Markets opened with a spring in their step this week, only to finish flat on their backs again.
asserted
Markets → open → backs
Oil took the first hit as hopes of an end to the war in Iran sent barrel prices tumbling from around US$100 to below US$90 for the first time since August...that’s before President Donald Trump grabbed the brake lever on Thursday, shouting “We don’t need a deal with Iran.
asserted
We → take → Iran
Those days have long since passed.”
asserted
days → pass → ?
The orange leader of the free world continued, stating that the US had hundreds of billions of dollars of frozen overseas Iranian regime money and that the US in fact controlled the Strait.
asserted
US → continue → Strait
The Brent price suggested otherwise, bouncing back to almost US$96 in a serious rollercoaster of a week.
uncertain
price → suggest → week
Inflation fears were quick to follow as hot US cost-of-living data mixed with oil had the punters betting on a December Fed rate hike, leaving bond yields uncomfortably close to five per cent and the US dollar surging once again.
asserted
dollar → follow → cent
Gold, in turn, handed last week’s rally straight back, slipping below US$4000 and shedding nearly three per cent overnight to around US$3880.
asserted
Gold → hand → 3880
Bad news flowing from the Middle East left AI as the last shiny hope and for a few days, Wall Street delivered.
asserted
Street → flow → days
Fresh from last week’s US$3.2 trillion rout, tech roared back.
asserted
tech → roar → rout
Then Jensen Huang’s wandering eyes got involved.
asserted
eyes → wander → ?
Nvidia’s chief admitted an extramarital affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy, prompting the board to investigate whether he had been the “target of a foreign intelligence effort”.
asserted
he → admit → effort
Reports linked the woman to Megaspeed, Nvidia’s biggest Southeast Asian customer, which was already accused of “chip smuggling.”
asserted
which → link → smuggling
The world’s biggest company proceeded to shed more than US$427 billion (A$627 billion) in two sessions - the most expensive affair since Helen of Troy.
asserted
company → proceed → Troy
Then came Wednesday night’s twist: The New York Times reported a second alleged affair, this time with a senior Nvidia executive, while The Wall Street Journal said the board was preparing to show him the door.
asserted
board → come → door
By Thursday, a reported third dalliance had emerged, and shares in the world’s biggest company were down 20 per cent in a little over a week… oooft.
asserted
shares → report → week
Back home, everyday Australians continue to feel the hurt, with consumer sentiment at a four-year low, rates at an 18-year high and mortgage holders’ mood plunging alongside their housing prices.
asserted
mood → continue → prices
With calls for his resignation growing louder, Labour lined up to slap him on the back.
asserted
Labour → grow → back
Albo declared the Treasurer was “doing a great job” – at raising revenues - and that he wanted him by his side.
asserted
he → declare → side
Standing by your man is a fine quality in a mate, but not when it’s at the cost of tens of millions of people across the country, I’d wager.
asserted
I → stand → country
Meanwhile, Usman Khawaja was busy standing by his Australian cricketing brethren in a different way this week.
asserted
Khawaja → stand → way
Waiting beside them at the bus stop to throw his old teammates under the wheels, it seems, for a more personal form of revenue raising in his latest autobiography.
asserted
it → wait → autobiography
His claim that ‘Sandpapergate’ went well beyond the three players who were banned was a great way to honour the Baggy Green, with his dirty gossip rag – biography – set to hit shelves just in time for Christmas.
uncertain
rag → go → Christmas
Finally, the market mayhem week looked like it might come to an end, only for Australians to wake Friday morning to Microsoft’s entire office offering on the fritz, with Outlook and Teams remaining down throughout the business day.
uncertain
Outlook → look → day
Business was at a standstill, with nowhere more evident than the market overlords down at the ASX, who certainly didn’t have the answers.
asserted
who → have → answers
Outlook’s outage sent the ASX’s archaic system scrambling, as a grand total of just 180 announcements made it out on Friday, a fraction of the usual 550ish daily haul.
asserted
total → send → haul
Last week it was fridges frying; this week it’s Outlook dying - and the consequences of a major technology outage are flooding across the market.
asserted
consequences → fry → market
The ASX was again down another one per cent on Friday’s reduced traffic, which left this week’s Runners paddling against the current.
asserted
which → reduce → current
Not a single stock managed to crack the 100 per cent gain mark, although with the small-cap tide running so rough, staying afloat for our four Runners this week counts for something.
asserted
staying → manage → something
Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is G8 Education, after the childcare heavyweight landed a $196.7 million takeover proposal at 26c per share from Melbourne investment manager Majority Capital Partners, sending its battered share price soaring.
asserted
heavyweight → land → price
The non-binding offer represented a whopping 160 per cent premium to G8’s previous close of 10 cents, putting a very different value on a business the market had been treating like yesterday’s lunch.
asserted
market → represent → lunch
Majority Capital has lined up bank and equity commitment letters covering the full consideration, while G8 has signed a process deed giving the suitor up to six weeks of exclusivity to complete due diligence and negotiate a binding deal.
asserted
G8 → line → deal
G8 says it operates more than 350 early learning and childcare centres across Australia under a stable of established brands, making it one of the country’s biggest providers of early childhood education and care.
asserted
it → say → education
The business has been operating in a tough environment, with cost pressures, staffing challenges and regulatory scrutiny weighing on the childcare sector.
asserted
pressures → operate → sector
Just a day earlier, international education provider IDP Education revealed it had received a revised $3-a-share proposal from private equity giant Blackstone, valuing the business at about $834 million.
asserted
it → reveal → million
Blackstone had previously tabled offers of $2.30 and $2.50 a share, both rejected, before returning with a 20 per cent sweeter bid as IDP shares continued to languish.
asserted
shares → table → bid
The two approaches in as many days suggest private equity is sniffing around a sector that public markets have perhaps punished too heavily.
asserted
markets → suggest → that
CLARITY PHARMACEUTICALS LIMITED (ASX: CU6)
Up 57% ($1.50 - $2.35)
Slotting into second and scoring a major regulatory win this week was Clarity Pharmaceuticals, after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the Aussie hopeful “Breakthrough Therapy ” status for its copper-64 imaging agent, 64Cu-SAR-bisPSMA, used to detect post-treatment prostate cancer.
asserted
Administration → slot → cancer
The technology helps doctors find recurring cancer, even when conventional scans struggle to show exactly where it is hiding.
asserted
it → help → cancer
It works by seeking out a protein commonly found on prostate cancer cells, effectively lighting them up so they can be spotted on a PET scan.
asserted
they → work → scan
The scan is particularly important for men whose blood tests show rising levels of PSA, a protein that can signal prostate cancer has returned, sometimes before doctors can pinpoint the location of the disease.
asserted
doctors → show → disease
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
