Weekly Wrap

The New Zealand economy narrowly escaped recession in the three months to March 31, but like Australia, activity remains very weak as it continues to be affected by high interest rates.

What’s a central bank to do? Inflation is back on target after being above it for nearly three years, the economy is meandering, but there’s a looming election that could very well see the sitting government driven from office. So, when do you cut your key interest rate?

According to the June survey of big global investment managers by Bank of America, it's a bull market, and it's going to run and run.

The Coalition has unveiled an ambitious plan to construct seven nuclear power plants across Australia, aiming to have them operational between 2035 and 2037 if they win the next federal election.

For the first time ever, Nvidia on Tuesday leapfrogged Microsoft and Apple to become the most valuable company in the world.

There were no signs of weakness in the May jobs data, with nearly 40,000 new jobs, a small fall in unemployment, a drop in the jobless rate, and continuing high levels of participation.

As widely expected, the European Union will impose significant tariffs on imports of Chinese battery-powered EVs. However, the tariffs will not be uniform and will vary from company to company.

The great Apple charge continued Wednesday, with the company’s market value topping Microsoft’s for a while during trading, regaining the mantle as the world’s most valuable company.

Ahead of the US inflation data and the Fed interest rate decision tonight and early tomorrow respectively, cost pressures continue to show different outcomes in two of Asia’s major economies.

The boomlet in copper was again deflated on Tuesday, with London Metal Exchange prices and Comex futures prices in New York touching their lowest levels in seven weeks due to pressure from rising inventories and currency volatility.

Apple has made fools of all those investors, analysts, and others who had been chiding it (and stronger) for falling behind in AI – its big launch Monday was "underwhelming," according to most critics.

The recent federal budget had no positive impact on business conditions and confidence, according to the May monthly survey from the National Australia Bank.

Elon Musk wants shareholders in Tesla to approve his controversial multi-billion dollar share deal at Thursday’s annual meeting. To show that he has their best interests at heart, he says he will ban Apple products from Tesla cars and other products if the phone giant integrates OpenAI’s technology into its iPhones.

Reality drifted through global oil markets last week after OPEC+ bowed to reality and announced it would start easing its production caps, while keeping others in place until next year.

Last year was the warmest on record since global data collection began in 1850, with extreme weather and prolonged heatwaves pushing temperatures 1.18°C above the 20th-century average. This year, heatwaves have already affected the Middle East and Southeast Asia, starting as early as April, indicating a busy year ahead for power companies.

The Bank of Canada cut its key rates by 0.25%, joining central banks in Sweden and Switzerland, and ahead of the European Central Bank, which is widely forecast to cut by a similar amount on Thursday.

Market values continue to fluctuate at the top of Wall Street, and for the first time ever, a session finished with three companies worth $US3 trillion or more.

American investment analysts and traders have finally woken up to the strategy Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are using to invest surplus cash in US Treasury bonds.

Tesla's performance in China—its most important market—continues to flag, raising more questions about its performance this quarter and for the rest of 2024.

Never a good sign to show weakness when you claim to be controlling a key commodity market and expect to escape some sort of punishment. But that’s what the OPEC+ group did with its extension of its production caps until well into 2025—down went prices on Monday, thereby making all OPEC members poorer for at least a session.

Two product releases this week – one in northern China, the other in Tokyo, could very well help mark the end of the headless rush into pure electric vehicles or BEVs, the kind Elon Musk pushed into the foreground of public knowledge and ignited a boom in China and then around the world that is now spluttering.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has confirmed that five major Australian beef exporters, previously suspended from exporting meat to China, can now resume their operations. The suspension, imposed amidst a trade war between the two nations, has been lifted by Beijing with immediate effect.

ConocoPhillips has agreed to acquire Marathon Oil in an all-stock deal valued at $22.5 billion, including debt, as consolidation continues to reshape the US oil sector.