Welcome to the end of another week! The ASX nearly got back to 8,000pts where it climbed above in mid-Feb – notching fresh all-time-highs – before Trump tariff talks scared world markets the world over.

This week, it looked like maybe the world was ready to move on. Then Trump started talking about a different kind of tariff, for autos this time, and that helped tank sentiment again.

As I have said in multiple HotCopper Market Watch podcasts, I fully expect the market to eventually get tired of Trump tariff talk and stop reacting to it, in the way that the ASX (or Wall Street) no longer gives a shit about inflationary data.

But that could take some time. The market reacted to inflationary data for two and a half years before it got tired and moved onto a new toy.

May we retain those lessons and learn to filter out the child running the free world even sooner. (Feel free to e-mail me, I love to argue.)

Let’s get stock specific.

The big news this week was James Hardie‘s purchase of US-based Azek for $14B, despite the fact it will take them decades to hit a desirable ROI metric on that purchase. Nobody really seems to know why.

Elsewhere, Opthea‘s Phase 3 trials turned up to be a duster as its macular degeneration drug didn’t work. Shares were suspended but expect a hefty drop.

Also worth noting: the US are stacking up stealth bombers on Diego Garcia. Make of that what you will.

Australian Equities 

Australia wins first spot in global destination for mining companies to list: BDO

Helia plummets as CBA – around 50% of its premiums – flags hunt for new mortgage insurer

Regal Investment Fund sheds -5% on Monday as Opthea Phase 3 trial fails to help patients

ASX explorers collectively raised $2.88B in Q4CY24 – a two year high, but OpEx flat at $792M

Australian Economy 

Australian core (TMI) inflation at 2.7% YoY in Feb down from 2.8% in Jan

International Equities 

Chinese EV maker BYD’s revenue surpasses Tesla’s for the first time

International Economies 

US consumer confidence hits 4Y low despite Trump team insistence economy strong

China tells global CEOs country open to more FDI at China Development Forum

Commodities 

France finds world’s largest nat hydrogen deposit worth US$92B

Copper at record highs hitting US$5.10/lb

UBS expects iron ore to hold at US$90-100/tn into 2029

Geopolitics

Trump plan to fine Chinese vessels docking at US ports has World Shipping Council worried

China to buy copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium for national reserves in 2025: Mining.com 

Regulatory, Odds & Ends

Turkey bans short selling in a move set to only hurt Turkish retail investors

Canada moves to cull duplicate Federal-level mining approvals in favor of provincial reviews

Ant Group’s Jack Ma claims Chinese chips were used to train AI at a 20% cheaper cost than US 

Korean AI startup turns down US$800M buyout offer from Meta

BlackRock-backed PsiQuantum, a quantum computing startup, to raise US$750M