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- 📈 Reporting season starts well for Australia | Markets keep hitting record highs
📈 Reporting season starts well for Australia | Markets keep hitting record highs
Here's what you need to know today
Riley Terriff
August 10, 2026
The Big Picture
US hits new all-time highs despite bad news. In the confusing world of economics in 2026, on Friday bad news for the US economy was good news for the US stock market. The US reported weak jobs numbers, with the economy losing 23,000 jobs rather than adding 83,000 jobs as had been expected. However, this pushed the stock market to fresh highs. Why? Because a weaker jobs report lowers the chance of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. (WSJ)
Earnings season continues to beat expectations. According to data from LSEG, 85% of companies that have reported so far have beaten Wall Street expectations. That, along with weaker jobs numbers and the renewed prospect of a deal with Iran, saw the S&P 500 have its best week since April, with the main US index up 3.6% for the week. The tech heavy Nasdaq was up 5.2% for the week. (LSEG | Reuters)
Unlikely companies report gains from AI. Corporate America’s adoption of AI appears to be paying off according to 22V Research. Their study of earnings season found companies that quantified AI’s impact have increased profit margins by an average of 180 basis-points. This includes companies as varied as garbage collection, makers of heating systems and insurance brokers. This remains the most important question to be answered for the AI boom: will all this AI investment create gains for companies outside the tech industry and AI supply chain? (Bloomberg)
Australian dollar is having a stand-out year. The AUD has become the second-best performing currency this year against the US dollar. The AUD reached a 7-week high of 70.5 US cents as demand for Australian minerals, particularly copper, encourages buying. Some forecasts have the AUD reaching as high as 77 US cents by this time next year. (AFR)
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey sign mutual defence pact. The three majority Sunni Muslim nations agreed that an armed attack against any of them would be regarded as an attack against all. The agreement between these three countries is seen as a response to the increasingly aggressive military behaviour of Shia-majority Iran, as well as to questions over America’s reliability as a security partner. (Al Jazeera)
Companies in the news
Australia’s reporting season kicks off with some big gains. Furniture retailer Nick Scali reported profit up 31%, sleep apnea device maker ResMed reported profit up 9% Charter Hall’s Retail REIT reported profit up 78%, and building materials group James Hardie reported profit up 67%. This is the start of a busy few weeks as we get a flood of information from Australian companies and hear how they’re going. (Capital Brief | AFR | Capital Brief | Capital Brief)
Atlassian puts SaaS-pocalypse fears to rest. The standout Australian company was Atlassian, who saw shares jump 35% after reporting a fourth consecutive profitable quarter. Q4 revenue was up 28% year-on-year, defying fears that AI would disrupt their business. In fact, CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes told reporters AI was the best thing to happen to his company. (Capital Brief)
SK Hynix doubles down on data centre boom. The South Korean leader in memory chips has committed $38 billion to expanding its manufacturing facilities for the chips needed in AI data centres. In justifying the investment, the company pointed to research that forecast global semiconductor demand growing at 19% per year to 2030. (CNBC)
Australian AI players gear up for ASX-listings. The CEO of Sharon AI, an Australian neocloud listed on the Nasdaq, has confirmed his company is ready to list on the Australian share market. At the same time, Australian data centre operator Firmus Technologies has raised another US$2 billion to build data centres in Asia as it also prepares for an ASX listing. (AFR | AFR)
Meta fined almost $1 billion over child safety harms. A federal judge in the US ordered the company to pay $942 million after the court found Meta had failed to protect young users on its platform and violated consumer protection law. The money will be split into a $375 million penalty and $567 million for an abatement fund to support services to help young people impacted by Meta’s platforms. (Quartz)
ByteDance targets a mega-AI model to top Anthropic’s Mythos. The Chinese tech company behind TikTok has announced plans to train a 10 trillion parameter model, which would be 3 times larger than Kimi K3 - the largest Chinese model released to date. Anthropic doesn’t disclose the size of its models, but experts estimate its most advanced Mythos model has about 8 trillion parameters. (FT)
More safety investigations at Boeing. The US regulator Federal Aviation Authority ordered inspections of 471 Boeing 737 Max jets over concerns there were cracks in the fuselage. Cracks were found in older generation 737 planes leading to the FAA to order the inspections. (Quartz)
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The World Cup’s million-dollar promises are coming due
US cities that hosted the World Cup were verbally promised a $1 million contribution from FIFA to build mini-pitches and support social projects. With the World Cup over, these eleven cities are still looking for their payouts.
FIFA generated over $15 billion in revenue from 2023 to 2026, and the recent North American World Cup had an operating budget of $2.7 billion. Despite healthy cash inflows, FIFA seems to be strapped for cash. The eleven cities not being paid their million-dollar contributions follows FIFA’s attempt to effectively do an equity raise for $20 billion, a plan that was wholeheartedly rejected by the global football community. (NYT)
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Buy or Sell: ASX Commodities Super Cycle
Brittany Isakka from Spheria Asset Management and Claudia Kwan from NorthStar Impact Funds joined Ally Selby on Buy or Sell to look at five ASX stocks offering Australian exposure to the commodities super cycle. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)
Pilbara Minerals (PLS): Brittany is a sell, citing supply coming back online and soft China EV sales. Claudia is a tactical buy up to $5, arguing the demand story from energy storage is now much stronger.
Chrysos Corporation (C79): Both are buyers. The company's PhotonAssay technology provides gold exposure without direct mining risk. Each unit generates $1.8 million in revenue, $1.4 million in profit, and has a 20-year life, putting ROIC at around 30%. With only 5% market share and major gold labs now signed up, both see a long growth runway ahead.
Sims Metal (SGM): Both are buyers. Brittany highlights underappreciated property assets and improving margins from onshoring scrap supply in the US. Claudia sees it as the only ASX-listed way to access the memory cycle. The shift from DDR4 to DDR5 is tightening supply of both chip types, and Sims' decommissioning business doubled revenue and quadrupled EBIT in FY26.
Vysarn (VYS): Claudia’s top buy. The company serves water infrastructure needs in the Pilbara and is growing an advisory business on the East Coast. A potential 10-gigalitre water license near Port Hedland, which could underpin a green steel industry, is not yet priced into the stock.
Bannerman Energy (BMN): Brittany’s top buy. Funding is de-risked through a partnership with a subsidiary of China National Uranium Corporation, which has agreed to take 60% of offtake at market pricing. With uranium demand growing and new mines taking five to ten years to come online, Brittany sees supply potentially falling short of demand in the medium term.
