Australia Financial News

By Melanie Burton

Anthony Albanese on Thursday announced his engagement to partner Jodie Haydon, posting a selfie photo of the couple with the caption "She said yes" on his social media platforms. Albanese and Haydon first met at an event in Melbourne in early 2020 and appeared together during the campaign of the 2022 federal election, which Albanese won.

Canada, Australia and New Zealand on Thursday called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, according to a joint statement released in response to reports about Israel's planned military operation in Rafah. «We are gravely concerned by indications that Israel is planning a ground offensive into Rafah. A military operation into Rafah would be catastrophic,» the statement by the Prime Ministers of the three countries said.

Bitcoin climbed past $51,000 in a broad cryptocurrency rally that saw Ether, the second-biggest token, advance back to where it was before the TerraUSD stablecoin collapsed almost two years ago. Bitcoin's 21% year-to-date gain pushed its market capitalization above $1 trillion for the first time since December 2021, data from CoinGecko show. Ether rose 4.1% in London on Wednesday, and altcoins like Avalanche, Polkadot and Polygon also climbed.

Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday in the vicinity of the landmark Union Station, where a Super Bowl victory parade and celebration were taking place for the Kansas City Chiefs, police said.Two armed people were taken into custody, police confirmed.“I’m angry at what happened today,” Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said at a press conference.Graves said there were between 10 and 15 victims in total, “possibly 15,” but could not give details on their conditions beyond confirming one person had died. She said she did not believe any of the victims were children.Eyewitness video posted on social media platforms showed pandemonium outside the train station with dozens of uniformed police officers, weapons drawn, running into the building as scores of bystanders fled in the opposite direction.Graves said officers administered life-saving aid to the victims and commended their actions during a dangerous situation.“This is not Kansas City,” she said.

Young Sheldon" for its seventh season is set to air on CBS on Thursday, February 15, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Following its television debut, episodes will be available for streaming on Paramount+ the subsequent day. The ensemble cast includes Iain Armitage, Jim Parsons, Zoe Perry, Lance Barber, Montana Jordan, Raegan Revord, Annie Potts, and Emily Osment.

Malabar Gold, Senco debut on Deloitte's global luxury goods list The research firm raised its metallurgical coal price assumptions for 2024 to $270 per ton from $220 per ton. The primary drivers behind this surge are limitations in supply from Australia, heightened tensions in the Red Sea region, and robust demand from India and other markets outside of China.

India will be playing the T20 World Cup 2024, to be organised in the Caribbean and the USA, under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, said BCCI secretary Jay Shah at an event here on Wednesday. India have had Hardik Pandya as their full-time skipper in the shortest format but the heartbreaking loss in the final of the 2023 World Cup to Australia have reignited the murmurs of senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit returning for the T20 showpiece in June. «In 2023 (final) at Ahmedabad, even though we did not win the World Cup after 10 straight wins, we won hearts. I want to promise you that in 2024 (T20 World Cup) in Barbados (venue for the final), under Rohit Sharma's captaincy, ham Bharat ka jhanda gaadenge (we will hoist the Indian flag),» Shah said at the end of his speech. Shah was present at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Khanderi, which was renamed after veteran cricket administrator Niranjan Shah, as the chief guest.

MS Dhoni, the iconic figure in Indian cricket, has sparked considerable interest with his latest bat sticker as the IPL 2024 approaches. As captain of the Chennai Super Kings, Dhoni appears to be gearing up for what could potentially be his final hurrah in cricket. Displaying the 'Prime Sports' logo on his bat serves as Dhoni's gesture of appreciation, reflecting his gratitude and affection for those who have supported him throughout his illustrious career. The owner of Prime Sports, Paramjit Singh, lauded Dhoni's action, describing it as a testament to their strong friendship. This act of appreciation transcended geographical boundaries, gaining recognition even from cricketing legends like Michael Hussey and Adam Gilchrist in Australia. Nevertheless, Prime Sports isn't the sole beneficiary of Dhoni's heartfelt gestures. Somi Kohli, the proprietor of 'Beat All Sports' (BAS), one of India's prominent sports manufacturing companies, disclosed Dhoni's greatness during the 2019 World Cup. Despite the tournament marking Dhoni's final appearance in Indian colors, he opted not to charge any fees for donning the BAS logo on his bat.

Indian steel-makers, with leverage for the sector weakening to 2021 levels if input prices remain at the current levels, said S&P Global Ratings. «We no longer think India's leading steel companies will shed debt in the coming fiscal year,» said Anshuman Bharati of S&P said in a note on Wednesday. «Instead, debt should remain at the same level, due to narrower steel spreads that will feed into cash flows.» The firm sees the consolidated debt of major steel makers in the country — which account for three-fifth of the country’s production — at 2.1 trillion rupees as on March 2025, up 150 billion rupees from what was previously estimated.

«You have only got to look at Delhi and what is going on there from an infrastructure and then come to Mumbai and it is breathtaking,» says Peter McGuire, CEO, XM Australia. And let us get to talking about that hotter than expected inflation print that came in. What do you think this will lead the US Fed to do? A couple of things. I think it hit the market by a little bit of a surprise and as far as a pushback, we were looking at the best part of 65-66% as far as a rate cut come May and that has been pushed back now to around about 32-33% and they are rolling that forward to possibly by June or July.

By Sameer Manekar and Praveen Menon

Investing.com-- Shares of Australia’s four largest banks fell on Wednesday, with Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) in the lead after the country’s largest lender warned of worsening margins due to increased economic pressure from high interest rates. 

Super Bowl LVIII victory parade for Kansas City Chiefs is scheduled for Wednesday morning. The City Manager of Kansas City has indicated that he had already informed Taylor Swift's representatives about the city's potential challenges in managing the additional traffic that might arise if the megastar decided to attend, as per a report in New York Post. As Swift's Eras Tour resumes on Friday in Australia, there's speculation that she might extend the celebrations by joining her boyfriend Travis Kelce for the Chiefs' third parade in five seasons, New York Post reported.

The GBP/USD edged higher in reaction to the firmer wages and jobs data from the UK earlier this morning, ahead of the release of even more top-tier data from both sides of the pond.

Ben Stokes will win his 100th Test cap when he leads England against India in the third Test beginning Thursday in Rajkot, as both sides have to contend with the absence of key players. The five-match series is on a knife-edge at 1-1 after India's 106-run victory in the second Test in Visakhapatnam followed England's 28-run win in Hyderabad. Batsmen Virat Kohli and KL Rahul will be absent for India while England's senior spinner Jack Leach has been ruled out of the final three matches with a knee injury suffered in the first Test.

Investing.com-- Most Asian currencies weakened on Tuesday, while the dollar firmed as markets hunkered down before key U.S. inflation data that is widely expected to factor into the path of interest rates. 

Asian shares are mostly rising in morning trading, as investors watched for the latest indicators on inflation

Asian shares have gained in morning trading, as investors awaited an update on U.S. consumer inflation that might help set the Federal Reserve's policy on interest rates

Victoria state lost power on Tuesday afternoon when a major power plant shut down because a storm knocked out parts of the state's electricity transmission network. AGL's Loy Yang A power station, responsible for about a third of the state's power, was forced to shut down on Tuesday afternoon after several towers along a major section of the state's transmission network collapsed in bad weather.

SYDNEY (Reuters) — Australia's central bank on Tuesday reiterated that while inflation was slowing, it was still too high and would take time to return to target, with much depending on whether productivity revived as hoped.