Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The Australian sharemarket closed in the red on Thursday, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.4 per cent or 38.60 points lower, at 8889.2..... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: The S&P 500 dropped to an over two-week low and the Nasdaq sank to its lowest level in more than two months on Thursday..... [more]

• European Market Report: European stock markets are trading on a cautious note ahead of interest rate decisions by the Bank of England as well as the European Central Bank..... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, reflecting the continued weakness in technology stocks which mirrored their peers on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.... [more]

Australian Business News

• The Reserve Bank’s latest rate rise adds pressure to household budgets, yet many factors continue to underpin long-term property demand..... [more]

• Within hours of the RBA announcing a rate rise, all four major banks have passed on the mortgage pain to their customers. On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank lifted interest rates by 25 basis points following its first meeting of 2026..... [more]

• The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has moved to prompt more investors affected by the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian funds to seek compensation via the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.... [more]

• The Albanese government is seeking to put a hold on increases to the beer excise for the first time in 40 years. The Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025 seeks to pause the indexation of customs duty rates.... [more]

• Silver ceiling: why solar may cap the precious metal’s run. Speculation drove silver’s surge — but the high prices are now pushing solar makers to switch to copper.... [more]

• Gold miners set to dominate ASX 100 in March index rebalance.... [more]

• Litchfield Minerals Limited has reported compelling assay results from its phase two reverse circulation (RC) drilling at its Oonagalabi copper-zinc project in the Northern Territory..... [more]

• Western Mines Group has confirmed extensive magmatic nickel sulphide mineralisation at the company’s remarkable Mulga Tank project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields following receipt of assays from a deep diamond core tail.... [more]

• Union urges Sanjeev Gupta to sell Tahmoor mine as $350m offer revealed.... [more]

• Celsius Resources (ASX: CLA) is preparing to step up activity at its Botilao porphyry copper-gold prospect after receiving Philippine government approval for the exploration permit, with the Philippine Mines and Geosciences Bureau.... [more]

• NextSource Materials signs LOI with Japanese battery materials producer for EV anodes.... [more]

• Glencore, Rio abandon merger talks for the third time.... [more]

• IDF supplier Bisalloy Steel targeted by Herzog protesters. Wollongong Friends of Palestine are holding a 48-hour community picket at the gates of Bisalloy Steel’s Unanderra plant to protest the visit of Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog..... [more]

• Ardea Resources has locked in up to a whopping $1 billion in financing support from two government-backed agencies to develop its globally significant Goongarrie nickel hub outside Kalgoorlie in Western Australia..... [more]

• Chinese ban on Tesla-style door handles likely to flow through to Australia.... [more]

• Cognizant Shares Edge Higher on Strong Q4 Beat.... [more]

• A discussion paper released by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) says the $13 billion plan, designed to manage water resources, needs to do more. The MDBA, first established in 2007.... [more]

• Bunnings has successfully overturned a decision by the privacy commissioner that found the hardware retailer breached the privacy of thousands of customers by trialling facial recognition technology.... [more]

• ANZ deploys Agentforce to supercharge new CRM system.... [more]

• Ferry operator TT-Line is confident its two new Spirit of Tasmania vessels will begin operating by October — but it says there is a "risk" its existing ships might not be sold by then..... [more]

• Opinion - Stephen Bartholomeusz: President Donald Trump’s nominee as the next chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board, Kevin Warsh, wants to shrink the bank’s balance sheet significantly. That’s not a riskless objective..... [more]

• Opinion - James Gruber: Are you neglecting the non-financial aspects of retirement planning? Retirement doesn’t always feel like the perpetual holiday that we imagine it will be. These tips can help..... [more]

• Opinion - Grace Alvino: What's the likelihood of a stock market crash before the end of 2026? Market volatility feels uncomfortable, but history shows it's often the price of long-term returns rather than a warning sign..... [more]

World Business News

• The pain for bitcoin is worsening. Fear of an even more prolonged downturn has begun to seep into conversations among investors as bitcoin's sell-off brought the top crypto to a 15-month low below $70,000 on Thursday..... [more]

• Bitcoin sinks under $70K as new investors lose faith.... [more]

• Tether Holdings SA invested $100 million in Anchorage Digital Bank NA, boosting the federally charted crypto bank’s valuation to $4.2 billion..... [more]

• Gold prices fall, silver plummets with recovery short-lived.... [more]

• Silver Is So Pricey That the World’s Largest Jeweler Is Switching to Platinum. Pandora, known for its charm bracelets, is trying to reduce its exposure to the volatility in silver prices, the latest setback for a company.... [more]

• U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday there was "not much" doubt in his mind that benchmark U.S. interest rates will be lowered by the Federal Reserve..... [more]

• Steady bond market shaken by jitters over the job market, U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. ‘Jobs data have been a key argument for rate cuts,’ strategist notes, and Thursday’s weak labor reports saw the odds rise for a March rate cut.... [more]

• Private-sector hiring slumped in January, adding just 22,000 jobs.... [more]

• With names like Nvidia, Oracle, and CoreWeave down double digits in the last few months, the AI trade appears to be stuck in a rut. But far from a temporary blip, the diminished fortunes of the market's tech leaders might represent.... [more]

• Where billionaires’ investment firms placed their bets in January.... [more]

• Boeing and Airbus stock rises on potential Saudi Arabia jet order talks.... [more]

• How Apple’s stock has become a surprise winner during the $1.2 trillion tech wipeout. Apple has been long criticized for its lack of an AI strategy, but now the company’s more measured approach to spending looks attractive.... [more]

• Alphabet is taking on OpenAI with a gusto that underscores Wall Street's perception that the Google parent is the leader in AI, a turn of events from a year ago when investors thought it was badly lagging behind rivals.... [more]

• Novo’s Launch of Weight-Loss Pill Spoiled by Hims’ Copycat.... [more]

• Peloton posted a worse-than-expected holiday quarter on Thursday after shoppers failed to shell out for its new AI-driven product line and turned away from higher subscription prices, sending shares down more than 20% in early trading..... [more]

• Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos on Tuesday faced skeptical lawmakers during a Senate hearing on his company’s pending $83 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming and studio assets..... [more]

• The two artificial intelligence startups behind rival chatbots ChatGPT and Claude are bracing for an existential showdown this year as both need to prove they can grow a business that will make more money than they’re losing..... [more]

• Elon Musk’s bold new plan to put AI in orbit isn’t as crazy as it sounds.... [more]

• Winklevosses’ Gemini to Cut Jobs, Scale Down in Crypto Retreat.... [more]

• Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos remains committed to the publication, its top editor told CNN in an interview Wednesday, hours after the Post laid off hundreds of employees..... [more]

• Bank of Canada says restructuring of economy will take years.... [more]

• Hedge funds posted positive returns in January thanks to ripples of market volatility stemming from U.S. military action in Venezuela, questions around the independence of the Federal Reserve and a cold snap.... [more]

• UK interest rates held at 3.75% but Bank says future cuts likely.... [more]

• BT sales slip after shedding broadband customers.... [more]

• Shell is considering fossil fuel investments in Venezuela worth billions of dollars, according to its chief executive. Wael Sawan said Europe’s largest oil company is weighing plans for production projects off the Venezuela.... [more]

• China is asking state firms to halt talks over new projects in Panama, as part of Beijing’s broader retaliation after the Central American country voided CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.’s contract to operate two ports along its strategic canal.... [more]

• KFC, Pizza Hut operator Yum China accelerates expansion amid ‘early signs’ of spending thaw.... [more]

• Taiwan's Foxconn (2317.TW), on Thursday flagged strong expectations for its first quarter performance, after reporting a 35.5% year-on-year rise in January revenue..... [more]

• Indonesia president has ordered firm action against stock market violations, minister says.... [more]

• Indonesia’s Rating Outlook Cut by Moody’s on Policy Concerns.... [more]

• Why US-Bangladesh rushed through a pre-election trade deal. With LDC graduation looming and elections just days away, Dhaka turns to Washington for tariff relief and economic reform hope.... [more]

• India's SEBI proposes letting infrastructure trusts hold projects beyond initial tenure.... [more]

• Dubai’s potent lure: the reality behind the real-estate frenzy. Bankers and billionaires are flocking to the city where income tax is zero but critics say it ignores money laundering – and pay disparities are huge.... [more]