Market Reports

• Australian Market Report: The S&P/ASX 200 finished the session down 96.4 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 8322.80,.... [more]

• U.S. Market Report: Wall Street's main indexes fell on Thursday, with the S&P 500 off record highs as a sell-off in heavyweight retailer Walmart and tech firm Palantir hit investor sentimen.... [more]

• European Market Report: European shares held steady on Thursday after suffering heavy losses in the previous session amid tariff concerns and uncertainty over U.S. rate cuts..... [more]

• Asian Market Report: Asian stocks retreated on Thursday as the minutes of the Federal Reserve's January policy meeting revealed concerns over inflation risks and U.S. President Donald Trump's harsh criticism of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy heightened tensions.... [more]

Australian Business News

• Unemployment rate edges higher to 4.1 per cent in January as workforce participation hits record high.... [more]

• Cash returns fall to zero as RBA slashes interest rates. It’s only going to get worse for Aussie savers already on their knees after the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut interest rates..... [more]

• Parliament’s economics committee says it remains “deeply concerned” about cultural problems in the banking sector, with ANZ in the firing line. The latest review of the big four banks.... [more]

• RBA February 2025 rate cut: Banks yet to pass on cuts. A huge number of Australian banks and lenders have yet to pass on the RBA’s historic rates cut..... [more]

• Self-managed superannuation funds now account for more than a quarter (25.1%) of the Australian superannuation industry, according to the latest Benchmark Report from specialist administration software provider, Class Super..... [more]

• Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt wades in on fight to save penalty rates for retail workers.... [more]

• Have the good times for CBA, Westpac, NAB and ANZ come to an end?.... [more]

• Only want to invest in the Magnificent Seven? There's an ASX ETF for that. The Magnificent Seven stocks of Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Tesla, and Alphabet have been a powerful collective force in the US share market.... [more]

• Young & Invested: Can millennials afford to buy a house in Australia? Is there any hope for younger people in our housing crisis?.... [more]

• ‘Misleading’: Gina Rinehart’s mining firm breached environmental code with ‘clean gas’ job ad, panel rules. Ad Standards Community Panel upholds complaint over Hancock Prospecting’s promotion in the Weekend Australian.... [more]

• Prime Minister says $2.4 billion package for Whyalla steelworks is an 'investment in the nation'.... [more]

• Troubled Whyalla steelworks gets $2.4bn government bailout as hunt for new owner begins.... [more]

• Santos plans to slash costs by up to $US150 million ($240m) over the next two years and boss Kevin Gallagher has again played down the prospects for WA’s Dorado oil project..... [more]

• Rio Tinto cuts dividends, profit falls as it grapples with China weakness.... [more]

• West Wits Mining secures US$50 million loan facility to develop Qala Shallows Gold Project in South Africa.... [more]

• No US? No problem: Whitehaven’s stake in Blackwater to go to Nippon for Q2CY2025.... [more]

• Cavalier is getting closer to a production pathway for its Crawford gold project after signing a non-binding stream financing term sheet valued at US$11m (A($17.5m) with precious metals streaming fund Raptor Capital International..... [more]

• Australia could become a competitive supplier of next-generation batteries after a Queensland company secured $30 million to establish a manufacturing facility. Brisbane-based firm VSPC announced plans to create the production line on Thursday.... [more]

• Nine Entertainment-owned Domain is poised to tackle a takeover offer from US property giant CoStar, which has picked up close to a 20 per cent stake in the digital real estate business..... [more]

• Wesfarmers’ shares (ASX: WES) have set off 2025 impressively, with gains of 8.68% year-to-date seeing the company to a new all-time-high of $79.43..... [more]

• Telstra still offers ASX income investors a reliable dividend yield says veteran fund manager.... [more]

• Telstra shares surge higher amid bumper dividend, profit.... [more]

• Meta and Google opt out of Sydney Mardi Gras amid move away from DEI in US.... [more]

• Analysis - Jackson Hewett: What’s next for iron ore as profits slump at big miners? If share prices are anything to go by, Australia’s economic prospects are looking grim..... [more]

• Opinion - Elizabeth Knight: Pre-election bailout: Does Whyalla deserve to be rescued?.... [more]

• Comment - Geoffrey Brooks: With Whyalla steelworks forced into administration, Australia has crucial decisions to make on the future of its steel industry .... [more]

World Business News

• Average US rate on a 30-year mortgage slips to 8-week low after fifth-straight weekly decline.... [more]

• An overlooked corner of the Trump trade is up more than 100% this year. The preferred shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants that entered a government conservatorship during the 2008 financial crisis.... [more]

• There are growing signs that the labor market is slowing, Fed’s Bostic says.... [more]

• What the bond yields are saying about where to invest in the stock market, according to Morgan Stanley's CIO.... [more]

• CEO confidence at highest level in three years, new survey finds.... [more]

• Clean Energy Was Lifting Manufacturing. Now Investment Is in Jeopardy. With the Trump administration reversing support for low-carbon power, the business case for making wind, solar and electric vehicle parts gets weaker..... [more]

• Walmart shares fell roughly 6% in early trading Thursday, as the big-box retailer said profit growth will slow this fiscal year even as sales continue to climb..... [more]

• Walmart rolled through 2024, but uncertainty about consumers and tariffs seep into year ahead.... [more]

• Trump is ‘not happy’ with Boeing over Air Force One delays, but airlines are growing upbeat.... [more]

• Shares of Talkspace (NASDAQ: TALK) fell sharply by 16% after the company provided revenue guidance for fiscal year 2025 that fell short of analysts' expectations..... [more]

• Quantum computing stocks advanced on Thursday after Microsoft launched a new chip that indicated the technology is not "decades away" as stated by the top boss of AI chip bellwether Nvidia..... [more]

• Palantir Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:PLTR) stock plummeted sharply again Thursday following news that CEO Alex Karp had adopted a new stock trading plan,.... [more]

• OpenAI's weekly active users surpass 400 million.... [more]

• Elon Musk may be on the brink of achieving the impossible: Salvaging his $44 billion investment in X .... [more]

• In a James Bond shakeup that stirred the film industry, Amazon MGM announced Thursday that the studio has taken the creative reins of the 007 franchise after decades of family control..... [more]

• Target sued by Florida for defrauding shareholders about DEI.... [more]

• The CEO of Airbus said on Thursday he would be happy if space merger talks with Thales (EPA:TCFP) and Leonardo led to a venture like the MBDA European missile project and hopes EU antitrust regulators will take a looser stance than in the past..... [more]

• EU trade chief says US shows willingness to work avoid tariff pain.... [more]

• Savings providers vow to fight any attempt to cut cash Isa limit to £4,000. City executives spoke to Rachel Reeves about reducing annual allowance from current £20,000, reports say.... [more]

• Birkenstocks may be cool enough for Barbie but the sandals do not qualify as works of art, a German court has ruled. The company had claimed its footwear could be classified as art and so was protected by copyright laws.... [more]

• Anglo American writes down value of diamond firm De Beers by $2.9bn. Sale of the miner, which is now valued at $4bn, may be delayed following ‘really, really difficult’ market.... [more]

• Campari plans restructuring to ensure financial health.... [more]

• American demand for weight-loss drugs is supercharging Denmark’s economy and transforming a small Danish community into an unlikely boomtown. Look back only two years ago and the name of Danish firm Novo Nordisk.... [more]

• China approves RedNote’s AI translation along with 5 other models. Approval for RedNote comes after claims last month that it might be using an unapproved model for its newly launched translation service.... [more]

• China’s foreign investment sank in January. Can Beijing turn things around?.... [more]

• Beijing allows Hong Kong banks to issue credit cards on mainland from March 1. The new rules will benefit lenders such as HSBC, Standard Chartered, Bank of East Asia and Hang Seng Bank, analysts say.... [more]

• Tesla Prepares for India Market Entry With First EV Shipment.... [more]

• Analysis - Reuters: As Trump seeks a deal with Putin, will Western companies return to Russia? .... [more]