Markets

Australian consumer confidence has slipped into ‘deeply pessimistic’ territory as households battle with persistent cost-of-living pressures, while expectations for the housing market also cooled.

The Australian share market has tumbled in early trade as nervous investors, returning from a Monday public holiday on the east coast, wait on further signs of any flare-up in tensions across the Middle East.

The creation of new jobs in the United States has sparked inflation fears, causing the Australian share market to plunge.

High-profile fund manager Geoff Wilson said it was ironic Australians were rushing to the float when Labor was about to make share investing more expensive.

US stocks have closed lower as investors digested data showing unexpectedly robust jobs figures.

Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock has warned Australia’s poor workplace productivity could lead to stagflation where unemployment and inflation were both high at the same time.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: This could put Elon Musk on the path to becoming the world’s first trillionaire.

Betashares’ expansion into the private credit sector faces headwinds as global investors rush to sell out of a fund operated by its US investment partner.

The founder of one of Australia’s biggest bedding retailers says those who put up their prices in a high inflation environment risk going broke.

US shares swung higher after reports of a potential new 60-day peace deal in the Middle East as Australian shares aim to avoid three straight days of losses.

Global share markets are dividing between winners linked to an AI boom and strugglers being hit by rising inflation or interest rates linked to the Middle East conflict.

A Labor plan to reduce investor incentives has been branded a ‘productivity tax’ as opponents call for lower taxes for those with money to put aside.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Stocks and oil prices have risen slightly, with few signs of concrete progress in talks to establish a peace deal between the United States and Iran.

Mexican fast-food chain Guzman Y Gomez has conceded defeat and will retreat from its ambition plans to conquer the US market.

Trillions of dollars of investment into the AI boom will lift inflation and wide the gap between winners and losers in a structural shift in share market returns.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: It would lay the groundwork for one of the largest artificial intelligence company offerings that would heighten the stakes of the technology race.

SpaceX has unveiled plans for one of the biggest sales of stock to the public ever with an initial offering that could make Elon Musk a trillionaire.

The ASX was up 0.8 per cent at midday, recovering from a seven-week low, after Donald Trump said he was scrapping plans for another attack on Iran.