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The US economy added 227,000 nonfarm payrolls in November, surpassing expectations of 214,000 and rebounding from October’s hurricane-impacted 36,000. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported the stronger-than-expected figure on Friday, alongside an unemployment rate increase to 4.2%, as anticipated. Nonfarm payrolls  The BLS releases monthly data as part of its Employment Situation Report. Nonfarm […]

Dr Shane Oliver, Head of Investment Strategy & Chief Economist at AMP, discusses developments in investment markets over the past week, economic activity trackers, major global economic events and Australian economic events. Investment markets and key developments over the past week Despite another week of geopolitical noise with the fall of the French Government, a

Bitcoin has breached US$100,000 for the first time, propelled by “Trump pump” optimism surrounding the President-elect’s crypto-friendly policies. The cryptocurrency, the largest by market value, climbed to US$102,510 on 5 December, marking a 45% rise since Trump’s election victory in early November. It’s currently trading around US$99,000. Trump’s pro-crypto stance In July 2024, during the

On Monday, Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) announced a deal to acquire De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG), including its world-class Hemi Gold Project. The $5bn acquisition, if approved, would see De Grey shareholders receiving 0.119 Northern Star shares for each De Grey share. This represents a 39% premium to De Grey’s closing price last Friday. Over the past

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved the merger of Vodafone (LSE: VOD) and Three UK, ending months of regulatory scrutiny. The new entity will be the country’s largest mobile operator, with over 27 million customers. The £16.5bn deal consolidates two of the UK’s four major mobile network providers and is expected to

US stocks were lower on Thursday as investors awaited Friday’s big jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 248.33 points, or 0.55 per cent, to close at 44,765.71. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.18 per cent to end at 19,700.26. The S&P 500 dropped 0.19 per cent, settling at 6,075.11. Traders on Thursday focused

Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation to its Revascor (rexlemestrocel-L) drug for children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). This builds on earlier FDA designations of Rare Pediatric Disease (RPD) and Orphan-Drug (OD) status for the therapy. Mesoblast develops allogeneic (off-the-shelf) cellular medicines

Larvotto Resources (ASX:LRV) has announced a successful $30m equity raising through the placement of 57.7 million new shares at $0.52 each. This two-tranche placement saw strong support from both existing and new institutional investors. The funds, combined with $6.2m from a recently announced antimony prepayment facility and $8m from options conversion, bolster Larvotto’s ability to

Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR) has secured $220m in funding through an institutional placement to accelerate the restart of operations at its Dalgaranga Gold Project in Western Australia. The placement, conducted at $1.32 per share, received strong backing from domestic and international resource-focused investors. Notably, Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS), Spartan’s largest shareholder, increased its stake to 19.9% through