Australia’s share market is on track for a third session of gains, as local banks continue their rebound and oil prices slip on hopes of a potential deal to reopen the Hormuz Strait shipping route.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 18.2 points by midday, up 0.21 per cent, to 9,183.6, as the broader All Ordinaries advanced 16.5 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 9,391.4.

The top-200 had gained more than 56 points in early trade, but retreated sharply after higher-than-expected July inflation figures surprised the market, increasing pressure for further Reserve Bank interest rate hikes.

“Today’s inflation figures are a hot mess, and are as much a product of policy decisions than a true measure of price pressures,” Deloitte Access Economics partner Stephen Smith said.

“The result was also messy, as it reflects policy-led changes to electricity prices and the partial restoration of the fuel excise.”

Crude prices have fallen more than nine per cent since last week, amid varied reports and multiple pathways to a potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping route that has been disrupted since the US Iran war began in late February.

Lower crude prices weighed on inflation expectations, easing recently red-hot bond yields and providing a boost to global equities.

“Although peace talks remain at an impasse, the vastly reduced military activity and threats between the US and Iran has reduced the geopolitical risk premium in the markets,” Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

The local energy sector fell 2.4 per cent into the red, as Woodside, Santos and coal producers sold off.

The major banks have continued to rebound after tumbling for most of August, helping lift the heavyweight financials segment, although insurers have remained under pressure.

Non-energy miners have continued their record-breaking rally, as strong copper and gold prices helped the sector reset its all-time high for a third straight day.

BHP did the same, and was trading at $68.24 after spiking to a fresh peak of $68.77 earlier in the session.

Gold miners broadly traded higher, despite the precious metal easing to $US4,643 ($A6,473) an ounce, having surged more than 15 per cent in August on the back of an easing greenback and US bond market jitters.

Consumer staples outperformed the other sectors, as Woolworths handed down a bumper $1.1 billion bottom-line full-year profit, up from $983 million a year earlier.

Its shares rallied 3.4 per cent by midday, following Coles’ nearly five per cent post-earnings rally on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in earnings, Nine Entertainment shares soared almost nine per cent after growing its statutory net profit after tax by seven per cent to $142.4 million.

The Australian dollar is buying 71.76 US cents, up from 71.45 US cents on Tuesday at 5pm, the Aussie briefly hitting two month highs at the prospect of higher interest rates.

Australians are returning to overseas long-haul travel after a bumpy couple of months following the outwar in the Middle East, the nation’s largest listed travel company says.

Flight Centre suffered a difficult June quarter after the US-Iran conflict erupted in late February, which disrupted travel plans across the world and dented the travel agency group’s sales and profits in the back end of 2025/26.

But it’s now seeing green shoots, with interest in leisure travel building in the first month of 2026/27, particularly for outbound journeys from Australia to the US, UK and Europe.

Flight Centre’s bottom-line net profit for 2025/26 still spiked by 36.2 per cent to $149.1 million, on sales – referred to as total transaction value – of $25.7 billion, a gain of 4.7 per cent.

But its underlying result – the group’s preferred measure – was disappointing with profit before tax falling four per cent to $278 million in the year ended June 30.

Before the war, Flight Centre was tracking well ahead of the previous year and preparing for the fourth quarter, traditionally one of its busiest periods.

However, the war ended up shaving a substantial $60 million off that quarter’s result, despite record group sales – or total transaction value – rising 4.7 per cent to $25.7 billion for the year.

Flight Centre’s underlying corporate profit jumped 28 per cent to $240 million, offsetting a 21.7 per cent decline in leisure market profit to $139 million.

But things are looking up, with the group reporting signs of a recovery in the first four weeks of 2026/27, with leisure total transaction volumes besting its 2019 peak and delivering its best profit result since 2015, as US and UK bookings bounced higher through July. The profit outcome wasn’t specified.

“This is a signal that we are returning to the healthy TTV and profit growth we were delivering during the third quarter of last year,” global chief executive Graham Turner said on Wednesday.

Flight Centre is also seeing a rebound in two of its most important markets.

“After the prolonged (US) tariff and immigration related downturn, US sales have now returned to year-on-year growth for two straight months, both in June and July, which is the first time we’ve seen that since financial year 2025,” Mr Turner told an earnings briefing.

“So thank you, Donald Trump, for that.”

Sales for the UK are also moving back up, which Mr Turner said was a positive lead indicator ahead of the group’s upcoming early bird airfare sales.

At the same time, upward pressure on airfares between Australia and the UK and Europe is stabilising, with Middle Eastern carriers sitting around the $2600 mark in return fares for August and September departures.

“And that’s based on late July pricing,” Mr Turner said.

Meanwhile, the trend in corporate travel remains consistent, with solid growth through July, although the Middle East issue is still creating instability.

This means the division’s profit is likely to be weighted to the second half of 2026/27, after also taking into account the timing of new account wins.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Wei-Weng Chen said that while Flight Centre’s result wasn’t perfect, it was still a good one.

“Leisure appears to be back,” he said, adding that the company could deliver a 2026/27 underlying profit after tax higher than consensus expectations of $334 million if that trend continues.

Share in Flight Centre, which won’t release its official guidance until its annual general meeting of shareholders in November, fell 3.6 per cent to $12.49 in morning trade on Wednesday.

The group will pay a final dividend of 30 cents, taking the total for the year to 42 cents.

An Australian technology company has stood behind cutting 1700 jobs in favour of artificial intelligence, as it raked in record annual revenue.

Logistics software provider WiseTech Global’s total income surged 79 per cent to $US1.4 billion ($A19.5 billion) in the year to June 30, supported by its buyout of Texas-headquartered supply chain player e2open.

The acquisition helped deliver $64 million in annualised operating profit savings, while its artificial intelligence transformation had cut $34 million from the balance sheet, chief executive Zubin Appoo said.

“AI has fundamentally changed how we build products, support customers, and work across WiseTech,” Mr Appoo told analysts at a Wednesday earnings briefing.

WiseTech cut 500 jobs globally earlier in the year under an efficiency program, before months later axing around 1200 more roles, mainly in product development and customer service.

The cuts amounted to roughly one in four of the company’s formerly 7000-strong headcount, and resulted in Mr Appoo being targeted with personal insults and a hand-written threat of violence in May.

“We did not make these decisions lightly,” he told the briefing.

“These changes were needed to build the company we will become.”

Despite the record inflows, the company’s bottom line profit fell 11 per cent to $US178.7 million ($A249.3 million).

Responding to the perceived threat of AI to software providers, Mr Appoo noted WiseTech’s customs solutions — which covered around four fifths of global manufactured trade flows across 193 countries — could not be replicated.

“We track more than 95 million ocean containers, we connect over 500,000 enterprises, more than 400 airlines, over 160 ocean carriers, and every class-one railroad in North America,” Mr Appoo said.

“AI cannot recreate what we have built.”

WiseTech’s underlying net profit after tax grew 29 per cent to $US313.5 million, with a similar improvement in earnings per share to 94 US cents ($A1.31).

The company announced an improved 8.8 US cent (12.3 cent) dividend, but it wasn’t enough to excite investors, who sent WiseTech shares almost seven per cent lower to $42.32 in early trade.

An earnings miss in its core CargoWise product had likely weighed, after its 11 per cent revenue growth undershot consensus estimates and the 14-21 per cent guidance range, RBC Capital Markets analyst Jackson Lee said.

WiseTech’s result came just a week after its Sydney office was raided by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over alleged competition and consumer law breaches.

In October 2025, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Australian Federal Police also searched the premises over allegations of improper trading by WiseTech’s billionaire co-founder Richard White and three employees.

Mr White, who stepped down as executive chair in July over reports of another investigation into exploitation allegations, wasn’t mentioned and didn’t appear at the earnings briefing.

He remains on the board as an executive director, continues his role as chief innovation officer and has vehemently denied all claims of wrongdoing against him.

Virginia Bell has requested a four-day extension to the anti-Semitism royal commission, to avoid presenting her final report on the one-year anniversary of the Bondi massacre.

Speaking on the final day of hearings of the Royal Commission into anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion, the commissioner said the final report would be handed down on December 18, rather than December 14.

The short extension was in response to concern from Australia’s Jewish community that the report coming out on the day of the anniversary of the attack would be a distraction from memorials.

However, Commissioner Bell did not seek a significant extension, despite calls from members of the Coalition and some Jewish advocates to do so.

She acknowledged the frustration the commission did not appear to outwardly investigate the events leading to the attack, but said closed hearings had been held to avoid prejudicing ongoing criminal proceedings related to the attack.

The findings from those hearings and other classified evidence would be in a confidential volume of the final report, Commissioner Bell said.

She also addressed the evidence of a former spy who has publicly claimed he warned ASIO about the father-son duo responsible for the massacre six years before they shot 15 people dead on December 14 last year.

The spy has lived in hiding overseas since 2023 after ASIO withdrew its support for his permanent residence, hindering a bid by the commission to hear his evidence.

But Commissioner Bell said the spy – whose application for a visa to return to Australia was rejected – had been offered the chance to give evidence remotely from overseas, but declined as it did not allow him certain legal protections.

Giving evidence publicly could prejudice ongoing legal proceedings about the two shooters, she said.

The commission accessed reports the spy provided to ASIO at the time, she said.

“I am satisfied I am currently in a position to give a full and fair account of the term of reference, which asks whether, in relation to the Bondi Hanukkah attack, our intelligence and our law enforcement agencies operated or performed to maximum effectiveness,” Commissioner Bell said.

Leaders of Australia’s Jewish community expressed gratitude for those who gave evidence at the commission, often at a personal cost.

The commission heard directly from roughly 14,000 members of the community through evidence given in person and in writing, Commissioner Bell said.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief Peter Werheim said the community had put its heart and soul into the commission.

“Australia is the only country in the world which has turned the spotlight on itself to examine its own record of anti-Semitism, and to do so with the seriousness of purpose that the issue clearly warrants,” he said.

Australia’s sovereign wealth fund has recorded one of its strongest results in its 20-year history, adding $37.4 billion to the nation’s financial position.

The Future Fund oversaw a 14.8 per cent return to $289.7 billion in the 12 months to June, easily beating the 2.8 per cent gain in the ASX200 over the same period and the fund’s one-year target of eight per cent.

As the fund announced the result on Wednesday, it revealed chief executive Raphael Arndt would depart at the end of 2026 after almost two decades.

“I am proud to have served as CEO of the Future Fund,” said Dr Arndt, who will move into the private sector.

“The fund is an important Australian institution, and I am confident it will continue to play a vital role for decades to come. All Australians are better off as a result.”

In his six years as chief executive, Dr Arndt has overseen a $205 billion increase in total funds under management to $356 billion.

“Raff has been an outstanding leader of the Future Fund during his tenure as CEO and for many years prior to that in a range of other roles,” chair Greg Combet said.

“Australia is better off for his contribution to the Future Fund. 

“He leaves the fund well-positioned to continue strong investment performance in the future.”

The fund was well advanced in its recruitment process and will conduct a global search for an Australian candidate to replace Dr Arndt, Mr Combet said.

He said the 2025/26 result was one of the strongest in the fund’s history, achieved in a “challenging global environment marked by geopolitical uncertainty and market volatility”.

“This result has also been achieved while investing in national priority sectors with the board having now committed around $3.5 billion of new investment into domestic housing, infrastructure and the energy transition,” he said.

“We have successfully laid a foundation for the fund to endure to strengthen Australia’s financial position beyond the payment of the liabilities for which it was established.”

Following a 12.2 per cent return the prior year, the Future Fund has continued its recent run of strong performance since adopting its new investment order in 2021.

“Exposure to commodities, geographic diversification, an increased focus on active management and low exposure to bonds all contributed to returns,” Dr Arndt said.

Chief investment officer Richard Brandweiner said the investment order had prompted improved diversification, increased inflationary protection and selective exposure to active management.

“Very strong global equity markets, notably in Japan and EM, underpinned returns, however increased volatility as a result of a more fractured geopolitical environment saw very positive outcomes in our active equity and alternative exposures to,” he said.

“Relatively modest levels of equity risk, meaningful exposure to private market assets and highly diversified exposure to the AI thematic aim to provide robustness across different market scenarios.”

Established by then-Liberal treasurer Peter Costello with an initial endowment of about $60.5 billion in 2006, the Future Fund board has in recent years taken charge of additional funds such as the Disaster Ready Fund and the Housing Australia Future Fund.

The housing fund recorded an 11.6 per cent gain in the year to $11.7 billion, taking the total return since inception in November 2023 to 9.6 per cent.

While Dr Arndt leaves the Fund in an enviable financial position, the last months of his tenure have been dogged by high staff turnover and reports of an overly controlling organisational culture.

Dr Arndt said his departure was unrelated.

“The engagement score from the staff is very high and it remains one of the highest in the entire public service,” he told a media briefing.

“I feel like I’m leaving the organisation in an extremely strong place.”

The productivity commissioner has accused the West Australian premier of crossing a line after his criticism of the body’s report into the state’s generous GST deal.

A Productivity Commission report found the “perverse” GST deal struck in 2018 by the Morrison government had cost federal taxpayers $23 billion in top-up payments to WA so far and said it needed to be scrapped.

Following the report’s release, WA Premier Roger Cook described the commission as “east coast clowns” and said the recommendations were an attack on the state.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has since promised to keep WA’s GST deal intact.

Productivity Commissioner Angela Jackson said Mr Cook’s comments about the report went too far.

“Our view is that a line was crossed in terms of the nature of those comments from the Western Australian premier … he also called the report deceitful,” she told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

“To undermine and, I guess, attack our integrity … is an additional bridge too far, and … something more broadly we are seeing in public debate internationally.

“We want to call this out as being unacceptable.”

Dr Jackson will meet with WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti in Melbourne on Wednesday, where concerns about Mr Cook’s comments will be conveyed.

The commissioner said the prime minister’s comments about keeping the GST deal for WA was disappointing but agreed the commission’s staff were “economic rationalists”, as described by Mr Albanese.

“It’s important for us to indicate that that process will not be influenced by the prime minister’s comments,” Dr Jackson said.

“I would say that yes, we are economists. I hold a PhD in economics, as does my colleague Dr Alex Robson … so we are definitely economic rationalists.”

The body will still take feedback on the GST proposal before it hands down its final report by the end of 2026.

Industry Minister Tim Ayres said while the comments from the WA premier towards the commission were colourful, different points of view should be welcomed.

“We’re an Australian democracy. We should be we should be comfortable and confident about the way that we engage with each other,” he told ABC Radio.

“The Productivity Commission’s got important work to do, and the government will continue to respect the role of the Productivity Commission.”

The issue of GST is likely to feature heavily at a meeting of state and territory leaders at national cabinet on Wednesday.

Other premiers and chief ministers have called for a more equitable GST deal.

Northern Territory chief minister Lia Finocchiaro said the territory needed its fair share of the tax.

“Ultimately, the territory actually has a different proposition it needs to put forward to the federal government above and beyond the GST contribution we currently get,” she said.

“We rely very heavily on GST just to be able to keep the day-to-day operations moving.”

Australia’s largest locally owned media group has lifted its annual earnings as it continues to focus on its streaming and broadcast assets, including Stan, 9Now and digital publishing. 

Nine Entertainment, which also owns 9 Network and major mastheads such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review, said those divisions were expected to contribute more than 60 per cent of its revenue in the new financial year.

The group made a 2025/26 bottom line net profit of $510.6 million, on a consolidated basis, up from $133.3 million in the previous year ended June 30.

Underlying earnings – before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – jumped 17 per cent to $378.8 million, on a three per cent lift in group revenue to $2.2 billion.

“We will continue to invest in premium content and focus on opportunities to maximise the reach and commercialisation of that content, whilst continuing to explore technology initiatives that help to expedite growth opportunities,” chief executive Matt Stanton said.

Mr Stanton said the group was still eyeing cost cuts and expected to exceed its target to take out $160 million heading toward June 2027.

“We will continue to refocus our cost base, removing costs where appropriate whilst continuing to invest in our growth businesses,” he added.

In 2025/26, underlying earnings for the publishing arm fell 3.9 per cent to $149.9 million but the streaming and broadcast arm generated a 1.8 per cent increase to $214.1 million.

Nine’s total television earnings came to $133.5 million, a fall of 18.5 per cent, while Stan made $80.6 million, reflecting a big gain of 20.3 per cent.

Nine declared a final dividend of three cents, taking the total for the year to 7.5 cents.

Canada has hit back with retaliatory tariffs on US annual imports and rolled out aid for businesses and workers, matching Washington’s latest ‌duties dollar-for-dollar. 

The counter-tariffs on US goods worth about $US20 billion ($A28 billion) take effect on September 8 and impose duties of 15 per cent, 25 per cent and 50 per cent across around 700 products imported from south of the border, a government statement said. 

US President Donald Trump’s new 50 per cent tariffs on $US20 billion ($A28 billion) of Canadian imports took effect on Saturday after talks between the two countries collapsed. 

The new tit-for-tat tariffs mark a new low in relations between the longtime allies, and Trump earlier on Tuesday threatened to rename Lake Ontario, which straddles ‌both countries, “Lake America”.

“Our dollar-for-dollar, ‌rate for rate counter-tariffs ⁠as well as a multi-billion dollar support package will protect workers, farmers, families, and businesses,” Canada’s Finance Minister François-Philippe ​Champagne said. 

The White House and the US Trade Representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Canada levied the 50 per cent tariffs on steel, aluminium, furniture and clothing, set the 25 per cent tariffs on cheese, appliances and some seafood, and placed the 15 per cent tariffs on electronics and tools, a Canadian government official told reporters. 

Trump’s new tariffs are relatively narrow, affecting roughly five per cent of Canada’s exports to the United States. But trade analysts say they could have severe, concentrated effects on some sectors that ⁠are already struggling like wood products, particularly kitchen cabinet makers. 

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, calculated ‌using 2024 trade figures, ​cover goods accounting for nearly 4.5 per cent of Canada’s imports from the United States. Industry Minister Melanie Joly said the counter-tariffs were primarily aimed at protecting Canadian businesses ​but were also aimed ‌at applying political pressure before Americans vote in the November 3 midterm elections. 

“We need to make sure that the competitors don’t have access ​to the Canadian market in a better way than their own… products, and that’s why the retailers need to show that from Canada,” she said. 

“Second, we’re also targeting products that will target states in the US and so we’re being wise and strategic to put political pressure, and that’s ​why ​we think it’s the right thing to do right now.” 

The ​Canadian tariffs will also cover some prepared foods, perfumes and toiletries, plastics, lumber, ‌wood pulp and paper products, carpets and clothing. 

The list also targets industrial goods including iron and steel, aluminium, hand tools and other metal products, machinery and electrical equipment, as well as rail engines, motorcycles, furniture and gaming equipment, government documents showed. 

Canada also unveiled a C$7.5 billion ($A7.57 billion) package of measures featuring support for small and medium-sized businesses, a stream for funding cash flow of companies, and support for workers at risk due to the new tariffs. 

The Business Development Bank of Canada, ​a federal lender, will provide part of the support to affected businesses, offering interest-free loans of between C$2.5 million ($A2.52 million) and C$5 million ($A5 million).

Joly said companies would ​not be required to make repayments ⁠for 36 months, a period that would run through the end of the Trump administration’s term.

Excessive regulation and government meddling is suffocating the university sector, according to its peak body, as political parties threaten to cut off a major source of income for higher education.

Universities Australia chair Carolyn Evans will call for greater autonomy and a considered debate over international students in an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday.

Her State of the Sector speech will acknowledge there might be good reasons to reduce the number of international students, but suggests the current political debate is ignoring significant consequences.

Labor, the coalition and One Nation have declared an intention to cut migration figures, with each party setting its sights on different visa holders.

One Nation and the coalition have committed to significantly reducing the intake of international students as the solution to meeting lower migration targets.

In her speech, Professor Evans will warn of the ripple effect of such a policy to health, aged care, tourism and long-term diplomacy.

“What’s the plan for the financial sustainability of our universities? Will the taxpayer resume responsibility for them or will we as a nation happily see thousands more job losses and the closure of small campuses?”

Universities and academics criticised the coalition’s plan to cut Australia’s migrant intake in May, warning it would hurt the economy and cost jobs.

The sector relies heavily on foreign students who can be charged much higher fees to cover costs such as compliance, infrastructure and research.

Prof Evans will also call for a lighter touch on university regulation.

“When governments seek to regulate our media, the democratic threat is recognised, and so questions are asked and debated as they should be. The same is not true for universities,” she will say.

The Morrison-era Job-ready Graduates program is also expected to be singled out as a policy that has failed to meet the needs of the modern workforce and has left the sector chronically underfunded.

The Albanese government is yet to announce a new funding model since the 2024 Universities Accord recommended an overhaul.

Australia’s financial watchdog says it wants to get out of the way of economic growth, while protecting consumers in a time of rapidly changing financial systems.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has outlined its aim to support responsible innovation while cracking down on bad actors, in a plan for the year ahead released on Wednesday.

ASIC chair Sarah Court said the potential misuse of artificial intelligence was one of the main areas of focus for the regulator.

AI being used by banks for customer service, as well as its potential for manipulation, deepfakes and misinformation which could affect market integrity, were areas of concern.

“ASIC is responding to a financial system being reshaped by rapid technological change (and) evolving markets,” Ms Court told an economic forum on Tuesday.

Areas with the potential for the most immediate and widespread harm, including scams and debt collection, remained the leading focus of consumer protection work.

The watchdog will also increase oversight of insurance claims intermediaries in disaster-affected communities, buy now pay later and superannuation advice fee deductions.

Another focus for ASIC in the year ahead was the balance between regulation and innovation, Ms Court said.

The message Ms Court said she was broadly hearing was federal government regulation was stifling businesses and costing a combined $160 billion annually to adhere to.

“It’s tempting to conclude the answer to reversing all of this is simply to have less regulation.  But that is not my primary response,” she said.

Ms Court said her vision for the regulator was for it to act at the right time and addresses the right risks, making it “easier to deal with, and harder to avoid”.

She said this came down to being more responsive, investing in earlier detection and prevention, and setting clear expectations with stronger consequences. 

Ms Court said she wanted to return confidence in a time when major upheaval had left the majority of Australians feeling pessimistic about the economy.

“We are in one of the most disrupted decades our country and the world has experienced,” she said.

“A decade shaped by crisis and uncertainty.

“We have an exciting opportunity to be part of building the future Australia needs. ”