Welcome to this week's roundup of finance, politics, lifestyle, tech and more from the Azzet team!
The latest from earnings season
This earnings season saw a tough week for car manufacturers, as Nissan announced plans for 20,000 jobs to be cut and seven factories to close their doors in the next two years.
Honda wasn't faring much better as operating profit and sales revenue fell sharply for the quarter, in the face of falling car sales and United States tariffs.
Its operating profit fell by 75.9% year-over-year and, operating profit was down 12.2%.
Harlan Ockey has more on both of those.
Saudi oil company Aramco battled weak oil prices and a drop in net income, according to its latest earnings.
Harlan has the reporting for that one again!
Global heavyweights: Russia and the US
Trump administration policies in the U.S. continue to drive concern over Asian economies' stance in the tug of war between the States and China.
Mark Story writes that financial policies emerging from the U.S. are leading Southeast Asian economies to look closer at the BRICS trading bloc, founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and expanded in recent years to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.
The question asked this week was could Australia feasibly join the BRICS trading bloc, which can account for approximately 30% of the global economy and 40% of the world’s population?
Read Mark's piece in full here to get the answer to that question and more.
This comes after both the U.S. and China agreed to a pause on tariffs for 90 days, after they escalated to as high as 145% back in April.
Cameron Drummond has the details.
Inflation in the States was also on the radar this week, as its annual inflation rate fell to the lowest it has been in over 4 years, at 2.3% in April.
Pivoting to Russia now, this week President Vladimir Putin confirmed he would be among the delegates meeting for Ukrainian peace talks.
Direct negotiations between the nations have not been held in more than three years, with Ukraine's leader President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying he hoped that would change.
"We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy. There is no point in prolonging the killings,” he said.
Full coverage on that over here from Harlan Ockey.
Responsibility for the fatal 2014 downing of flight MH17 was also laid at the feet of Russia this week in a ruling from a United Nations aviation body.
Less Aussies get home loans
Over in real estate the ABS has found that the number of Australians taking out new home loans is down this quarter, but still up from where they were this time last year.
New investment housing loans dropped by 3.7%, while new home loans for owner-occupiers fell by 3.4% and Oliver Gray has the full write-up here.
Sticking with Australian property, GPT Group plans to create an A$1 billion (US$640 million) partnership in Australia with Canada’s QuadReal Property Group, dubbed GPT QuadReal Logistics Trust 2.
GPT owns shopping centres, city-based commercial office buildings and industrial properties.
Garry West with more on this new venture.
PM heads abroad
Freshly re-elected Anthony Albanese has headed off on his first overseas trip of his new prime ministership.
Up first was a couple of days in Indonesia, with a renewed focus on trade and defence relations between the two nations.
Up next, Albo is set to head to the Vatican for the new Pope's inaugural mass, and then rounding out his travels by popping into Singapore on the way home for a meeting with his counterparts.
More on that one over here from me!
There was more AusPol news on home soil, with the Greens electing a new leader after Adam Bandt's shock loss in the seat of Melbourne.
Stepping into the top job is veteran Senator Larissa Waters, who has been with the party since 2010.
Gaming struggles but AI soars
It wasn't just the car makers who struggled this week, as two leading gaming companies faced delays in their respective successful game series and their shares suffered as a result.
Ubisoft reported a less-than-ideal full fiscal year this week, resulting in displeased investors and stock falling by as much as 18%.
A delay in the latest instalment of the hugely successful Grand Theft Auto video game series saw shares in its publisher, Take-Two Interactive, fall by 3% in after-hours trading on Thursday.
The company's latest earnings report also revealed a heavy loss for the quarter driven by a multi-billion-dollar writedown.
Grand Theft Auto VI was originally set to release later this year and has now been pushed back to May next year.
More on that here from Oliver Gray.
Microsoft is also in hot water, as it confirmed it would be laying off 3% of its workforce across all levels, with around 6,000 people expected to be impacted.
This is set to be the largest company layoff since 2023.
Further reporting on that came from Chloe Jaenicke.
It wasn't all doom and gloom in the tech sector, with this week proving to be a good time for those in AI.
CoreWeave reported a 420% soar in revenue for the quarter, the first since the company went public.
Fashion week kicks off at home but Burberry floundering worldwide
Australian Fashion Week for 2025 concludes today, marking the end of the first time the event has run as a non-for-profit.
This came after IMG withdrew their financial support, after nearly two decades, at the end of last year, leaving AFW in the lurch.
However, the Australian Fashion Council stepped up and saved the day, with the event continuing on schedule from Monday to Friday this week.
Also facing tough times in the fashion world, but with less of a lifeline, is Burberry.
The brand announced this week it would be axing approximately 1,700 jobs worldwide by 2027 and reported a 17% fall in revenue.
Chloe Jaenicke has the full write up here.
Indo-Pakistan's fragile peace
The beginning of this week saw India and Pakistan agree to a tentative ceasefire deal, brokered in part by the U.S.
As of today, that agreement had been reportedly extended until Sunday, despite both nuclear-armed nations accusing each other of breaches this past week.
Brutal military action took place in the days before the agreement, as escalating tensions from a tourist attack on 22 April reached a boiling point.
Further coverage of that unfolding situation over here and here.
That's all from me and this week's Azzet Unpacked, and we'll be back with regular reporting after the weekend!
