Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The Australian share market has closed higher, after shares in Afterpay led a rally among tech stocks, while mining and energy stocks also boosted the market. The ASX 200 index finished 0.6 per cent, or 35 points higher, at 5,955 points, coming off the highs of the session after approaching 6,000 points in afternoon trade..... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: The S&P 500 and Dow dropped on Thursday as fears of another round of business shutdowns to contain a surge in coronavirus cases overshadowed data pointing to a declining trend in weekly jobless claims..... [more]

• European Market Report: European markets finished broadly lower today with shares in London leading the region. The FTSE 100 is down 1.73% while France's CAC 40 is off 1.21% and Germany's DAX is lower by 0.04%..... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian markets finished broadly higher today with shares in China leading the region. The Shanghai Composite is up 1.39% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng is up 0.46% and Japan's Nikkei 225 is up 0.40%..... [more]

• North/South Americas Market Report: Markets closed lower across the region as at the most recent closing prices..... [more]

Australian Business News

• The Australian Stock Exchange will extend its COVID-19 emergency measures allowing listed companies to gain easier access to capital. The ASX has announced it will extend its capital raising relied measure until November 30, noting increasing infection rates overseas had caused uncertainty about when the global economy can recover from the pandemic..... [more]

• Corporate Australia: Alert, not alarmed.... [more]

• Middle-class professionals in inner-city suburbs face the highest financial impact from the coronavirus pandemic as government stimulus payments do not cover the losses faced by salary cuts and reduced working hours..... [more]

• Melbourne businesses are bracing for another “devastating” blow as more than 15 per cent say they will be forced to close for good during the city’s second coronavirus-induced lockdown. Residents in the bustling Victorian capital have retreated indoors for the next six weeks as the state government grapples with a surge in cases..... [more]

• Housing market sentiment collapses as COVID-19 continues to drag down prices.... [more]

• The value of new home loans fell 11.6 per cent in May, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The ABS said the fall was the largest recorded since it began the series on home loan values..... [more]

• Aussies unleash spending power in record numbers.... [more]

• ANZ boss Shayne Elliott warns bad loans will be a reality amid coronavirus fallout. The boss of one of Australia's biggest banks concedes that not all borrowers will survive the economic fallout from the pandemic, while backing the extension of loan repayment deferrals as a lifeline..... [more]

• First State Super will divest from thermal coal companies with the major superannuation fund upping its pro climate change stance. From October, the major wealth fund will start divesting from thermal coal producers as part of its longer term target to reduce emissions within its listed equity portfolio by 30 per cent..... [more]

• Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt has spoken out against the superannuation sector's latest move to divest coal miners because of climate risks, saying Australian coal would remain highly sought after by power generators and an attractive investment for decades..... [more]

• Altech flips switch on HPA plant development.... [more]

• Lindian Resources (LIN) has filed a notice of appeal in the High Court of Malawi. The company wants to fight a previous ruling on its right to a stake in the Kangankunde Rare Earths Project..... [more]

• 88 Energy to mop-up stock after successful XCD Energy bid.... [more]

• Tempus Resources ready to drill at high-grade Canadian gold project.... [more]

• Net-zero emissions by 2050 target adopted.... [more]

• Treasury Wine Estates’ shares have dropped after the winemaker said earnings would be lower by 21 per cent, and a significant drop in its Americas operations. Shares in Treasury were down 2.84 per cent to $10.96 at 1151 AEST, after it said full-year earnings before interest, tax and the agricultural accounting standard SGARA would be between $530 million and $540 million..... [more]

• Anteris Technologies hosting key opinion leader symposium to update on TAVR R&D program and ADAPT trial.... [more]

• Andrew Forrest buys Kimberley's Jubilee Downs and Quanbun Downs for more than $30 million.... [more]

• New tourism figures show the severity of the COVID-19 slowdown on Northern Territory tourism operators. Tourism Research Australia has released data showing the sector saw a 33 per cent drop for the month of March, as coronavirus restrictions took hold..... [more]

• Qld govt places six-month hold on all non-essential new IT projects.... [more]

• Clive Palmer’s legal challenge of Western Australia’s border closures has been delayed while WA’s expert witness helps Victoria with its latest coronavirus outbreak. The billionaire mining magnate is arguing the restrictions are contrary to section 92 of the constitution which provides for freedom of movement between the states..... [more]

• Telstra is set to permanently change the way it provides customer service post-COVID, with an aim to route all inbound voice calls through Australian call centres by sometime in 2022..... [more]

• Discrimination against women in the workplace spikes during coronavirus pandemic.... [more]

World Business News

• The S&P 500 and Dow dropped on Thursday as fears of another round of business shutdowns to contain a surge in coronavirus cases overshadowed data pointing to a declining trend in weekly jobless claims..... [more]

• The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits dropped to a near four-month low last week, but a record 32.9 million people were collecting unemployment checks in the third week of June, supporting expectations the labor market would take years to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic..... [more]

• Mnuchin says unemployed workers should not get benefits higher than their old wages in next stimulus plan.... [more]

• The debate over $600 payments could dictate the US recovery.... [more]

• The Trump administration plans to finalize regulations this week that will bar the U.S. government from buying goods or services from any company that uses products from five Chinese companies including Huawei, Hikvision and Dahua, a U.S. official said..... [more]

• United Airlines warns 36,000 workers they could be furloughed this fall.... [more]

• 'It's the heart of the brand': Disney World reopens as coronavirus cases spike in Florida.... [more]

• Look out below! Warren Buffett just dropped to his lowest ranking ever on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.... [more]

• Quicken Loans is going public: 5 things to know about the mortgage lender.... [more]

• US airlines are canceling flights to and from Hong Kong after the city said it would require all crew members to be tested for Covid-19 upon arrival. American Airlines (AAL), which had been scheduled to resume flights from Dallas to Hong Kong on Thursday, will now restart on August 5..... [more]

• Electric vehicle maker Fisker Inc is in talks to go public through a sale to a so-called blank-check acquisition company, modeled after a successful deal earlier this year by peer Nikola Corp NKLA.O, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday..... [more]

• Taxpayers face a day of reckoning when the government's massive coronavirus support measures have to be paid off, experts warn. The Institute of Fiscal Studies think tank says the economy will remain in a "support and recovery" phase for some time, but higher taxes are inevitable..... [more]

• British retail to lose further 5,000 jobs in blow to economy.... [more]

• BT and Vodafone have said their UK customers would face mobile phone signal blackouts if they are given three years or less to strip Huawei's equipment out of their 5G networks. Executives from the network providers told MPs that they.... [more]

• Boohoo shares bounce back after pledge to improve factory conditions. Fashion retailer lost almost £2bn value after revelations about Leicester suppliers.... [more]

• Walgreens to cut over 4,000 jobs at Boots on a dark day for U.K. jobs.... [more]

• A man from the West Midlands is the first person to have been arrested over suspected fraud with regard to the government’s job furlough scheme. The 57-year-old was arrested on 8 July in the Solihull area as part of an investigation into a suspected £495,000 fraud of the coronavirus job retention scheme..... [more]

• China seeks private role in transport projects. Planners want to inject ‘new vitality’ into economy as it recovers from coronavirus downturn.... [more]

• TikTok is a national security threat, US politicians say. Here's what experts think.... [more]

• A U.S. judge on Thursday refused to grant immediate bail to a Massachusetts father and son who are trying to avoid extradition to Japan, after being accused of helping smuggle former Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) chairman Carlos Ghosn out of that country..... [more]