Our team has sifted through Australia’s top stories and global headlines to bring you a streamlined update on the week’s most impactful news.
Enjoy your weekly business update this Friday, 6 June 2025.
Dear readers,
There was a time when the clattering of typewriters filled the newsroom, when ink-stained hands carefully composed dispatches that would shape the thinking of those in industry and commerce. That spirit — the one that seeks truth, pursues insight, and delivers nothing short of excellence — has guided our financial writers this week as they laboured over every headline, every market shift, every tremor from Washington to Shanghai.
They have captured the pulse of the global markets with the precision of seasoned scribes, distilling complexity into clarity, speculation into reason, noise into knowledge. It is a noble task, one they have undertaken with diligence and grit. To them, and to you — our discerning readers — we tip our hats.
THE BIG HITTERS
We begin our journey in the skies, with the news of Virgin Australia preparing the runway for an IPO. Investors may be uncertain about Virgin Australia's return to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) after a five-year absence. Bain Capital, which rescued the airline from administration in 2020, is reducing its stake from 70% to 39.4%, while Qatar Airways retains its 23% stake.
In a market where competition has thinned, Virgin would like to reestablish itself against Qantas in the IPO, valued at A$685 million. Could streamlined operations and a renewed focus on profitability convince investors that the airline is worth a punt? The answer to that question will define its market debut.
In other airline news, David Jones entered into a landmark loyalty partnership with Qantas Frequent Flyers, and airline profits are expected to increase slightly in 2025, according to a new IATA forecast.
Taylor Swift fans (aka Swifties) began the week on a high, as reporter Chloe Jaenicke covered Swift's substantial music rights win. Nintendo Switch 2 made its debut, resulting in some street fights in real life. And speaking of fights, NVIDIA surfed the AI wave back to the No.1 spot midweek as the world’s most valuable publicly-listed corporation, wrestling it back from Microsoft - and nothing beats watching two pro surfers duke it out over the same wave. But then Friday came along, and Micosoft said “hold my beer”.
Staying on the water, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman purchased the Australian SailGP team, The BONDS Flying Roos.
KEEPING IT LOCAL
The ASX 200 index hit a new all-time high twice this week, but while the index briefly traded above 14 February's record closing high of 8,555.8, it did not break past that session's intraday high of 8,615.2 this week. As the week ended, The S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 23.20 points or 0.27% to 8,515.70 as seven of the 11 sectors ended in the red on Friday, led by technology stocks.
In Australian national news, we had some data releases of note, which finance journalist Oliver Gray (among others on the Azzet team) covered: National GDP growth, household spending, the minimum wage, company profits, trade surplus, petrol prices, and disaster spending. To housing, and the RBA policymakers had their say, plus Cotality released dwelling prices figures. In Perth, the median house prices and unit prices are rising. In fact, the WA Government's operating surplus was up, with revenue $1.9 billion higher. And Australia's luxury home prices are up 73% since 2015.
Senior business writer Mark Story reported on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attacking United States President Donald Trump’s global trade war, calling it "an act of economic self-harm". Hegseth called on Australia to boost its military spending, while fellow senior business writer Cameron Drummond explained how Japan's LNG trade has shone a spotlight on Australia's energy policy gaps.
Midweek, senior business writer Garry West reported the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) passed a milestone when its market capitalisation broke through the A$300 billion (US$194.8 billion) mark.
Moving to politics, there were a few party switches. Reporter Frankie Reid covered the latest, as Senator Dorinda Cox exited the Greens to join Labor. Elsewhere, a storm is brewing on the Apple Isle concerning the Tasmanian Devils (the AFL team, not the native animals). Tassie is tipped to call an election next week. And Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said that any review into U.S. beef exports would be made with Australia's national interests in mind, with a focus on biosecurity.
Further afield, reporter Harlan Ockey kept us up on South Korea electing Lee Jae-myung as president, while Karol Nawrocki won Poland's presidential election, and the Dutch government saw the far-right party exit the coalition. They must have picked up the vibe from the Australian Coalition party's jitters which stabilised last week.
IN GOOD COMPANY
In company news, a Glencore shake-up sparked Rio Tinto merger speculation, the Healthscope CEO lashed out, and West brought us the story of pharmacy giant directors cashing out on expensive shares. Also, UK fintech company Wise will move its main listing to the U.S.
Sanofi's plan to buy Blueprint surfaced, Soul Patts and Brickworks announced their $14 billion merger, BP's Castrol sale drew interest from China-owned Citic and private equity firms, while Toyota Industries plunged 12.5% on its A$50.5 billion buyout deal with Toyota Motor Group.
In earnings, Azzet covered reports from The Campbell's Company, SAIC, CrowdStrike, Broadcom and Lululemon, while Story got down on the Trading Floor to cover developments with IDP, TWE, Tasmea, Brickworks, Perenti, Bluescope, Metals X, Judo Capital PointsBet, Mayne Pharma, IperionX, Lynas, Ora Banda Mining, EBR Systems, and Coronado Global Resources.
ECONOMIES OF SCALE
It's not looking too crash hot in the U.S. (emphasis on the word "crash").
Story gave us his take on the dwindling global reverence for U.S. government bonds and it wasn't good. The take, not the story - that was excellent. The OECD agreed, blaming the U.S. for slowing global growth amid uncertainty. Ouch. However Trump, in typical fashion, doubled down and called for abolishing the debt ceiling altogether. He then had a go at China for being "hard to make a deal with". Ah, the irony. Not surprising that Trump's Truth Social has moved toward a Bitcoin ETF, probably to hedge his bets.
The attacks on the U.S. education system continued, with Yale moving to sell $2.5 billion in private equity assets. The U.S. government issued a travel ban to restrict citizens of 19 countries from entering the country, citing national security reasons and visa overstays. But the Trump administration lost its bid to temporarily lift a federal judge’s order blocking the United States Education Department from laying off half its staff.
Moving on to China, and, as trade talks with the U.S. stall, the Middle Kingdom's 2000t gold finds look set to rejuvenate its domestic reserves. Drummond tracked this story, along with another about China tracking its critical minerals stocks with new systems. How meta. Too bad nobody checked what was going on up on China's space station.
Staying briefly in China, but pausing to highlight some strong homegrown pieces, we had Mission Critical, with Drummond reporting on how the automotive industry has been hit by China's supply chain storm, plus this report on cobalt.
Meanwhile, Story had three informative Wealth pieces: Retirees opt for DIY over costly financial advice; End of FY25 planning: Tax-time tips and traps to avoid; and gearing into property, shares or managed funds - all well worth a read. Also, the U.S. plans to raise the retirement age, which could cost Americans big benefits.
WATCHING THE DEFECTIVES
Early in the week, AUSTRAC said it would audit the casinos in Townsville and Darwin.
ASIC was busy calling Choosi 'misleading', suing RAMS for home loan arrangements 'misconduct', and lashing fund managers for poor compliance.
And finally, the National Anti-Scam Centre called for help. (Not a scam)
NOT RUSSIAN IN
Ukraine launched a major drone attack on Russian jets early in the week, with Russia vowing revenge after the strike. Watch this space.
THE DOGEBALL TROPHY GOES TO...
As of May 2025, the richest person in the world is Elon Musk. He is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. So, it is not surprising that there was a bit of news around Musk this week. Not all of it was civilised.
The former DOGE boss ripped into Trump's "big beautiful bill", Australia's Tesla sales surged despite a global downturn, Musk's biotech company Neuralink raised $650 million and SpaceX's revenue is tipped to rocket to around A$24 billion. Not bad at all.
But this paled to Friday's breaking news that Musk had further torn into Trump, which escalated in a public slanging match, tanking Tesla stock. In covering this story, Drummond took one for the team, which is definitely a low point for what is happening in America right now.
OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE
We blame COVID too. New research shows it has caused a "productivity bubble", Reid reported.
Brent crude futures were down 0.31% to US$65.14, as of 3:25 pm AEST. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.33% to $63.16. Spot gold saw a 0.3% increase, reaching US$3,363.33 per ounce (oz), marking a 2.3% gain for the week. U.S. gold futures also climbed 0.4% to US$3,387/oz.
You may have missed the news that Telstra is set to launch a new mobile-to-satellite text service, TikTok has launched an ad campaign amid a social media ban, Reddit sued Anthropic for allegedly scalping content, and West reported on Google's plans to drop a cable to connect Australia, Asia, and Latin America.
If that wasn't enough, Mt Etna erupted in Italy, sending a five-kilometre ash cloud spewing into the sky, protestors were injured in a Colorado terror attack, plus there is no sign of relief as Canadian wildfires continue to grow. And let's not forget that cargo ship carrying thousands of cars, abandoned in the Pacific Ocean after catching on fire.
Finally, the United Nations has called for protection for aid workers under attack in Sudan. Let's hope Bill Gates' pledge to donate over $200 million to Africa makes a difference.
The week in finance waits for no one, but rest assured, I hope within this article, you have found the compass to navigate its currents.
Yours in pursuit of understanding.
Andrew Banks, Azzet's Managing Editor
