It feels like a rinse-and-repeat of the Bad News Bears for global markets, with no obvious reprieve in sight.
asserted
reprieve → feel → sight
That was certainly the mood among commodity analysts this week after oil kicked off proceedings at an uncomfortable US$110 a barrel, following an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia attack that knocked out a major Saudi pipeline carrying roughly five per cent of global oil supply.
asserted
that → kick → supply
Even JP Morgan’s commodity team is in shambles, admitting that for the first time since the Iran conflict began they “Don’t have a baseline view.
asserted
they → admit → view
We simply don’t know how to model the endgame.”
asserted
We → know → endgame
Oil cooled a little as the week progressed, but once the genie is out of the bottle, inflation has a nasty habit of hanging around.
asserted
inflation → cool → habit
Every truck, ship, supermarket and household eventually feels the pain of triple-digit oil.
asserted
truck → feel → oil
And, right on cue, the US 10-year Treasury yield finally cracked through the psychologically important five per cent level as the Federal Reserve locked in its first rate hike since 2023.
asserted
Reserve → crack → 2023
New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh delivered a decidedly hawkish message, lifting rates by 25 basis points and signalling another increase – at least - could arrive before year-end.
uncertain
increase → deliver → end
Amazingly, Wall Street found some serious buyers to end the week as bond yields eased and commodity prices rebounded.
asserted
prices → find → week
The US 10-year yield slipped back below five per cent, ending a relentless nine-session surge and traders did what they do best – pretend nothing happened.
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nothing → slip → what
Unfortunately, back home, ever-increasing bond yields tend to seriously filter through to mortgage rates, business lending and housing affordability.
asserted
yields → increase → rates
The same politicians who spent years celebrating rising house prices are acting surprised that young Australians are fed up with an unfair housing market and tax environment.
asserted
Australians → spend → market
True to form, Immigration Minister Tony Burke emerged this week to tackle the housing crisis, announcing that the Government was finally getting serious about cutting migration back to the previously promised – and immediately ignored – levels.
This time, apparently, we should believe them.
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we → emerge → them
In one of the more remarkable political performances of the week, Australians were effectively told by Tony that the property squeeze isn’t really about record population growth colliding with chronic underbuilding.
asserted
growth → tell → underbuilding
Instead, the problem is that Australians are not packing enough people into each home.
asserted
Australians → pack → home
Naturally, the fact that newly built homes are getting smaller and multiple apartments are shrinking in size is a non-factor to Mr Burke, whose level of accountability this week matched only that of his liar-in-chief, Anthony Albanese, who was conveniently away for talks on mass immigration.
asserted
who → build → immigration
Old Tones took it a step further, suggesting migration is actually the solution to housing, rather than the problem - demand and supply don’t exist!
Of course, the fact that many of Labor’s safest seats also happen to contain some of the country’s largest migrant communities has absolutely nothing to do with it, pure coincidence, apparently.
asserted
many → take → it
If migration is the answer to Australia’s housing shortage, then why have construction and trade workers NEVER featured in the top 10 for skilled visa workers ever?
asserted
workers → feature → workers
Nope, it’s never the government’s fault; it’s the Australian public yet again.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
As the ASX grapples with oil above US$100, inflation well and truly back and bond markets flashing warning signs, our Runners list was understandably sparse.
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list → grapple → signs
A few lights were shining at the end of the tunnel, with Bulls N’ Bears top spot on the week taken out by an Aussie magnesium hopeful out of Victoria, who apparently is well on its way to producing magnesium metal - not the vitamin – from its process at a site earmarked for South Carolina, USA.
asserted
who → shin → Carolina
The Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is critical minerals maestro Latrobe Magnesium, which more than doubled after it unveiled a US$15 million non-binding letter of support for its world-first hydrometallurgical-thermal magnesium reduction process.
asserted
it → double → process
The letter of support (LoS) will provide equity funding to carry out a feasibility study for the company’s previously announced 50,000 tonne per annum magnesium metal plant in South Carolina, a powerful vote of confidence in its patented, low-cost, low-emission technology.
asserted
letter → provide → technology
Whilst it’s a promising start, the letter is conditional on Latrobe receiving US$15 million of financing from another specified US-based confidential entity, in addition to carrying out further due diligence and receiving the necessary approvals.
asserted
Latrobe → ’ → approvals
The counterparty providing the LoS is described as a large US-based financial institution that invests alongside its clients across the US and the Asia Pacific, with established relations with various US Government entities - how mysterious.
asserted
that → provide → entities
The news followed an announcement earlier in the week that Latrobe had identified a preferred site in South Carolina for its Victorian-developed process and is in advanced negotiations to lock it down.
asserted
Latrobe → follow → it
For Latrobe, a USA-based commercial project represents what management calls its most strategically important, fastest and most capital-efficient path to commercial magnesium production - Blast those expensive Victorian energy prices.
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management → base → prices
The project will combine the company’s patented hydromet-thermal reduction process, which is currently being refined at its stage one demonstration plant in Victoria.
asserted
which → combine → Victoria
Management says it isn’t short on potential customers either, having already signed Letters of Intent for 32,000 tonnes per annum of committed demand from US consumers and traders, with substantial backing from the State of South Carolina.
asserted
it → say → Carolina
Latrobe has also secured feedstock for the new facility through a binding 20-year ferronickel slag agreement with Société Le Nickel, a subsidiary of French mining giant Eramet.
asserted
Latrobe → secure → Eramet
The proposed facility is aimed squarely at helping meet the United States’ strategic needs for magnesium, a metal vital for the defence, aerospace, automotive and aluminium industries.
asserted
facility → propose → industries
CURVEBEAM AI LTD (ASX: CVB)
Up 100% (2c – 4c)
Nabbing the runner-up spot is CurveBeam AI, which surged this week after unlocking FDA 510(k) clearance for its CT-based Bone Mineral Density (BMD) technology.
asserted
which → nab → technology
The clearance applies to its technology when used with multidetector CT supine, or lying-down, scans.
asserted
clearance → apply → scans
The company says the clearance represents a crucial regulatory milestone in the company’s AI-driven strategy to expand its advanced CT imaging capabilities into quantitative bone-health assessment.
asserted
clearance → say → assessment
The positive approval also lands immediately after an oversubscribed shortfall offer from a share purchase plan (SPP), with excess demand delivering an additional $1.75 million in funding on top of an already committed $5 million placement and $610,000 SPP.
asserted
demand → land → placement
This brings the total amount raised across the full round to $7.36 million.
asserted
This → bring → million
With its saddlebags now full, CurveBeam aims to develop its broader CT-based platform that can deliver anatomical, alignment and bone-quality information from a single examination.
asserted
that → aim → examination
The plan is to generate additional revenue through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model once the company achieves clearance for its HiRise system - a weight-bearing CT scanner, meaning it can image joints under load rather than when patients lie flat.
asserted
patients → generate → load
A large portion of the fresh cash has been earmarked to commercialise HiRise in China, covering sales and marketing preparation, R&D enhancements, and supply chain build-out.
asserted
portion → earmark → preparation
Management sees China as a large, addressable market with limited direct competition.
asserted
Management → see → competition
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
