Australia

The global stock market surged Friday, as possible trade talks between China and the U.S. lifted risk sentiment. This came after disappointing earnings from Apple and Amazon, two tech giants in the world of technology, fueled concerns about the potential impact of a trade war. China's Commerce Ministry said Friday that the United States had repeatedly expressed their willingness to negotiate tariffs, and that Beijing was open for discussions. This could help ease trade tensions which have been roiling global markets. Apple's share buyback program was cut and Apple warned that tariffs would add $900 million to costs in the...

The dollar and stocks both edged up on Tuesday, as the Trump administration softened some tariffs in response to automakers' pressure. This comes ahead of an important week for economic data. Officials said that the U.S. will take steps to reduce the impact on domestically produced cars of foreign parts, and prevent tariffs on imported cars from piling up. The European and S&P500 futures both rose by 0.1%. However, the gains were not significant as China's levies remain high. The Asia session was slowed by a public holiday in Japan. However, the U.S. Dollar rose broadly, even against the Canadian...

The dollar fell to its highest monthly level in years on Tuesday, as investors prepared for the impact of the trade war. The tariffs imposed by Donald Trump have shaken the confidence in U.S. assets. Even though the S&P 500 has recovered much of the early April losses it suffered, the dollar is only able to maintain its current level, with no significant rebound. The situation deteriorated overnight after U.S. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent said on CNBC that it was up to China to "de-escalate the tariffs", which are currently at 125%, for most U.S. Exports to China. The Asia...

Investors were encouraged by signs that the U.S. was willing to end its trade war with China. The dollar also rose for the first time in over a month. The benchmark STOXX Index in Europe rose 0.3% amid hopes for a easing of trade tensions. It was also boosted by positive earnings reports, from the Finnish forestry company Stora Enso and French jet engine manufacturer Safran. U.S. Futures also climbed as tech giant Alphabet, the parent company of Google, beat profit expectations. It also reaffirmed AI expenditure targets. This pushed its shares up by nearly 5% after-hours and pulled along...

Investors weighed up the latest comments about the U.S. China trade conflict, and the data that showed the U.S. labour market is holding steady. The dollar also fell after recent gains. S&P technology rose more than 2%, leading all S&P sectors. Alphabet was scheduled to release its quarterly results, which were up 1.7%. Beijing said that the U.S. would have to remove "all unilateral tariff measures" against China if the U.S. "truly wanted" the solution of the trade dispute. On Wednesday, the White House signaled that it was willing to reduce sweeping tariffs against China. Investors also considered the possibility...

The dollar rose slightly on Thursday as traders took stock in the trade negotiations between Japan and the U.S., despite the uncertainty surrounding tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump. Gold prices reached new record highs on the back of safe-haven flows. Investors also digested comments made by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell who warned about the risks of slowing down growth and increasing prices due to tariffs. After a bruising trading session on Wednesday, the spotlight remained on technology stocks in light of the warnings issued by bellwethers Nvidia & ASML and ahead of TSMC's earnings. Japan's Nikkei index rose...

The dollar was anchored near three-year lows on Thursday, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned about the risks of slowing the growth of the economy and increasing prices due to tariffs. After a bruising trading session on Wednesday, the spotlight remained on technology stocks in light of warnings issued by bellwethers Nvidia & ASML and earnings from Taiwanese TSMC. Gold prices, which are considered safe havens, continued to rise, setting yet another record in the early hours of trading on Thursday. Powell's remarks that U.S. growth was slowing led Treasury yields to fall. Stock markets in Asia were hesitant...

Asia shares rose Tuesday, but futures showed weakness in Europe and America after President Donald Trump said he could grant exemptions to auto-related tariffs. U.S. Treasury Bonds steadied after staging a recovery over night following last week’s historic selloff. Meanwhile, the dollar continued to lose favour with investors. Trump said Monday that he is considering a change to the 25% tariffs on imports of foreign autos and auto parts from Mexico, Canada, and other countries. These tariffs can increase the cost of a vehicle by thousands of dollars. Trump stated that car companies need "a little time" to manufacture cars...

On Thursday, global shares surged after U.S. president Donald Trump announced he would temporarily reduce the heavy duties he just imposed on several countries. In a shocking reversal, Trump announced on Wednesday that he would pause many of his new tariffs for 90 days following a market crash which erased trillions from global stocks. George Lagarias is the chief economist of Forvis Mazars. He said, "You have had a relief rally since realising that the market pressure resonates with President Obama." Lagarias said, "The main takeaway is that there will be limits and thresholds which he (Trump), will probably respect."...

On Thursday, Asian shares rose and a manic sell-off of bonds stabilised after U.S. president Donald Trump announced he would temporarily reduce the heavy duties he just imposed on several countries. After a market crash that wiped trillions from global stocks, and sent U.S. Treasury Bonds and the dollar tumbling, Trump announced on Wednesday a 90-day suspension of many of his new duties in an unexpected reversal. The dollar and U.S. stocks futures were not included in Thursday's relief rally, despite a surge overnight on Wall Street. Investors' confidence is eroding and "sell America" trading has intensified. The world's political...

On Thursday, global stocks rose, the dollar recovered its footing and the manic bond saleoff stabilized after U.S. president Donald Trump announced he would temporarily reduce the heavy duties he just imposed on several countries. After a market crash that wiped trillions from global stocks, and sent U.S. Treasury Bonds and the dollar tumbling, Trump announced on Wednesday a 90-day suspension of many of his new duties in an unexpected reversal. Overnight, Wall Street's "Magnificent 7" stocks soared again. Their market value grew by more than $1.5 trillion. S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index posted their largest daily percentage...

The latest trade war escalation between the United States of America and China has shook the global markets on Wednesday. Investors have dumped bonds, stocks and the dollar. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump's 104% tariffs against China went into effect. Beijing responded with 84% duties on U.S. imported goods. According to George Saravelos, head of Deutsche Bank's foreign exchange research, the seemingly wholesale withdrawal of Treasuries from the market and the dollar as the "backbone" of the global financial systems could be indicative of a general decline in investor interest in holding U.S. assets and the end of an era....

Two opinion polls released on Thursday showed that Australia's center-left Labor Government is likely to remain in power after a tight national election at the weekend. Voters ranked Donald Trump's policies as their number one concern. According to a RedBridge/Accent poll conducted by News Corp on Thursday, Labor led the Liberal-National Coalition conservative coalition 53%-47% under Australia's preferential voting system for two parties. Votes are then distributed until a winner has been declared. The RedBridge survey showed that Labor could form a majority government or win the election on its own. This is a change from the February poll, which...

Amitava Mukherjee, chairman of the Indian miner NMDC, said that it is looking for coking coal assets in Indonesia and Australia. Coking coal is a key ingredient used to make iron ore and styrene. India, which is the second largest producer of crude iron and steel in the world, imports 85% of coking coal. More than half of Australia's coking-coal imports are accounted for by the country. Mukherjee stated that the company views this as an opportunity for business. The negotiations (for explorations) are at different stages. Due to confidentiality, he did not reveal the specifics of these discussions. NMDC,...

The White House announced on Friday that it would expedite the permitting process for 10 mining projects in the United States, as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to increase critical minerals production. These projects, which will supply copper, antimony, and other minerals, have been given FAST-41 status. This is a federal initiative that was launched in 2015 for streamlined approvals of critical infrastructure. The White House announced that it would add more projects. The first 10 are listed publicly on a U.S. Federal website, where the progress of their permits can be tracked. This is part of a Trump...

New Hope, an Australian coal miner, announced a higher first-half profit Tuesday. This was due to increased output and sales, as well as reduced costs. It prompted it to increase its dividend and announce a stock buyback. New Hope's net profit for the six months ended January 31 was A$340.3m ($217.18m), up from A$251.7m a year ago. This beat Visible Alpha's consensus forecast of A$302.2m. The total coal sales during the period increased by 44%, to 5.4 millions metric tons. This was mainly due to the significant increase in production at the New Acland Mine in Queensland, where the production...

GFG Alliance is owned by commodities tycoon Sanjeev Gupta. It has been placed under administration last week by the South Australian government. The company wants to raise money for the development of an Australian coking coal mine. The Australian media reported earlier that GFG Alliance is looking to sell its coking coal mine to raise $500 million to help the Whyalla Steelworks, which has been struggling financially. The Premier of South Australia placed Whyalla under administration on February 19, due to unpaid bills. He also said that he wanted to develop lower carbon steel in the state. GFG stated at...

Anglo American’s sale of its Brazilian Nickel business to China’s MMG Ltd. is a win-win for both companies. Anglo delivers on its shareholders' promise to simplify its portfolio, and pockets up to $500m. MMG, a producer of zinc, copper and cobalt, can diversify and grow its geographical footprint by expanding into Brazil. The market for nickel is one of the few that has shown signs of resilience in the face of a glut. It's not good news for western countries that want to escape China's tightening of the global nickel supply chains. China already controls around 75% the refining capacity...

The impact of China's retaliatory duties on U.S. energy exports will be felt most strongly in the seaborne coal market. Beijing imposed an import tariff of 15% on U.S. coal, liquefied gas (LNG), and crude oil on 4 February after U.S. president Donald Trump imposed an additional 10% tax on all imports. Tariffs could kill energy trade between China and the United States. The United States is the biggest exporter of LNG, but ranks fourth for coal and crude oil. The U.S. shares of China's crude oil and LNG imports are small at around 2% each, so the global markets...

China's iron ore imports and seaborne coal arrivals are expected to be soft in the first quarter, with January arrivals falling to multi-month lows. The price trend for two of the most important bulk commodities is divergent. Iron ore has held steady, while thermal coal has fallen to its lowest level in almost four years. According to Kpler, commodity analysts, China is the largest iron ore purchaser in the world. It will import 99.5 millions metric tons of this key raw material for steel in January. This would be a drop from the official December customs figure, which was 112.5...

Whitehaven Coal, Australia's largest coal producer, posted a 92.7% increase in production for the second quarter on Wednesday. This was largely due to strong contributions from its New South Wales mines as well as its newly acquired Queensland mines. The New South Wales operations of the miner, which includes Maules Creek and Narrabri, saw a 1.3% increase in their managed run-of mine (ROM) production. Whitehaven, who purchased the Blackwater and Daunia coal mines from BHP Group in December for $4.1 billion, produced a total of 4.6 millions metric tons of ROM coal for the three-month period ended December. This was...

China, the world's leading coal importer, bought less Russian coal in 2024 while increasing purchases from other key providers, led by Australia, throughout a. record year for coal imports, customs data revealed on Monday. Purchases by China in 2015 reached an all-time high of. 547.2 million tons, or a record 41% of internationally traded coal,. according to LSEG research, providing China increased rates power. in international markets. Chinese need is helping assistance rates at levels that,. according to the International Energy Firm (IEA), are 50%. higher than the average during the 2017-19 period. In 2015, imports from leading supplier Indonesia...

China's coal imports from Australia rose to their greatest in more than 4 years in November, custom-mades information revealed on Friday, as deliveries continue to recuperate from an unofficial ban on Australian coal that was lifted in January 2023. Australian coal imports were 9.3 million metric heaps in November, according to the General Administration of Customs, the highest because April 2020 and up 47% from the exact same month of 2023. Year to date, at 74.15 million tons, 2024 coal imports from Australia have actually currently exceeded last year's 52.47 million lots and are on track to top the 77.51...

China's. seaborne imports of thermal coal are on track to surge to an. alltime high in November as the world's greatest purchaser of the. power station fuel increases electrical power generation. But the strong cravings for imports isn't driving up the. prices of seaborne grades, which are being kept low by falling. rates for China's domestic supplies. Imports of thermal coal are estimated at 37.5 million metric. loads for November, up from 32.12 million in October and the. highest in data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler going back. to 2017. The spike in seaborne thermal coal imports comes ahead of....