Gold bugs will be beside themselves as China has stayed out of the very expensive gold market for the fourth month in a row.

Two of the oddities of the June 30 reporting season were the better-than-expected results from JB Hi-Fi and Gerry Harvey's relaxed attitude after a stronger-than-anticipated end to his company's tough financial year.

In a further sign that the U.S. labour market is cooling, job openings in July slumped to a more than three-year low.

The US coal industry is hunkering down as falling sales and revenues take an increasingly large bite out of bottom lines. The situation worsened earlier this year when the destruction of a bridge in the US East Coast port of Baltimore disrupted coal exports for a couple of months.

US homebuilders are experiencing the most significant credit crunch in over a decade, with banks reducing lending for residential construction by more than 10%.

The Australian economy performed slightly better than forecast in the June quarter, but it still showed weakness for both the three months and the 2023-24 financial year.

Demand for oil and key products like gasoline is waning, sending global crude prices to nine-month lows on Tuesday. As U.S. markets reopened after the Labor Day holiday, which marks the end of summer and the return to business as usual, prices plummeted.

If Australia avoids a recession in today’s (Wednesday) national accounts for the June quarter, it will be due to positive contributions from trade and government financial transactions.

BYD broke its record for sales in August, while Tesla came close to achieving its best performance in the ultra-competitive Chinese market over the past year as Elon Musk’s EV company regained some momentum.

Has China’s property crunch infected Hong Kong’s huge sector, or are the problems at Star Entertainment Group adding to the woes of a major business family in the former UK colony?

China’s EV boom remains alive and continues to grow—well, for industry leader BYD, that is, thanks to its determined push deeper into so-called plug-in hybrids.

Mineral exploration hit a two-year low in the three months leading up to June, as deep cuts to spending by both large and small mining companies since the start of the year caught up with the industry in the final months of the 2023-24 financial year.

Good news from the home building industry at the start of 2024-25.

Gold ended August and the week with a gain, despite a mid-session pullback on Friday. The U.S. dollar and bond yields strengthened after the key U.S. inflation measure came in as expected, increasing the likelihood of a rate cut in ten days.

Gold still ended with a gain for the week and August, even though itfell off from a record high mid session Friday as the US dollar and US bond yields tightened after the key US inflation measure came in on forecast and brought a rate cut closer in 10 days time.

Oil prices experienced another weak week, culminating in a 3% decline on Friday. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude closed at $73.55 per barrel, marking the third consecutive weekly loss. Brent crude also fell, ending the week at $76.93. For August, both benchmarks declined by 0.66%.

Iron ore prices concluded a challenging August slightly above $100 per tonne in Singapore but appeared quite battered.

A holiday in the U.S. today will provide a brief respite from market activity, but attention will quickly shift to domestic economic data. On Friday, investors will closely watch U.S. jobs data, while Australian markets will focus on the June quarter national accounts on Wednesday.

Inflation rates on both sides of the Atlantic continue to cool, setting the stage for interest rate cuts by key central banks later this month.

The latest official survey of activity in China's manufacturing sector confirms that August was another sluggish month for the country's economy.

A month ago, markets were caught off guard by the fallout of a Japanese interest rate hike that sent shockwaves through the financial world, triggering a massive unwinding of the yen carry trade.