Well, that’s all from the ABC Business team for today and this week.

Looking ahead, we’re keeping an eye on everything from Trump to the US economy, geopolitics, local inflation, economic growth, and the impact on interest rates.

This six-month reporting season is a difficult time for investors.

Please take care and have a wonderful weekend.

See you next week.

Loading

Canstar reports that Australians wasted an additional $2.8 billion in January.

Household deposits at authorized depository institutions (ADIs) hit a record high of $1.72 trillion in January, an increase of $134.5 billion over the year, according to today’s APRA statistics.

Can someone please help Matt here?

It’s a mystery.

AMP’s head of investment strategy decided to throw a small grenade on Friday afternoon.

Here’s his outlook for the stock:

Overestimation and political uncertainty related to President Trump & Midterm elections, AI bubble & High-tech valuation concerns and geopolitical risks are key drags [for shares].

But returns should still be positive thanks to Fed rate cuts, President Trump’s consumer-friendly shift, and solid profit growth.

A return to profit growth should also support the rally in Australian shares, even if the RBA raises interest rates.

However, the stock market could see another 15% correction in the future.

As always, this is not intended as investment or financial advice.

The Australian National Accounts for the fourth quarter of 2025 will be released on Wednesday 4 March.

The document will include gross domestic product (GDP) figures.

The strength of economic growth will influence the Reserve Bank’s interest rate deliberations.

It’s been a tough week for Australia’s second-largest supermarket. The stock price fell 7% following the first half results announcement. Net profit decreased by 11.3% this morning. The company is also being sued by the ACCC over misleading promotions, and final arguments were finalized this week.

After briefly rising a few points in the afternoon, the supermarket giant’s shares continued to fall, falling 7.35% on the day.

of S&P/ASX 200 has closed above twenty three Points etc. 0.25% to 9,198.60.

This was the highest closing price recorded.

So far this year, the Australian stock market is up 5.3%, while global shares are up 2.8%.

The following is an excerpt from AMP’s Shane Oliver’s weekly note on cash flowing from technology into the broader US stock market.

The rotation from technology to non-technology continues..

This is evidenced by the continued outperformance of the equal-weighted US S.&The P500 is up 6.7% year-to-date compared to the tech market cap-weighted S.&The 500 peso rose only 0.9%.

[It’s also evident] Stock markets outside the U.S. have outperformed relatively so far this year, with eurozone stocks up 6.4% and Japanese stocks up 16%.

The weight of high-tech stocks in the U.S. stock market is 32%, but if high-tech stocks are included, the weight increases to nearly 50%.

Many Australians are worried about the rising cost of living, but we don’t often hear about how young people feel about it.

ABC’s Behind the News asked young people about their financial concerns, including housing, inflation and pay.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is suing Budget Direct’s underwriter Auto & General.

ASIC claims tens of thousands of the insurer’s customers lost promised discounts and were overcharged.

Here’s a quick look at this case study and what it means for Budget Direct customers.

REA Group stock is trading at $167.25, up 4.17% in late Friday trading.

The owner of realestate.com.au has announced the buyback of more than 60,000 shares in the past few days.

Bapcor’s share price was down 48% to 90 cents as of 2:30pm (AEDT).

British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has signed a deal with Chile’s Codelco to explore development and investment opportunities.

Both companies agreed to work together to identify pilot projects. Rio Tinto is currently partnering with Chile’s state-run copper and lithium project, Nuevo Cobre.

Australians seem to love their luggage.

Australia Post reported that “parcel volumes increased by 5.1%”. [in the first half]sales were $3.61 billion, an increase of 4.1% year over year. ”

During the ‘peak’, Australia Post delivered 3,075 parcels* every minute. This is approximately 1 million additional parcels per week compared to last year, while achieving record service levels.

However, intense competition in the e-commerce market has tightened pricing and compressed profit margins.

*Calculated based on the number of Australia Post deliveries during the period. November 1st – December 31, 2025 for 12 hours or more per day, excluding Sundays and holidays.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Australia Post’s letter service is in the red.

Letter Services suffered an interim loss of $2.1 million in the half as letter volumes continued to decline structurally.

This was in part due to the $0.20 increase in Basic Postage Rate (BPR) that took effect in July 2025, which improved results.

Here’s what Postal Group said about the service today:

Letter services are expected to record significant losses in FY26 as Australians continue to send fewer letters.

In December, Australia Post submitted a draft notice to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) proposing a $0.15 increase in BPR from $1.70 to $1.85.

Further rate increases will be necessary to alleviate the impact of continued structural decline in letter services.

Less than 3% of letters are sent by individuals, so the average cost to Australian households is less than $1 a year.

After hitting a record peak, Australia Post reported an interim profit of $50.4 million and “significantly accelerated investment to transform its network and meet surging e-commerce demand,” the government-backed company said.

This result was $198.7 million lower than the prior year period.

The results, Australia Post said, “highlight rising costs in energy, enterprise agreement wage increases and real estate.”

“The letter service continues to be in the red and volumes continue to decline.”

Due to increased demand for e-commerce during ‘peak’ times, parcel volumes increased by 5.1% in the half compared to the first half of 2019, with more than 283 million parcels delivered.

Australia Post has announced its earnings results for the six months to 31 December 2025.

The key points are:

• Group revenue was $5.06 billion, up 1.1% year-on-year (1H 2025)
• Group profit before tax was $50.4 million, down $198.7 million from $249.1 million in 1H25
• Package and services revenue was $4.11 billion, up 1.1% from 1H25
• Letter revenue was $952.2 million, up 0.9% and volume down 11.5% compared to 1H25.
• $219.9 million investment for business transformation (up 53.6% from H1 2025)

There is evidence that enthusiasm for private credit may be cooling.

Below is an excerpt from a JP Morgan memo that just arrived in my inbox.

Private sector credit rose 0.5% m/m in January, two-tenths below both JPMorgan and consensus estimates (up 0.7% m/m).

The soft text suggests that credit growth is stabilizing into 2026, consistent with the RBA’s shift towards a rate-hike bias.

On an annual basis, credit growth remained at 7.7%oya, unchanged from December but still up by historical standards.

Going forward, while economic conditions in interest rate-sensitive segments are expected to moderate, housing credit is likely to remain relatively strong due to tailwinds for first-home buyers.

That last sentence isn’t all that great news for those hoping for a reduction in real estate price increases.