Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The Australian sharemarket closed the week in negative territory. The S&P/ASX 200 was down 9.9 points, or 0.11 per cent, on Friday, taking the index to 8630.8, but leaving it 1.3% lower over the five-day period. .... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: Wall Street's main indexes ​pulled back sharply on Friday, as inflation fears triggered by the Middle East conflict drove up Treasury yields and ‌threatened to derail an AI-fueled rally that had driven stocks to record highs..... [more]

• European Market Report: European stocks closed sharply lower on Friday on renewed concerns about inflation as oil prices rose sharply amid Middle East tensions. A lack of positive outcome from the U.S.-China summit weighed as well on sentiment..... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian stocks declined on Friday after U.S. Treasury yields hit one-year highs, prompting traders to increase their bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike this year..... [more]

Australian Business News

• ChartWatch ASX Scans: Xero, Wisetech Global, Macquarie Group, Sky Metals, Weebit Nano, Austal, IDP Education.... [more]

• Coalition leader Angus Taylor has been slammed for “un-costed nonsense” after unveiling a plan for one of the biggest cuts to migration in Australia’s history and a $22 billion tax overhaul..... [more]

• Donald Trump and his war in Iran is sparking Australia’s peak union group to push for pay rises for minimum and low wage workers above the current rate of inflation. The Australian Council of Trade Unions will ask the industrial umpire.... [more]

• Control space, control the world: how to invest in the space economy. The space economy could be worth $1.8tr within nine years. Here’s how ASX investors can access the theme..... [more]

• Commonwealth shares have recovered back to $160ea. How much higher can they go?.... [more]

• Big banks leading the Australian sharemarket may be coming to an end, global asset managers warn, on the back of $30bn being wiped from Commonwealth Bank’s value on Wednesday..... [more]

• High-income earners use discretionary trusts to pay less tax, but will budget change have unintended consequences?.... [more]

• The continued uncertainty around the future of Sequoia Financial Group’s InterPrac business is taking a toll with the business losing 14 advisers this week. Analysis of the Financial Adviser Register by Padua’s WealthData noted.... [more]

• Iress has appointed Darryl Campbell-Blackwell as chief technology officer, placing him in charge of platform modernisation, AI adoption across its products and the growth of its core wealth platform Xplan..... [more]

• Chariot Resources has firmed up the company’s Nigerian lithium acquisition deal by adding a key lease in its Fonlo project area at no extra purchase cost, while extending the deal timetable..... [more]

• Alkane Resources posts record $93 million quarterly profit as expanded mine portfolio lifts production.... [more]

• Viridis Mining and Minerals has hailed a major milestone at its flagship Colossus rare earths project in Brazil, completing a targeted infill drilling campaign that will lift resource confidence, support a resource upgrade.... [more]

• Dateline Resources has punched out another set of monster gold hits at its wholly owned Colosseum project in California, with drilling now extending to the northeast, well beyond the planned North Pit.... [more]

• Liberty Bell Bay smelter workers get another two weeks pay reprieve. Workers at Tasmania's only manganese smelter will have their wages paid for another two weeks in a deal struck between the state and federal governments..... [more]

• Where to from here for CSL shares according to Macquarie.... [more]

• AirAsia has been forced to axe routes from Australia to Bali because of surging jet fuel costs. The company announced Friday the Melbourne to Denpasar and Adelaide to Denpasar routes will fly for the last time on June 18..... [more]

• Flight Centre is seeking to rationalise its cloud subscriptions across its global operations in a bid to lower costs and adjust to increasingly flukey headwinds expected to hit the travel sector..... [more]

• Xenitra has recorded more than $500,000 in product sales through its OPAL real world asset tokenised sales ecosystem in China within a month of the launch..... [more]

• Opinion - Millie Muroi: Don’t listen too intently to the racket around Labor’s latest tax changes: it’s about time the government did something that ruffled some feathers..... [more]

• Opinion/Analysis - Mark LaMonica: Five ways to invest smarter under the new tax regime. Higher taxes on capital gains have shifted the relative attractiveness of investments, structures and strategies..... [more]

• Analysis - Colin Kruger: Woolworths will be battening down the hatches after ACCC slays Coles’ false discounts.... [more]

World Business News

• Powell’s tenure as Fed chair marked by fight for independence while trying to tame inflation.... [more]

• U.S. factory production posted its largest increase in 14 months in April, driven by motor vehicles and demand for technology goods amid an artificial intelligence spending boom.... [more]

• Family investors turn to old-economy businesses like dealerships and fisheries to avoid AI disruption. Equity Group Investments, backed by the family of late billionaire Sam Zell, owns a John Deere dealership, a bluefin tuna fishery.... [more]

• Nvidia, Intel and other hot chip stocks fall as AI exuberance fades. ‘Even a little bit of China disappointment is enough to cause ripples throughout the industry,’ analyst says.... [more]

• The CEOs ​of Meta (META.O), Alphabet (GOOGL.O), TikTok and Snap (SNAP.N), have been invited back to Capitol Hill to answer questions from U.S. ‌lawmakers about children’s online safety, according to a Senate aide..... [more]

• Cerebras success could lead to IPO wave.... [more]

• Cerebras’s stock looks like a risky bet on AI hype. The chip company’s shares trade at a very expensive sales multiple on a trailing basis.... [more]

• Whirlpool stock hits 52-week low at $40.36.... [more]

• Space-sector stocks are trading lower on Friday as the market prepares for industry leader SpaceX to officially file for its initial public offering — something that could happen as soon as next week..... [more]

• What was argued at the Musk-Altman trial? Over the past three weeks, Elon Musk and his lawyers have argued in a California federal court that Sam Altman +video only+.... [more]

• Detroit automakers have cut more than 20,000 U.S. salaried jobs as AI threat looms. As artificial intelligence expands, it threatens to exacerbate a growing trend for America’s largest automakers: the elimination of white-collar workers..... [more]

• Top prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket have witnessed a surge in suspicious trades this year, highlighting the popularity of the models with investors but causing a challenge to the platforms.... [more]

• Starbucks on Friday announced another round of corporate layoffs and said it plans to shutter some regional support offices as part of its ongoing turnaround..... [more]

• Argentina inflation dips in April.... [more]

• India's free trade deal with Britain, initially expected to be implemented ​by May, has hit an expected hurdle ‌over the UK’s new steel import curbs, India's trade secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Friday..... [more]

• The pound was heading for its worst week in 18 months on Friday as City traders anticipated that the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, could face a challenge from the Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, later this year..... [more]

• UK borrowing costs rise and pound falls as leadership drama continues.... [more]

• Two former finance directors of collapsed firm Carillion have been fined and banned by the accounting watchdog for acting “recklessly” in the lead up to the outsourcing giant’s high-profile demise eight years ago..... [more]

• Tesco boss’s pay rises by more than £1m to £10.8m after market share surge. Ken Murphy’s pay could rise even higher following scrapping of food waste target and weakness of rivals.... [more]

• A court ​in Moscow has upheld the ‌Russian central bank's claim to recover damages from Euroclear related to the ​freezing of assets worth 18.17 ​trillion roubles ($249.43 billion), according to Euroclear's ⁠lawyers..... [more]

• Salesman Trump leaves China with very little in his bag. Summit yields agreement to continue talking about a potential framework for a deal – though unlikely during Trump’s term.... [more]

• US President Donald Trump and Chinese officials discussed artificial intelligence “guardrails” and Nvidia’s H200 chips during his just-ended state visit to Beijing..... [more]

• Hong Kong Q1 GDP expands 5.9% y/y, government maintains 2026 growth forecast.... [more]

• Peugeot and Jeep, owned by French-Italian automotive group Stellantis, have committed to fresh investments to build electric cars with its partner Dongfeng Motor, as more international marques join the fight against Chinese rivals.... [more]

• How low will Indonesia’s falling rupiah go? Rupiah recently hit a record low per dollar and it’s not clear Bank Indonesia has the ammunition or credibility to stem the decline.... [more]

• A looming 18-day strike at South Korean chip giant Samsung that has triggered worries within the government, rattled foreign investors and threatened global supply chains rests on one crucial question: who should share in the spoils.... [more]

• Rapido, which rivals Uber and Ola in India’s ride-hailing market, has raised a fresh $240 million in funding led by Dutch technology investor Prosus at a valuation of $3 billion, higher than its last valuation of $2.3 billion.... [more]

• India raises export duty on petrol, cuts those on diesel and aviation fuel.... [more]

• UAE to complete second oil pipeline bypassing strait of Hormuz by 2027. State oil company fast-tracks previously undisclosed project, which is expected to double export capacity.... [more]

• Opinion - David Fickling: The Energy Crisis Is Becoming a Currency Crisis. Have a look at a list of the worst-performing currencies since the start of the US and Israeli war with Iran, and a striking but unsurprising pattern.... [more]

• Analysis - Allison Morrow: Good luck, Kevin Warsh! You’re going to need it.... [more]