[for TV] Australia's unemployment rate edged down to 4.4% in May. This comes after April's uptick to 4.5%, which had surprised economists. Now, from the RBA's perspective... higher household spending and the joblessness rate edging lower signal the economy might still be running hot... and support the case for the Central Bank to hike rates. Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate saw an even larger decrease in May, down 0.6 percentage point to 10.4%. Overall, 40,000 jobs were

Bell Potter has updated its gold tracker, for a world where a peace deal between the US and Iran holds up. Which seems more and more uncertain as the two parties are yet to sign a solid deal. Golden Tailwinds Bell Potter notes that markets have already begun pricing in a cessation of hostilities. The broker expects the trend to remain towards a ceasfire. which should lead to a reversing of oil prices, and an increase in gold prices. Bell's analyst anticipates lower inflation

The S&P/ASX 200 gave back some recent gains and finished 0.38% lower at 8,932.10 points on Thursday. This was after Wall Street closed lower, with investors scaling back expectations for any policy easing. Nine of the 19 voting FOMC members flagged the possibility of rate hikes amid still-elevated US inflation, the Federal Reserve leaving rates on hold, and new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh indicating the era of forward guidance was over. Locally, the US-linked tech sector fell

The S&P/ASX 200 defied expectations on Wednesday, gaining 0.54% to 8,966 points as details emerged on the US-Iran deal. US President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen this Friday. Gold was in focus again on hopes of easing inflation, with Newmont up 2.5%. The energy sector lagged however, with Woodside dropping 3.3%. In company news, Flight Centre cut its FY26 profit guidance due to flow-on effects from the Middle East conflict. But the stock still ros

ResMed's margins have almost tripled over the past quarter... [TV bullets, seen here: https://ausbiz.com.au/media/market-update-anz-coles-resmed-qantas-evolution-mining-collins-food?videoId=48271] Indeed, the medical devices company has seen gross margin expand by 290 basis points to 62.2 per cent. Meanwhile... third quarter revenue were up 8 per cent on a constant currency basis, reaching 1.4 billion dollars. [Stock price] And ResMed says it has returned 262 million dollars

Virgin Australia expects to grow its earnings & costs in the second half of FY26. The airline anticipates demand for air travel to remain strong, and will increase domestic capacity by around 2 to 3 %. This means capex will increase in the second half, with the purchase of a new aircraft... in addition to restructuring and IT costs. In the first half, underlying earnings were up 11.7% to $490 million. But Statutory profit came in 28% lower on the previous corresponding period

Seek has narrowed its FY26 guidance to the upside after improving yields in the first half. Seek says AI-enabled ads and an outcome-based pricing has increased its yield, offsetting a decrease in volume caused by macroeconomic conditions and its freemium offer. Seek still recorded a loss of $178 million in the first half, due to a previously declared loss in value from its investment in a Chinese jobs platform. Seek is now targeting between $195 and $215 million in adjusted p

Cochlear as flagged that its profit for this financial year should be towards the lower end of guidance as the rollout of an implant took longer than expected. For FY26, underlying net profit is expected at the lower end of guidance, currently in the 435 to $460 million range. In the first half of the financial year, Cochlear has reported a sales revenue growth of 1%, but down 2% in constant currency. Underlying net profit was down 9% to $195 million. Cochlear expects a stron

Roaring company results sent the S&P/ASX 200 past the 9,000 point mark this Wednesday. The index gained 1.66% to 9,014.88 points, pushed higher by the banking sectors as the Commonwealth Bank was reporting. Echoing August 2025, results season once again triggered large share price movements. ASX-mammoth CBA banked its best day in six years, up 6.8% as it reported record first-half cash earnings, thanks to robust growth in lending and deposit volumes. Heading the oth

James Hardie has marginally increased its FY26 earnings guidance, saying it is taking actions to mitigated a "mixed macro backdrop". In the third quarter, the building materials manufacturer has reported a 30% increase in net sales, which comes down to 1% in organic net sales due to the company using its inventory. CEO Aaron Erter has declared that James Hardie is in the process of optimising manufacturing, and aligning costs to what is described as a stabilising pace of dema

BlueScope has received a takeover proposal valuing it at $30 a share. This unsolicited and non-binding offer has been made by a consortium composed of Kerry Stokes' SGH and the US-listed Steel Dynamics. Under the offer, SGH would aquire all of Bluescope's shares and then sell the North American businesses to Steel Dynamics. The BlueScope board says it is currently reviewing the offer. Looking back to late 2024 and early 2025, Steel Dynamics had already approached BlueScope wi

The S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.72% to 8,635 points as it opened the last full trading week of 2025. AI bubble fears sent Wall Street lower, with these losses reverberating locally this Monday, in addition to weaknesses in the miners. With copper giving back recent gains, and iron ore prices also lower, diversified miner BHP dropped by 2.9%. Fortescue also shed 1%, on the day it flagged plans to fully acquire a Peruvian copper miner. Meanwhile the ASX stock itself was in t

Morgan Stanley has published a note on Rio Tinto, following the miner's Capital market Day. The investment bank rates the stock 'equal-weight', with a $129.50 target price. The stock has just reached a record high of around $140 on stronger copper prices, but the bank warns of higher capex in FY27, before being reduced due to lower decarbonisation spending. Morgan Stanley says the Capital Market Day was slightly below expectations which may lead to some rotation into BHP . A

Both Jefferies and Morningstar are flagging customer growth risks for Xero. The brokers says customer growth is being impacted by price hikes, and noted the difficulty to win new customers in a mature ANZ market. Jefferies has cut its price target to $135.50 per share, while retaining it's 'hold' rating. However, Citi has retained its 'buy' on Xero , with potential US upsides following the Melio acquisition. Meanwhile - Morningstar is forecasting subdued growth earnings for t

Higher commodity prices overnight were not enough to compensate for the weakness seen in CBA

A batch of companies are reporting on the September quarter today... Starting with Coles , reporting a 3.9% increase in sales revenue growth. This was pushed by a 4.8% growth in Supermarkets revenue, while it was down 1.1% for the liquor segment. Meanwhile, eCommerce sales grew across both segments. Sales growth seem to be higher than Woolworth's , up 4.6% in Supermarkets and down 1.4% in Liquor, while Woolies reported a 2.7% sales growth on Wednesday. Coles adds that at the

Santos is considering the development of gas facilities, but faces obstacles from landholders and fields owners

The S&P/ASX 200 ended the session flat, dragged down by tech stocks tracking a weaker session in New York. The local market was 0.1%...

The S&P/ASX 200 continued to slide from record highs, down 0.27% to 8,956.80 points this Tuesday. Consumer discretionary was the...

The S&P/ASX 200 rose more than 1% to close at 8,945.9 points during Thursday's trade, supported by gains in the miners and the banks. ...