% as IPO mania subsides and investors get a crash course in risk. A buzzy fund offering access to pre-IPO AI companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI is trading well above the value.... [more]

• Warner Bros shareholders to vote on $110 billion Paramount merger on April 23.... [more]

• Best Buy’s stock is rallying amid takeover speculation. But here’s the real story. Some attributed the jump in Best Buy’s stock to the prospect of a takeover by GameStop, but.... [more]

• Meta and YouTube Found Negligent in Landmark Social Media Addiction Case. A jury found the companies harmed a young user with design features that were addictive and led to her mental health distress..... [more]

• Meta Platforms (META.O), shares dropped 7% on Thursday after two verdicts holding it liable ​for harm to young users sparked fears the social media giant may have to overhaul ‌the design practices.... [more]

• U.S. insurers Equitable (EQH.N), and Corebridge Financial (CRBG.N), said on Thursday they will merge in an all-stock deal that would create a $22 billion ​retirement, life insurance and asset management company..... [more]

• Five years after it was legalised in the state, cannabis is seemingly everywhere in New York. But, business owners say that many legitimate outlets are struggling – largely because of a thriving grey market.... [more]

• EU lawmakers approve trade deal with US but add safeguards.... [more]

• Energy disruptions stemming from the war in the Middle East could persist for years, and expectations for a quick return to normalcy may be too optimistic, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said in an interview.... [more]

• UK forecast to see biggest hit to growth from Iran war out of major economies.... [more]

• Bank of England policymaker Alan Taylor said on Thursday that he saw a high bar to hiking interest rates ​and it was preferable to hold borrowing costs until there was greater clarity ‌on the impact of the war in Iran on the economy..... [more]

• Ministers vow to spend record £8.4bn on road maintenance in England. Move is part of £27bn five-year investment plan for A-roads and motorways, with almost a third going on work such as resurfacing.... [more]

• UK gets biggest cut to growth outlook this year among world’s major economies. The OECD published the biggest downgrade to the UK’s growth outlook for 2026 than any other country in the G20 group of economies..... [more]

• The chief executive of the state-backed National Savings and Investments bank has been forced out over a scandal that left thousands of bereaved families being owed almost £500m..... [more]

• Swiss lender UBS (UBSG.S), has suspended withdrawals from its Euroinvest real ​estate fund for up to three years citing ‌insufficient liquidity, the bank said in an investor notice seen by Reuters..... [more]

• Chinese self-driving technology firm Pony AI plans to launch robotaxi services with partners Uber Technologies and Verne in Zagreb, Croatia, spearheading commercialisation of autonomous cabs in Europe.... [more]

• Asia Is Getting Crushed Between Oil Prices and the Dollar. From India to Southeast Asia to South Korea, currencies are crumbling as governments race to secure fuel that is priced in American money..... [more]

• Air China's losses widen in 2025 as fare pressure weighs, risks ahead from Iran war.... [more]

• Germany’s chemical giant BASF has launched operations at its China production base – its largest overseas investment to date – with a total outlay of €8.7 billion (US$10 billion), and the country’s first wholly foreign-owned.... [more]

• The US Justice Department last October announced the largest asset seizure in American history: a cache of bitcoin then valued at $15 billion tied to the Cambodia-based Prince Group that prosecutors alleged oversaw an empire of.... [more]

• Bank of Japan's new trend gauge shows inflation exceeding target.... [more]

• AMI Paradigm Solutions Private Limited (AMIPS), a joint venture between AM Group and ParadigmIT, has inked a binding transfer agreement (BTA) with L&T Technology Services(LTTS) to acquire its smart world and communication.... [more]