Markets live updates: ASX may rise after US stocks finish flat, Bitcoin hits fresh high

After a brief initial dip into the red, the ASX 200 and the All Ordinaries are both up around a quarter of a per cent.

Japan’s core consumer inflation hit 3.5% in April to advance at its fastest annual pace in more than two years, data showed on Friday, maintaining pressure on the central bank to continue raising interest rates.

The data underscores the Bank of Japan’s predicament of balancing price pressures from persistent food inflation against growth headwinds from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Japan’s core consumer price index rose at the fastest annual pace since the 4.2% hit in January 2023, holding above the central bank’s 2% target for more than three years.

The BOJ ended a decade-long, massive stimulus program last year and in January raised short-term interest rates to 0.5%.

While it has signalled readiness to raise rates further, the economic repercussions from Trump’s tariffs have complicated decisions around the timing of the next rate increase.

Reporting with Reuters

Department store chain Myer has released a trading update, incorporating sales at the apparel labels it recently acquired from Premier Investments.

Myer’s sales rose 1.9 per cent over the second half of the financial year to date, compared to the same time a year ago.

However, Apparel Brands sales were down 3.9 per cent.

Myer said its sales had been impacted by a number of “market-wide and company-specific factors”.

“These include margin pressure from heightened promotional activity observed across the broader retail sector, increased cost of doing business… and unfavourable foreign exchange movements.”

The company also continues to feel the impact of issues at its new national distribution centre.

“Consumers remain cautious and focused on value in response to cost-of-living pressures and the current macroeconomic headwinds and uncertainty,” Myer executive chair Olivia Wirth said.

“This has resulted in volatile trading conditions with widespread promotional activity across the retail sector.”

The Trump administration has barred Harvard University from enrolling international students for the 2025-26 academic year — saying thousands of current students must transfer to other schools or leave the country.

In the escalating battle between the White House and the Ivy League university, Harvard called the action unlawful and said it was working to provide guidance to students.

The US Department of Homeland Security announced the action Thursday (US time), saying Harvard had created an unsafe campus environment by allowing “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to assault Jewish students on campus.

It also accused Harvard of coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party, saying it hosted and trained members of a Chinese paramilitary group as recently as 2024.

Harvard enrols almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, accounting for more than a quarter of its student body.

Retail and industrial conglomerate Wesfarmers held its investor day yesterday, spruiking growth opportunities in its big brands, including Kmart, Officeworks and Bunnings.

Hardware giant Bunnings was recently subject of scrutiny on ABC’s Four Corners, which aired allegations of anti-competitive behaviour and unfair treatment of suppliers.

Wesfarmers boss Rob Scott had a long-standing commitment to appear on The Business last night but when informed the interview would include questions about Bunnings, it was cancelled.

Andrew Leigh, the assistant minister for competition among other portfolios, joined Alicia Barry on the program.

Loading…

Mr Leigh described Bunnings as “clearly the big kahuna in the hardware market” and said the government’s provided $30 million to competition watchdog to give it more resources to look at misconduct across a host of sectors, including hardware.

Read more of the investigation into Bunnings from Four Corners’ Angus Grigg and business reporter Emilia Terzon:

Shares in British budget airline EasyJet fell 2.6 per cent in London trade.

The carrier said it was seeing strong demand for flights and holidays, and current summer bookings were tracking ahead of last year, giving it confidence in meeting annual profit forecasts.

EasyJet is the latest European airline to provide reassurance that consumer demand for travel remains strong despite worries over economic headwinds from US tariffs.

Airlines’ costs this year are expected to benefit from lower oil prices.

For the all-important summer season, easyJet said it was seeing a “positive build” in demand for both its flights and its fast-growing package holiday business.

Competitor airline Ryanair, which on Monday reported strong demand, with summer bookings running 1 per cent ahead of last year.

In contrast, Europe’s largest travel operator TUI flagged a 1 per cent drop in summer bookings earlier in May, highlighting uncertainty in Germany, its biggest market.

EasyJet, whose biggest market is Britain, also said its package holiday business was performing well.

Reporting with Reuters

Mining giant Rio Tinto has been selected by Chile for the second time this week for a major new lithium project.

A state-run mining body has named Rio as its partner for its Altoandinos lithium project.

Rio Tinto will initially contribute $US425 million to the project, which in total will represent an investment of $US3 billion, Chile’s National Mining Enterprise ENAMI said.

“Rio Tinto provides a financing option that ensures the necessary resources for the project until it reaches commercial operation,” ENAMI said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Rio Tinto said it would focus on “advancing towards binding agreements as quickly as possible” and that feasibility studies would enable a final investment decision.

It follows major news for Rio yesterday, with the miner announcing that chief executive Jakob Stausholm will step down.

Mr Stausholm became chief executive in January 2021 as his predecessor Jean-Sébastien Jacques exited the company following global criticism of its for its destruction of ancient rock shelters in Western Australia.

Mr Stausholm’s unexpected departure will leave a vacancy at the top of one of the world’s biggest mining companies — he will stay in the role until a successor is found.

Reporting with Reuters

Andrew Hauser, the Reserve Bank’s deputy governor, says he was in China the week after US President Donald Trump shocked the world with his so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs in early April, and he witnessed something remarkable.

He said after US tariffs on China rose to 145 per cent, he saw a “striking confidence” among local people that China was heading into a trade war with a “strong hand”.

He said there was a general expectation that a large share of the economic costs of US tariffs would fall on the US itself, and a determination “not to cushion that impact”.

He detected “little expectation” that China’s currency would be devalued in the event of a trade war, partly because China wouldn’t want to insulate the US from its own tariffs.

Read more from business reporter Gareth Hutchens:

Bitcoin has hit another peak overnight, close to $US112,000.

Here’s how it tracked over the last 24 hours:

Good morning, I’ll be joining you for the next few hours — happy Friday!

ASX futures are pointing higher after what was a fairly flat finish for Wall Street, while tech stocks rose and the Nasdaq closed in positive territory.

The sell off in US government bonds continued overnight, before reversing course somewhat.

Yields rose after the US House of Reps passed Donald Trump’s tax bill, with 30-year Treasury yields spiking to their highest level since 2023, before easing back.

Meanwhile in cryptocurrency moves, Bitcoin hit a fresh high.

Locally, RBA deputy governor Andrew Hauser spoke last night, saying China knew it had a “strong hand” heading into the trade war with the US.

Stick with us for more throughout the day.

Loading

• ASX futures: +0.3% to 8,388 points
• Australian dollar: flat at 64.12 US cents
• S&P 500: flat at 5,842 points
• Nasdaq: +0.3% to 18,925 points
• FTSE: -0.5% to 8,739 points
• EuroStoxx 600: -0.6% to 550 points
• Spot gold: -0.6% to $US3,294/ounce
• Brent crude: -1.3% to $US64.07/barrel
• Iron ore: flat at $US99.90/tonne
• Bitcoin: -0.2% to $US110,815

Prices current around 7:30am AEST