Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The S&P/ASX 200 edged down 6.9 points to close at 8786.50 on Friday, with five of 11 industry sectors in negative territory, capping off a week in which the market has lost ground..... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs on Friday, ​bolstered by optimism for possible negotiations between the U.S. and Iran to end their war and a surge in Intel shares that extended ‌the rally in semiconductor stocks..... [more]

• European Market Report: European stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Friday amid signs that the U.S. and Iran have made little progress toward de-escalating the Middle East conflict..... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Friday as U.S.-Iran tensions persisted over the control of the Strait of Hormuz..... [more]

Australian Business News

• U.S.-Iran talks to end the Middle East conflict have boosted stocks to new record highs. Tech has helped drive the gains – and what’s becoming clearer is the building strength of the AI theme. .... [more]

• The ASX is still open Monday, despite Anzac Day public holiday in NSW and elsewhere.... [more]

• Australians are loyal bank customers — often staying put for years — but new research suggests that loyalty is doing little for their wallets. A survey of 1000 Australians by cryptocurrency exchange Kraken found.... [more]

• A coalition of gender equity groups have penned a letter to Minister for Women and Minister for Finance, Katy Gallagher, ahead of the Federal Budget, urging for “meaningful reform” to the capital gains tax (CGT) discount..... [more]

• Four Australian influencers have been given warnings after being accused of “misleading and deceptive conduct” by a corporate watchdog. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said the “finfluencers” .... [more]

• Victorian government offers 20pc car registration discount in cost-of-living measure.... [more]

• Lazard’s recipe for growing dividends and less volatility. Lazard’s Defensive Australian Equity Strategy seeks ‘true economic diversification’ to deliver stability and growing income..... [more]

• Infini Resources has ticked off a key step in its Canadian uranium exploration push, with Saskatchewan regulators granting permits for the company’s maiden drilling at its Reynolds Lake and Reitenbach Lake projects.... [more]

• Woodside grilled by senator over political donations amid calls for new gas tax.... [more]

• ABx Group Ltd (ASX:ABX, OTC:AUSBF, FRA:A7B) earlier this week reported positive customer validation for its mixed rare earth carbonate produced from the Deep Leads – Rubble Mound and Wind Break deposits in Tasmania.... [more]

• An Australian company will test whether it can reduce emissions from electric vehicle batteries in a $38 million trial that could boost the nation's export potential. Western Australia firm PLS revealed on Friday.... [more]

• Meeka Metals (ASX:MEK) has emerged as the left-field winner of a process for a host of gold tenements offloaded by Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) in the Forrestania gold belt. The $36.5m offer will see Meeka, an emerging gold producer.... [more]

• Down 43% this week, are Cochlear shares now the best bargain buy of the year? A leading analyst believes the historic selloff in Cochlear shares could present a unique buying opportunity..... [more]

• A senior Woolworths manager has conceded price hikes and subsequent drops promoted as discounts were pre-planned at the request of product suppliers and claimed that if the supermarket didn’t comply.... [more]

• Nextdc Shares Hit 2026 High as A$750M Notes Boost Liquidity.... [more]

• Analysis - Mark La. Monica: Does the Australian market follow the same pattern as the US market?..... [more]

• Opinion - Victoria Devine: Women are better at investing. So why is finance still made for men? Whether she meant to or not, actor and producer Reese Witherspoon sparked a major online debate with just one Instagram post this week..... [more]

• Analysis - Gareth Hutchens: Former Treasury boss says Australians left with little to show from commodities boom. Why doesn't Australia collect more tax revenue on the sale of its natural resources? We are a high-income country..... [more]

World Business News

• Oil prices haven't seen the dramatic surge that some warned about from the war in Iran. Crude futures are above prewar levels, but still well below the more dire spikes that some forecasters had predicted .... [more]

• Jerome Powell’s final Fed press conference marks an end to an era. President Trump’s pick for Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, may cancel the regular Q&A with reporters.... [more]

• Tillis says he’s ready to move ahead with confirming Warsh as Trump’s pick as Fed chair. The Republican senator who had effectively blocked confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve.... [more]

• Inflation is being underestimated, but that might be a tailwind for markets, strategists say.... [more]

• Americans still feel lousy about the economy and worry that the US-Israeli war with Iran will continue to push up prices. The University of Michigan’s final consumer sentiment reading for April measured 49.8, a slight improvement .... [more]

• Tariff refunds put businesses on the spot. The Trump administration moved faster than anyone expected to build a system to repay businesses billions of dollars in tariffs. Now, the president is warning companies not to use it..... [more]

• How Intel’s CEO brought the storied company back from the brink. Just two years ago, Intel’s survival was an ‘existential question.’ Now the company is seeing new life..... [more]

• A union representing workers at Spirit Airlines said on Friday any U.S. bailout of ​the bankrupt low-cost carrier must protect employees. The Trump administration has made ‌a financing offer to help the airline exit bankruptcy.... [more]

• Apple, Best Buy and Lululemon’s new CEOs signal a generational shift, as companies navigate a more chaotic world. Apple, Best Buy and Lululemon Athletica all do business differently. But over the past week,.... [more]

• Forgotten no more: Generation X is driving beauty sales.... [more]

• Microsoft is offering about 7% of its US workforce the option to retire early, the latest attempt by a major tech firm to downsize while ramping up artificial intelligence investments. The one-time retirement program, a company first,.... [more]

• Procter & Gamble earnings beat estimates as sales grow 7%.... [more]

• U.S. President Donald Trump hosted ​winners of his second annual meme coin contest at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday, offering top buyers of his $TRUMP cryptocurrency an audience with ‌him.... [more]

• Musk Vies to Turn X Into Super App With Banking Tool Near Launch.... [more]

• Canada budget deficit over first 11 months of 2025/26 rises to C$25.55 bln.... [more]

• EU considers helping with Mideast energy infrastructure to bypass conflict zones. A painful fuel crunch and soaring oil and gas prices triggered by the Iran war have nudged the European Union to look hard into funding alternative energy routes.... [more]

• The British pound rose slightly against the dollar on Friday but was headed for a weekly loss, as traders kept an eye on stalled peace ​negotiations between the U.S. and Iran while some strong UK retail data ‌barely moved the needle..... [more]

• UK retail sales returned to growth last month as they were pushed higher by motorists stocking up on fuel as prices shot higher because of the Iran war, according to official figures..... [more]

• NatWest is at risk of an embarrassing showdown at its shareholder meeting this week as investors and scientists call for an urgent reversal of what they describe as “climate backtracking”. Campaigners including ShareAction.... [more]

• It's not often a thousand-word social media post from a US tech firm goes viral. But the post from Palantir - a 22-point manifesto of sorts - currently has over 30 million views on X. It is the work of the controversial company's co-founder.... [more]

• Swiss National Bank Chairman Martin Schlegel defended the central bank's investment ​approach on Friday, after campaigners from Minneapolis called ‌on the central bank to offload its $1.1 billion investment in Palantir Technologies.... [more]

• Ryanair to shut Berlin base as it blames rise in German aviation tax.... [more]

• Paper and packaging group Mondi has said it is taking pricing action to offset higher costs due to the Iran war amid ongoing tough trading that has seen it close factories and cut jobs across Europe..... [more]

• Shenzhen’s residential inventory has fallen to a seven-year low, putting the southern technology hub ahead of other first-tier Chinese cities in clearing excess housing stock – a condition investors see as essential.... [more]

• China's CITIC Securities quarterly profit jumps 55% on brokerage fees.... [more]

• China car giant BYD says it can thrive without US.... [more]

• Photos show China’s automakers unveiling the future of driving at Beijing auto show.... [more]

• Japanese computing and telecom company Fujitsu is aiming to develop an AI inference device that combines its own neural processing units (NPUs) with central processing units (CPUs), a high-stakes bid.... [more]

• India's RBL Bank's quarterly profit jumps on solid loan growth.... [more]