Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: Stocks in Australia gained ground to end the week higher after eight sessions of daily losses, with miners riding commodity prices upwards..... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq advanced to record closing highs on Friday, boosted by robust earnings and a dip ​in crude prices, and turning the page on their biggest monthly percentage gains in years..... [more]

• European Market Report: The UK stock market closed roughly flat on Friday when the rest of the markets, except Denmark, remained shut for May Day holiday..... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian bourses closed on a positive note on Friday, tracking Wall Street's strong performance on Thursday. Gains were limited as markets suspected currency market interventions by the Japanese government..... [more]

Australian Business News

• Supply disruptions emanating from the Middle East conflict have piled onto inflation pressures that were already bubbling under the surface. This week’s central bank run lays bare the bind policymakers face.... [more]

• Weekend Wrap: Snapping an eight-day losing streak.... [more]

• Labor tight-lipped on tax cut in the May 12 budget. The assistant minister charged with helping Treasurer Jim Chalmers put together the upcoming federal budget has refused to say if Australians can expect an extra tax cut.... [more]

• ANZ Bank chief executive Nuno Matos has sounded a warning over the economic risks that would arise from a prolonged conflict in the Middle East, as the bank delivered $3.8 billion in cash profits for its first half..... [more]

• What happened with ASX 200 banks stocks NAB and CBA in April?.... [more]

• Victorians will soon be able to save up to $372 on their 2025/26 car registration, with the government cutting the cost of car registrations by 20 per cent as the war in the Middle East continues to put pressure on families..... [more]

• With its proposed sale of InterPrac still yet to complete, Sequoia Financial Group has reassured the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) about governance questions which resulted from publicity.... [more]

• 5 things the market is missing (for now...). Amidst the macro turmoil, there are several pockets of opportunities for ASX investors. Are you paying attention?.... [more]

• The state government has announced a plan to unlock state-owned land for potential oil storage and refineries near ports along the Queensland coast. The plan will see land near ports in Brisbane, Townsville, Mackay, Gladstone,.... [more]

• Maritana Minerals has clocked up a solid March quarter, significantly bulking up its cash position and nudging its Black Swan processing hub closer to the starting line as it pivots from a developer to a long-term producer..... [more]

• Kaiser Reef has ramped up throughput at its Porcupine Flat processing plant in Victoria, successfully transitioning to a two-shift operation at its Maldon gold project..... [more]

• Mt Turner expansion potential highlighted by Lightning Minerals CEO.... [more]

• Green Technology Metals (ASX: GT1) has successfully raised $11 million to recapitalise the company and provides adequate funding to take the Seymour lithium project in Canada.... [more]

• Excitement builds as Redcastle Resources gears up to go mining.... [more]

• Liontown Ltd shares (ASX:LTR) has surged to its highest level since mid-2023, propelled by expansion approval at its flagship Kathleen Valley operation and a broader recovery in lithium market sentiment.... [more]

• Forrestania Resources has rung the till with a maiden inferred mineral resource of 58,700 ounces of gold at its Burracoppin project near Merredin in WA. The small but shallow resource is strategically positioned.... [more]

• Orora shares (ASX: ORA) closed at a fresh all-time low of A$1.31 to round out a difficult April, capping a brutal month that saw the company shed 30.69% of its value as earnings downgrades and geopolitical headwinds.... [more]

• Opinion - Mark LaMonica: Unconventional wisdom: Investing remains a craft - even in the age of AI. What a $19 million lunch with Warren Buffett reveals about judgement, process, and machines..... [more]

• Opinion - Matt Grudnoff: Rate hikes won’t fix inflation caused by fuel prices. The inflation figures released last week confirm what we already know: Inflation is up, and it’s all because of higher fuel costs..... [more]

• Analysis - Gareth Hutchens: Australian taxpayers also take on risk for major oil and gas projects. Why is that ignored? Major energy companies are telling Australians that this country's oil and gas industry relies "entirely" on private sector.... [more]

World Business News

• OPEC Plus, in Symbolic Gesture, to Increase Oil Production. The announcement came days after the United Arab Emirates withdrew from the group. The higher output will have little effect on global supplies..... [more]

• Wall St Week Ahead US stocks rally could find fuel in earnings, jobs data amid surging oil prices.... [more]

• Google’s first-quarter earnings report reflected its position as an artificial-intelligence winner — and as a savvy investor. The tech giant GOOGL +0.23% GOOG +0.34% reported net income of $62.6 billion for the March quarter.... [more]

• Here’s how Berkshire Hathaway did in its first quarter without Warren Buffett as CEO..... [more]

• Greg Abel moved to assure Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), shareholders that he will invest wisely and manage the conglomerate's massive cash stake without the burdens of bureaucracy, as he seeks to ​win over.... [more]

• Spirit Airlines shuts down after failing to reach a bailout deal, ending discount travel era.... [more]

• Airlines offer discounts to stranded Spirit Airlines travelers. Several airlines are offering "rescue" fares to stranded Spirit Airlines passengers after the budget carrier ceased operations early Saturday..... [more]

• Qualcomm stock skyrocketed after the chipmaker revealed a custom chip deal with an unnamed hyperscaler customer..... [more]

• Over the last decade, videogame retailer and original meme stock GameStop has struggled to contend with the dominance of online gaming, and its sales have declined. To turn things around, management is reportedly looking.... [more]

• Brazil's government will announce on ​Monday new measures to tackle household ‌indebtedness, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Thursday, signaling that the program will build ​on a previous one established in ​2023..... [more]

• ECB policymaker says euro zone recession concerns 'real and justified'.... [more]

• Santander completes £3bn takeover of TSB in ‘biggest investment in UK banking sector for 15 years’. Spanish-owned Santander said the deal went through on Thursday after recently securing the green light from regulators.... [more]

• Heathrow’s new chair has opened talks with airlines and the billionaire local landowner Surinder Arora to defuse a row that threatens to further delay the £49bn plan to build a third runway at Europe’s busiest airport..... [more]

• Airlines will be able to cancel flights weeks in advance, without losing valuable take off and landing slots at busy airports, if they face fuel shortages this summer..... [more]

• UCB to acquire Candid Therapeutics for up to $2.2 billion.... [more]

• Investment or waste? How the M4 relief road plan for Newport sums up Wales’s economic quandary. As potentially seismic Senedd elections loom, competing parties have differing visions of how to reinvigorate the economy.... [more]

• Finance leaders of China, Japan, South Korea and the ASEAN group of 10 Southeast ​Asian states said on Sunday they would ‌pay attention to risks stemming from excessive volatility in financial markets and stand ready to act if needed..... [more]

• Ant Group’s bank adds stock trading to Alipay app in Hong Kong.... [more]

• Taiwan’s Foxconn (2317.TW), said ​on Sunday its ‌second-generation low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites were launched via ​a SpaceX ​Falcon 9 rocket from ⁠California, marking the ​electronics manufacturer’s latest ​push into space technology..... [more]

• Singapore’s safe-haven status draws more Chinese capital into property sector. Mainland firms’ investments in Singapore fixed assets zoomed to 21 per cent of the total in 2025 from 2.5 per cent a year earlier.... [more]

• The Asian Development Bank on Sunday announced a $70 billion programme to expand energy and digital infrastructure across the ​Asia-Pacific region by 2035, aiming to strengthen power grid ‌links,.... [more]

• Air India’s board will meet on May 7 to review cost-saving measures, discuss CEO succession plans and consider the airline’s FY26 financials as mounting losses and the Middle East conflict intensify pressure on the Tata Group-owned.... [more]

• Kuwait’s oil production expected to reach 2.628 million bpd in June, state media reports.... [more]

• Comment - William Pesek: Asian currencies wilting in the Iran war’s heat. India and Indonesia aren’t often at the center of the global financial zeitgeist. But as the rupee and rupiah lead Asian currencies down and down.... [more]