All the top moves, shakes and red hot takes from Azzet's editorial team are right here in your weekly business wrap every Friday (7 March, 2025).
Star offloads Queen's Wharf for song to Chinese JV partners
Leading the news this week is beleaguered casino operator Star Entertainment (ASX: SGR), which would've entered voluntary administration today without an urgently needed lifeline - which it secured at the 11th hour by selling its 50% stake in Brisbane's Queen's Wharf development for a paltry $53 million to its JV partners Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium.
What unfolded earlier this week...
Star had been given an expected three more months of operation time at the end of last year after pouring in $108 million during Q2 FY25 just to keep its doors open.
The company missed its 28 February deadline for reporting its latest earnings update. Its shares were automatically suspended by the ASX on Monday this week after confirming it would not be able to lodge.
Hopes that an 11th hour deal to offload its 50% interest in Brisbane's new Queen's Wharf entertainment complex to its Macau-based JV partners were rumoured for the purported $2.6 billion Brisbane precinct development - whose costs have already been blown out by a further $1 billion.
And as you now know, those rumours turned out to be true.
Find out more: Done deal: JV partners gain control of Brisbane casino
Tariffs cause volatility
Early in the week U.S. President Donald Trump turned the screws on his scorched-earth tariff policy, with an executive order kicking off further 25% levvies on imports from Mexico and Canada, and a doubling of China's tariffs from 10% to 20%.
As the news unfolded, affected countries volleyed their own retaliatory actions, with China “ready to fight”, and Canada returning fire with its own 25% tariffs on its biggest trade partner.
Yet Trump has made significant backtracks, announcing an executive order stalling a 25% tariff on carmakers on Wednesday; and again overnight (Thursday (GMT -8), on Thursday after meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to delay tariffs on items that come under the safety of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) rules of origin.
The order also states it will lower 10% tariffs on energy products from Canada that fall outside the USMCA and potash from both Mexico and Canada that also fall outside the law.
Elsewhere
Leading news in Tech, Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC is pouring US$100 billion into manufacturing its products in the U.S., following Apple's record half-trillion-dollar investment announcement last week.
“In total, … [the] announcement brings Taiwan Semiconductor's investments to about US$165 billion – they’ve started already – among the largest new foreign direct investments in the United States,” said Trump, who has repeatedly called out and accused Taiwan of stealing the U.S. chip manufacturing business.
Over to mainland China, Alibaba has announced a US$53 billion investment in cloud computing and AI infrastructure.
The announcement comes as its shares soared to a three-year high on the back of better-than-expected quarterly results, with its 11% year-over-year boost to revenue driven by AI-related product revenue posting triple-digit growth for the sixth consecutive quarter.
Meanwhile, Rio Tinto has made a US$1.8 billion investment to extend the mine life of its Brockman iron ore hub with a further 34 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) throughput, a development that is expected to create ~1,000 jobs during construction, and a maintenance workforce of 600 once in operation.
Azzet's Mark Story unravels the ongoing despair for clothing retailers, including the collapse of Australia's Mosaic Brands and significant drops in share prices for ASX-listed fashion houses such as Merino & Co (ASX : MNC) Step One (ASX : STP) and Myer (ASX : MYR).
And after a busy February reporting season, we wrap up which ASX stocks made an impression in their H1 FY25 earnings reveal.
In the markets…
Gold prices remained steady below the US$2,900/oz mark throughout the week as investors assessed escalating trade tensions and recession fears.
Upcoming U.S. nonfarm payroll data could significantly impact Fed policy expectations, potentially supporting further bullion gains.
The US$2,926-US2,930/oz zone now seems to have emerged as an immediate hurdle, above which the gold price could aim to retest the all-time peak, around the US$2,956 region touched in February.
Mining heavyweight Newmont (ASX : NEM) has completed a selldown of three more non-core projects in Canada and the U.S.
No longer deemed Tier 1, the gold miner has sold the Musselwhite operation and the Éléonore operation in Canada, and the Cripple Creek and Victor operations in Colorado, U.S. for US$1.7 billion ($2.7 billion).
It also expects to divest its Akyem operation in Ghana and Porcupine in Canada for up to US$1.4 billion ($2.2 billion) in proceeds during 1H FY25.
Newmont expects to generate up to US$4.3 billion in total proceeds across the entirety of the financial year.
Oil prices continued their slow yet steady decline to multi-month lows as Trump’s decision to pause military aid to Ukraine, upcoming tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China continue to weigh on market sentiment.
Added to downward pressure, OPEC+ confirmed plans to increase oil production - its first such output hike since 2022, as well as China’s top economic planner pushing oil refiners to reduce fuel output and increase chemicals production.
Brent crude futures edged up $0.06 or 0.1% to US$69.52 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was flat at $66.36.
ASX woes follow U.S. markets lower, losing 47.60 points, or 0.6%, to 8,198.1, touching fresh nine-week lows during intraday trade on Tuesday.
Asia-Pacific markets extended losses on Friday, following Wall Street’s sell-off as investor concerns over Trump’s tariff policies persisted.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.3%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 2%, and South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.2%.
Meanwhile, minutes from the latest Australian RBA meeting showed that policymakers remained cautious regarding further interest rate reductions amid persistent inflation and tighter labour market trends.
