Garry is a Senior Business Writer having worked with major media companies including the Australian Financial Review, Reuters, The Times and Euromoney, in a journalism career spanning over 20 years. He has also worked as a stockbroking analyst.

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The first single by legendary Australian rock band AC/DC “Can I Sit Next to You, Girl” cost between $1 and $1.50 when it was released in 1974.



That equates to between $6.50 and $9.80 when adjusted for inflation but, if you want to own the “45” (revolutions per minute) record, you may have pay more than $3,000 in the secondary market, according to record traders and collectors.

A resurgence of interest over the last decade is driving demand for new and used records as people old and young discover and re-discover the appeal of sounds on vinyl (polyvinyl

chloride) in Australia’s recorded music market.

This is illustrated by wholesale (shipments to retailers and online sales and streams) statistics from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), the national body representing major and independent record producers, manufacturers and distributors.

Sales of new vinyl albums were $42.1 million in the 2023 calendar year, which was a staggering 1,384% more than sales of $2.8 million in 2013.

This gave vinyl a 6% share of a $676 million “new” music market, which is dominated by digital recordings such as subscription services, ad supported streaming, downloads and video streaming with a 91% share, leaving c

Old is new again as vinyl makes another big comeback

United States President-elect Donald Trump has nominated a replacement for controversial Republican congressman Matt Gaetz after he withdraw his nomination as Attorney General.

Trump announced he planned to nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as Attorney General.

He said Bondi was tough on violent criminals as a prosecutor for nearly 20 years and, as Florida’s first female Attorney General, she worked to stop the trafficking of deadly drugs and reduce the tragedy of fentanyl overdose deaths.

“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponised against me and other Republicans - not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting crime, and making America safe again," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social site.

Earlier Gaetz wrote on social media site X that it was clear his confirmation was distracting the work of Trump and Vice-Presidential choice J.D. Vance‘s transition team.

“I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday,” Mr Gaetz wrote in the post on X, the social media site owned by another of Trump’s proposed cabinet members,

 Elon Musk.

“I appreciate their thoughtful feedback — and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was str

Trump quickly finds swap for Gaetz as Attorney General

More signs of economic strength in the United States have emerged with jobless claims dropping to a seven-month low and sales of existing homes bouncing back strongly.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 213,000 for the week ended 16 November, which was lowest since April and slightly below expectations.



This figure, showing the number people filing for unemployment insurance for the first time, is seen as an early indicator of job market trends and a sign of the health of the U.S. economy.

However, continuing claims rose 36,000 to 1,908,000 in the week ended 9 November, somewhat above expectations, according to data from the Labor Department.

Meanwhile, sales of existing homes sales rose to a seasonally adjusted 3.96 million units in October, 3.4% more than in September, the National Association of Realtors said in a statement.

This was slightly above consensus expectations, according to Goldman Sachs.



Sales rose 2.9% from one year ago, the first year-over-year increase in more than three years.

The data measures sales and prices of existing single-family homes, including condominiums and co-operatives.

"The worst of the downturn in home sales could

Home sales rise in the US, unemployment claims fall

Shares in embattled logistics software company WiseTech Global plunged after it lowered expectations of revenue and profits for the current financial year due to the delayed release of a new product, which it blamed on the media and internal changes.

At 11.30am (AEDT) WiseTech (ASX:WTC) shares were

 trading at $123.15, down $15.78 or 11.4%, after trading between $112.12 and $126.59, and capitalising the company at $46.5 billion.

The company earlier updated its guidance for financial results in the financial year to 30 June 2025 (FY25), which were originally announced to the market at its FY24 results on 21 August 2024.

WiseTech said Interim CEO Andrew Cartledge and the Board, in consultation with founder Richard White, had reviewed the progress of ‘breakthrough products’ including Container Transport Optimization since 24 October, when Cartledge was appointed.

“As a result of distractions flowing from the recent media attention and the organizational changes that have subsequently been implemented, the commercial launch of Container Transport Optimization has been delayed,” the company said in an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

“It is now expected to launch in the second half of FY25, re

WiseTech stocks dip; earnings guidance downgraded

The Australian share market is expected to begin trading higher today as it takes its lead from a strong performance in the United States.

Future trading pointed to an increase of almost 1% when the benchmark S&amp;P/ASX 200 index opens on the last trading day of the week.

At 9.30am (AEDT) the December 2024 contract of the ASX share price (SPI) 200 index was trading at 8,347, 74 points (0.88%) higher.

The Australian market had closed barely changed on Thursday, with the S&amp;P/ASX 200 ending 3.3 points lower at 8,323.

Market sentiment was boosted by higher closes on Wall Street with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing 1.1% and the S&amp;P 500 adding 0.5%, although the Nasdaq Composite closed flat.

Investor attention in the U.S. moved from technology stocks to cyclicals likely to benefit from economic acceleration, including Goldman Sachs, Caterpillar and Home Depot.



Among the Australian stocks in focus will be logistics software company WiseTech (ASX: WTC) which this morning provided an update to its FY25 guidance issued in August.



WiseTech said it expected FY25 revenue of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion, 15%–25% more than in FY24, and earnings before interest, tax and depreciation (EBITDA) of $600

Strong Wall Street finish set to buoy Australian shares

United States President-elect Donald Trump has lost a member of his proposed administration with controversial Republican congressman Matt Gaetz withdrawing his nomination as Attorney General.

Gaetz wrote on social media site X that it was clear his confirmation was distracting the work of Trump and Vice-Presidential choice J.D. Vance‘s transition team.

“I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday,” Mr Gaetz wrote in the post on X, the social media site owned by another of Trump’s proposed cabinet members,

 Elon Musk.

“I appreciate their thoughtful feedback — and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.



“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney-General. Trump’s DOJ (Department of Justice) must be in place and ready on Day 1.

“I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history. I will forever be honoured that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”

G

Trump's inner sanctum rocked as Matt Gaetz pulls out

Global media business Azzet is joining the growing legion of alternative investment firms tapping the burgeoning private credit market in Australia by launching an offering to private clients seeking higher fixed interest returns on their capital.

US-based Azzet Inc. has started rolling out a private credit offering to the Australian market to enable investors to maintain yield on their capital as interest rates begin to fall across major global markets including the United States and United Kingdom.

Azzet’s private investment division, Azzet Private, began appointing staff in Australia in recent months as it prepares to release a series of low volatility, capital stable opportunities available to clients with $500,000 or more in investable capital.

For some investors, private credit has an attractive risk-return trade-off. It pays a relatively high interest rate and tends to exhibit low volatility relative to publicly traded assets, like corporate bonds.



Azzet Private is expecting to attract investors already familiar with non-traditional banking institutions, or those wanting to make the move into private credit.

Private credit has become a popular asset class with Australians seeking low-involvement, capital-

Azzet widens private credit offering to Aussie investors

The businessmen tasked by President-elect Donald Trump to reduce the size of the United States Government have flagged “mass headcount reductions” and US$500 billion of annual savings.

The world’s richest person Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said they would advise the newly formed department that they had been asked to lead, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to cut the Government down to size.



They would advise DOGE to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings, and assist the transition team to hire a team of small-government crusaders.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Musk and Ramaswamy said two Supreme Court rulings suggested a plethora of current federal regulations exceeded the authority Congress had granted under the law.

Most legal edicts were not laws enacted by Congress but tens of thousands of “rules and regulations” promulgated each year by unelected bureaucrats.

“A drastic reduction in federal regulations provides sound industrial logic for mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy,” they wrote.



DOGE intended to work with appointees in agencies to identify the minimum number of employees r

Trump’s small government duo plans large-scale firings

The Australian Government has directed the nation’s A$230 billion sovereign wealth fund to consider “national priorities” in its investment decisions.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Future Fund’s priorities would be increasing the supply of residential housing, supporting the energy transition as part of the net zero transformation of the economy, and delivering improved infrastructure including economic resilience and security infrastructure

“The Fund’s primary focus will remain on maximising its returns, and at the same time, our changes will help it maximise its role in delivering for Australians in the future,” Chalmers aid in a media statement.

He said the Government would not start drawdowns from the Fund until at least 2032–33, by which time it was expected to grow to $380

billion.

The fund’s primary objective would continue to be to maximise returns, the benchmark return rate would remain at 4-5% above inflation rate over the long term, and there would be no change to the expected risk profile.

The decision was welcomed by the Future Fund but criticised by the Opposition.

“The Government’s decision to defer withdrawals from the Future Fund until at least 2032-33 provides the Future Fund with the confi

Mixed reaction to sovereign wealth fund direction

Technology giant Nvidia said it would comply with any new regulations introduced by the incoming administration of United States president Donald Trump while competing in the market and supporting its customers.

Founder, president and chief executive officer Jensen Huang was asked on an earnings call if he had a sense of any changes the new administration may make, including to tariffs, which would affect Nvidia’s business in China.

“Whatever the new administration decides, we will of course support. That's our highest mandate, and then after that, (we will) do the best we can, just as we always do,” Huang said.

“We have to simultaneously comply with any regulation that comes along, fully support our customers to the best of our abilities and compete in the marketplace. We'll do all of these three things simultaneously.”

Nvidia, the largest company in the world with a market capitalisation of $3.58 trillion (A$5.5 trillion), earlier announced a strong increase in revenue and earnings for the third quarter as the artificial intelligence revolution drove demand for its computing products.

The company generated $10.3 billion ($15.8 billion) of revenue, or 17% of total revenue, from China in the last financial year.

World’s largest firm to back Trump administration

Garry is a Senior Business Writer having worked with major media companies including the Australian Financial Review, Reuters, The Times and Euromoney, in a journalism career spanning over 20 years. He has also worked as a stockbroking analyst. | Azzet™