The lowdown
While the mining giants spent most of the day in the red,BHP finished 0.1 per cent higher while Rio Tinto dropped 0.4 per cent. Fortescue closed 0.04 per cent lower.
Platinum Asset Management shed 21.1 per cent of its share price value after the investment firm unveiled it lost $1.4 million in mandated funds from a client,resulting in $18 million in lost fees every year.
The ABS’ headline consumer price index stayed steady at 3.4 per cent,but at a three-month-ended rate,the indicator rose 0.5 per cent in February.
HSBC Australia chief economist Paul Bloxham said it was unlikely the Reserve Bank would cut rates this year. “Although inflation has been falling fairly consistently since its peak in Q4 2022,today’s figures give some early hints that the pace of that decline may be slowing,” he said in a note.
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Inflation is being held up by “sticky” elements such as housing,insurance and education costs,as well as stronger wages growth and weak productivity. These factors are pushing up operating costs for businesses,which in turn is driving domestic inflation.
“Combined with a jobs market that is only very gradually loosening,the risk of another large rise in the minimum wage this year and support from expected fiscal loosening around mid-year,the ‘last mile’ of getting inflation back to the mid-point of the RBA’s 2-3 per cent target band may yet take some time,” said Bloxham.
“We see RBA rate cuts as unlikely in 2024.”
On Tuesday,the benchmark US indexes slipped a bit further from their records after a late-day drop for AI giant Nvidia pulled the overall market lower.
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The S&P 500 fell by 0.3 per cent after a late slump. The Dow Jones lost 0.1 per cent and the Nasdaq composite finished 0.4 per cent lower.
Stock indexes were up for much of the day,thanks to gains for Tesla and other big tech stocks,until the late-day drop for Nvidia. A 2.9 per cent rise for Tesla and a 0.4 per cent climb for Google’s parent company Alphabet were among the strongest forces propping up the S&P 500.
But several smaller companies were making some of the splashiest moves.
Trump Media&Technology Grouphad a rollercoaster debut,closing 16 per cent higher. At one stage during the session,it was up more than 50 per cent. It was the first day of trading for the company under its new ticker,“DJT,” which are the initials of former US president Donald Trump.
The company took the place of a shell company that had been trading on the Nasdaqafter the two merged.
Tweet of the day
Quote of the day
“As a society,we focus a tremendous amount of energy on helping people live longer lives. But not even a fraction of that effort is spent helping people afford those extra years.”
That’s Larry Fink,the founder of the world’s largest investment firm,BlackRock,who has decided his crisis de jour this year has moved from climate change to funding the ageing population. Columnist Elizabeth Knight breaks down Fink’s annual chairman’s letter.
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Gas suppliers are warning that time is running outto avert major energy shortfalls and price spikes for homes and businesses in Australia’s south-east as domestic gas production plummets much faster than consumers’ use of the fossil fuel.
The speed and scale of declining output from ExxonMobil’s 50-year-old gas fields in the Bass Strait,which have traditionally supplied most of the gas used locally for cooking,heating,power and manufacturing,have sparked fresh alerts from the Australian Energy Market Operator that southern states including Victoria and NSW could face winter shortfalls by next year and annual shortages by 2028.More here.
WithAP
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