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Today

Markets are heading higher into the first week of 2026.

ASX to open firm; floods hit AACO; Coronado halts coal mine

ASX to edge up; AACO flags “material” earnings hit; Coronado suspends coal mine after fatality; investors watch oil markets after US captures Maduro. Follow Live.

Yesterday

ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland.

Conflicts, poor transparency riddle $256b managed account market

The industry is plagued by a dearth of available and comparative performance data, while it’s often not clear how portfolio fees are divided between parties.

Stocks tipped to grind higher with investors more focused on interest rates than geopolitical risk in South America.

ASX to edge up, shares to grind higher in 2026 as rate talk dominates

Equity futures point to modest gains for Australia’s sharemarket as investors shrug off geopolitical uncertainty to focus on the next move in interest rates.

This Month

A cautious start to the new year.

S&P 500 rises 0.2pc in broad energy-led advance

US equities ended the first session of the year mostly higher, albeit modestly so. Tesla, Microsoft started 2026 in the negative, pressuring the Nasdaq Composite.

Savita Subramanian has a “cautious” view on US equities.

There’s no way to sugar coat it, the S&P 500 is ‘expensive’: BofA

Savita Subramanian sees “elevated risks” in the near term, pointing to 18 of 20 valuation metrics she tracks that are “statistically expensive”.

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Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett

Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway

The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers.

The ASX has started 2026 in

ASX makes firm start to 2026, snapping four-day losing streak

The Australian sharemarket shrugged off early losses to edge higher in the first session of 2026, buoyed by energy stocks.

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3 money habits to adopt in 2026 (and 3 others to dump)

Financial goals often feature among New Year’s resolutions but make sure they’re the right ones.

SMSFs are surging.

Super’s ‘boring’ options outperform with 9.1pc gain

That would make the third year in a row of above-average growth for the balanced investment option and a “really good outcome for investors”.

Saudi Arabi’s Public Investment Fund was the single largest dealmaker of 2025 by committing $US36.2 billion, with its participation in the acquisition of Electronic Arts making up the bulk of that figure.

Sovereign funds push into technology as assets swell to $22.5trn

Overall, such vehicles ploughed $US66 billion into investments in artificial intelligence and digitisation in 2025, according to Global SWF.

A precious metal sell off may weigh on miners on Friday.

ASX set for soggy start to 2026 as inflation threat looms

A retreat in precious metals and crude prices is likely to weigh on resources stocks and the broader sharemarket on the first trading day of the year.

All 11 S&P 500 industry sectors were in the red in afternoon trading

US stocks stumble into year-end, silver slumps anew

The S&P 500 falls 0.7 per cent in low volume in final trading day of the year, paring its 2025 gain to 16.4 per cent; US 10-year yield spikes to 4.17 per cent.

Technology stocks, especially those tied to AI, again dominated the market. But leadership shifted to the shares of companies associated with data — from storage to the building, heating and cooling of data centres.

Wall Street’s biggest winners and losers in 2025

Three of the index’s top 10 performers were data storage companies, which are among the main beneficiaries of the hundreds of billions of dollars in AI spending.

December 2025

The ASX opened on a firm note on the final day of trading this year.

ASX ends 2025 with a whimper for weakest annual rise in 3 years

The Australian sharemarket extended losses in a shortened final session, resulting in less than a 7 per cent gain for the year, lagging overseas peers.

One-ounce Britannia silver coins at a London bullion dealer.

Silver rises after biggest one-day drop in more than five years

A lingering supply shortage is helping to keep the metal on track for a 33 per cent monthly gain even after exchanges lifted margin requirements.

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Local shares are set for a muted open amid a sharp sell-off in the precious metals’ complex.

ASX extends losing streak as BHP, gold miners fall

Australian shares nudged lower as declines for precious metals miners and real estate stocks cancelled gains by Santos and Origin.

If you want to invest in a private credit fund you have to be prepared to ask the manager for information.

How to squash a private credit ‘cockroach’? Ask these 10 questions

With new private credit investment funds popping up everywhere, we asked the experts to reveal the questions they ask before they invest in the booming sector.

Australian has outperformed global benchmarks in the market rout of 2022.

Every Wall Street analyst now predicts a stock rally in 2026

“The pessimists have just been wrong for so long that people are kind of tired of that schtick,” said veteran market strategist and longtime bull Ed Yardeni.

The ASX ended lower on Monday in the final trading week of 2025.

ASX falls as tech weighs; DroneShield slumps but Star soars

The sharemarket fell 0.4 per cent, but Rio Tinto hit a record high, and Weebit Nano surged after signing a licence agreement with Texas Instruments.

What will it take to fire up a sluggish ASX listings market in 2026?

The pipeline for initial public offerings looks healthy going into the new year, but fund managers warn the prospect of higher interest rates poses a big risk.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/investing-1st