Afternoon Report | Rare earths boom

This is the Fear and Greed Afternoon Report - everything you need to know about what happened in the markets, economy and world of business today, in just a few minutes.

1. ASX flat

2. Bitcoin hits new record

3. PM heads to China

4. Trump’s Aussie pick

5. Tariff threat

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report
for Friday, the eleventh of July twenty twenty five. I'm
Sean Almer. Every afternoon, We've got the five stories that
happened today that you need to know about story and
I'm one. The local share market closed down slightly today
to finish the session of eight five hundred and eighty points,
even though Wall Street hit new records overnight. The clothes

(00:23):
would have been worse but for a strong performance from
the material sectors and particularly the miners. There were some
serious buyers for battery metals companies, with a Luca Resources
and rare Earth surging. It came after the Pentagon invested
into a group called MP Materials, listed on Wall Street,
to gain access to non Chinese rare earths that had

(00:44):
an impact on local miners. A Luca closed up twenty
two percent, Liners finished seventeen percent higher. B HP of
Fortyshew and raw All jumped close to three percent on
the back of higher iron ore prices. Almost all of
the other large cap stocks were lover, with Macquarie, Goodman,
Transurban and Wes doing worst. Storry number two. Bitcoin hit
another new record this morning, Australian time, pushing beyond one

(01:05):
hundred and sixteen thousand US dollars a unit. He came
as the S and P five hundred hit a record
high in hopes that interest rates in the US will
fall in coming months. Bitcoin, a risk asset, has defied
concerns about global growth and is up more than fifty
percent since it's low in early April, supporting the original
cryptocurrency is growing institutional support. Storry number three. Prime Minister

(01:28):
Anthony Albernizi heads to China this weekend and says business
leaders have been highly supportive of the visit, which includes
a meeting with President Jijingping. Alberizi will be joined by
representatives from major companies including BHP, Rio and Fortescume. THEPM
also played down suggestions that a meeting in January between
Donald Trump and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was a secret.

(01:49):
Right is now Australia's Ambassador to the US and met
with Trump at his Florida golf club. Storry number four,
a former deputy mayor of Sydney Municipality Ashfield, has been
picked to be the US Ambassador to Malaysia. Nick Adams,
a graduate from the University of Sydney. Was best known
in Ashfield for his push to banish pigeons from the suburb.

(02:10):
Not sure how he was going to do that, Adams
immigrated to the US in twenty twelve, where he has
been an avid and consistent backer of the US President.
Adams began to gain prominence as a conservative activist, commentator,
public speaker, and author, often appearing on the Fox News
television network. He posted on X Today, delusional self belief

(02:32):
and irrational optimism, along with endless hard work makes anything possible.
Adams nomination to be the US's top diplomat in Malaysia
has been sent to the Senate for confirmation and Story
number five. The US will impose a thirty five percent
tariff on imports from Canada next month, and plans to
hit most other trade partners with blanket tariffs of fifteen

(02:53):
to twenty percent. In a letter released on his social
media platform, Trump Toll, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carne that
the new rate would take effect on August one, and
will rise further if Canada retaliates. The US president added
that trading partners that had not yet received letters would
likely face blanket tariff's Australia has not yet received a

(03:15):
tariff letter from Trump and currently expects to have a
ten percent tariff rate. That's it for the afternoon report
for Friday, the eleventh of July twenty twenty five. Make
sure you hit follow on the podcast. We will be
back tomorrow morning with a weekend edition of Fear and
Greed Business News. I'm Sean Elmer. Enjoy your evening.