Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators:

Aussie $: $0.6503 USD (down $0.0037 USD)

Iron (SGX): $95.50 USD (up $0.40 USD)

Oil (WTI): $71.86 USD (down $2.36 USD)

Gold: $1,940.59 USD (down $16.87 USD)

Copper (CME): $3.5915 (up 0.0260 USD)

Bit-coin: $$26,466.38 (up 0.09%)

Dow Jones: 32,764.65 (down 35.27 pts)

All changes compared to 7am yesterday.

Ukraine War:

Dutch prosecutors seize land owned by Putin’s Ex-son-in-law:

Dutch prosecutors have seized a plot of land near Amsterdam that belongs to Vladimir Putin’s former son-in-law, a joint investigation by the Guardian and two other media organisations can reveal.

The plot of land in Duivendrecht is owned by Jorrit Faassen, a Dutch businessman who was married to Maria Vorontsova, the Russian president’s elder daughter.

An entry in the Dutch land registry shows that the plot of land was seized on 12 May by the national public prosecutor’s office for financial, economic and environmental offences. The agency is responsible for enforcing sanctions compliance.

UK to keep Kremlin assets frozen until Russia pays compo to Ukraine:

Britain is likely to keep Russian state assets immobilised for some time after the war in Ukraine ends, and certainly until Moscow has agreed to pay compensation for the damage it has inflicted, British officials have confirmed.

The Council of Europe summit last week established a digital register of damage for Ukraine as the first step towards an international compensation mechanism for victims of Russian aggression.

Last Friday, the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, insisted that Russia’s sovereign assets would remain immobilised until Russia agreed to pay for the damage it had caused in Ukraine.

The consequences of the evolving British position on postwar negotiations with Russia, including the retention of Russian central bank assets as leverage for compensation, are only gradually emerging.

It is thought that about $300bn (£243bn) in Russian central bank reserves were in G7 states at the time of the freezing, but the mapping of the assets is not complete.

Sydney Fire:

A massive fire took hold of a seven-storey building in central Sydney shortly after 4pm on Thursday.

The fire brought Randle Street to a standstill as onlookers watched walls collapse and rubble scatter.  Witness Grace Turner said the ground shook when parts of the burning building started to collapse.

"A huge flume of smoke came up and that whole wall just caved in," she said "It was the loudest noise. The ground shook."

People screamed as bricks and large chunks of walls started crashing to the ground on Randle Street. 

Korin Ellis said he came up from central station in time to see the building collapse "All you could feel when you were standing there was heat on your face from the flames. You could hear tyres exploding," he said.

"I saw a couple of people running and crying."

It took more than 100 firefighters and 20 trucks to contain the blaze before 6pm.

Soaring cost of power a shocker for small business

The Australian - Page 1 & 4 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Colin Packham, Charlie Peel - Portmac.News Summary

Australian households are facing power bill increases of up to 25% as from 1 July, while small businesses could be facing increases of as much as 29%.

PM Albanese has blamed the large increases on "Unreliable coal plants and high fossil fuel prices", while he said that the contracts retailers buy for the coming financial year have fallen quite a lot as a result of the government's intervention in the coal and gas markets last October.

However, business has called for an end to energy price caps, claiming it deters the investment needed to achieve lower prices over the longer term.

Dutton's gas play to deal out Greens

The Australian - Page 1 & 4 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Rosie Lewis, Dennis Shanahan - Portmac.News Summary

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he is willing to work with the federal government on reforms to the petroleum resource rent tax that the government hopes will raise $2.4 billion, provided that it commits to reducing red tape and approval timeframes for gas projects.

Dutton says he understands the gas industry does not want the government to have to deal with the Greens on the tax, claiming that the Greens are "Crazy and they're economic wreckers".

The Greens have attacked the government's PRRT proposals, claiming they were designed by the gas industry, will help gas companies to make more profits and will continue to 'fuel' climate change.

Plan to save $59b on NDIS doesn't exist yet

The Australian Financial Review - Page 12 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Michael Read - Portmac.News Summary

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced in April that national cabinet had agreed to the NDIS Financial Sustainability Framework, which sets an annual growth target of 8% from July 2026.

According to the budget papers, the Framework aims to save 59 billion over the seven years to June 2034, but Finance Minister Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has confirmed the framework is still being finalised.

Gallagher says it is intended that it will be finalised after the completion of the NDIS review in October and "consultation with scheme participants".

Aged care visa changes are 'Ripe for rorting'

The Australian Financial Review - Page 3 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Julie Hare - Portmac.News Summary

Immigration policy expert Abul Rizvi claims that the federal government's changes to visa policy that aim to boost the aged care workforce are "Ripe for rorting".

The change will allow visa holders to do an aged care course of just six weeks as a first step to permanent residency, and it has been suggested that international students may drop their existing course for a quicker and cheaper way to secure permanent residency.

International Education Association of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood says the visa changes will harm the reputation of the international education sector once more.

Think tank urged to retract 'misleading' profits report

The Australian Financial Review - Page 10 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Ronald Mizen - Portmac.News Summary

The Australia Institute claimed in a February report that 69% of inflation beyond the Reserve Bank's 2-3% target band was the result of excessive company profits.

However, the RBA's latest quarterly statement on monetary policy rejected suggestions of price-gouging inflation, and Treasury and RBA documents obtained under freedom of information laws also cast doubt on the Institute's findings.

University of NSW professor of economics Richard Holden has called on the Institute to "Admit their mistake and retract their so-called analysis".

Smelter workers reject 11% pay offer

The Australian - Page 4 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Ewin Hannan - Portmac.News Summary

Some 90% of Tomago Aluminium employers who voted in a ballot on a new pay deal have rejected the proposed pay rise of 11% over two years.

This comprises an increase of 6% in the first year of a new enterprise agreement and 5% in the second.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union is seeking an increase of 7% in the first year and 6% in the second.

The union has not ruled out reinstating work bans that were in place until 15 May. Rio Tinto is the major stakeholder in Tomago.

$22m PFAS settlement with Wreck Bay Aborigines

abc.net.au - Page Online : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Sean Tarek Goodwin, Kelly Fuller - Portmac.News Summary

The Wreck Bay Aboriginal community on the NSW South Coast has reached a $22 million settlement with the Commonwealth over the leeching of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals into surface water, groundwater, and soil.

The chemicals are found in firefighting foams that came from naval base HMAS Creswell and the Jervis Bay Range Facility, with the community claiming Defence was negligent in allowing the PFAS chemicals to leech.

The community claims that the country and water had been poisoned by PFAS contamination and its culture severely compromised.

University sector 'Too reliant on Asian giant'

The Australian - Page 7 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Rhiannon Down - Portmac.News Summary

Catherine Friday from EY notes that Australia's universities are having to compete even harder to attract domestic and international students in the post-pandemic environment.

She adds that fewer Australians are opting for university at present, due to cost-of-living pressures and the scarcity and high cost of housing.

Friday says the nation's universities have also been too dependent on Chinese students for many years, and they should seek to attract more international students from regions such as Africa and Latin America.

Morgan Stanley cuts a dozen local jobs

The Australian Financial Review - Page 21 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Aaron Weinman - Portmac.News Summary

US investment bank Morgan Stanley is planning to shed around 3,000 jobs from its global workforce by the end of the June quarter, and it has already cut around a dozen jobs from its Australian operations.

Morgan Stanley's Australian business comprises capital markets, investment banking, sales and trading, research and wealth management, and the jobs cut represent around 2% of its roughly 600-strong Australian workforce.

Dealogic data reveals that Morgan Stanley is the fourth-highest fee earner in Australian M&A so far in 2023, behind Macquarie, UBS and Goldman Sachs.

Retail stocks are on a horror run for a reason

The Australian Financial Review - Page 29 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Tom Richardson - Portmac.News Summary

Citigroup has downgraded its earnings per share forecast for Universal Store Holdings by more than 20% in both the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years.

This followed a sharp fall in the listed consumer discretionary retailer's share price in response to a trading update.

Shares in other Australian-listed retailers have also retreated in recent days amid growing concern about the economy.

The uncertain outlook was underlined by the weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence survey on 16 May, with a record 56% of respondents stating that they felt financially worse off than a year ago; consumer confidence overall fell to its lowest level since April 2020, although it has recovered slightly this week.

'As cheap as we can': Discount supermarket eyes expansion

The Sydney Morning Herald - Page Online : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Emma Koehn - Portmac.News Summary

NQR CEO Ewan Jones says the discount supermarket chain's aim is to buy things as cheaply as it can, then to sell them just as cheaply.

Previously known as Not Quite Right, NQR has collapsed twice in the past 20 years, most recently in 2018.

Its current backers believe now is a good time for NQR to expand, with new stores planned for Victoria and South Australia, while its promise to sell well-known brands at up to 80% of their recommended retail price is attracting a lot of consumer interest at a time when the cost of staple groceries is soaring.

Chinese shoppers still want our goods

The Australian - Page 16 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Jared Lynch, Glenda Korporaal - Portmac.News Summary

April Huang has told the Global Food Forum that Australian products were still in demand in China in spite of high Chinese tariffs on them, because of their reputation for good quality and food safety.

Huang, who is an executive with Chinese supermarket chain Hippo Fresh, told the forum that seafood and dairy items are among the Australian food products that Chinese consumers like.

Meanwhile Yaro Ventures CEO Will Zhao claimed that Penfolds could even regain its mantle as China's best-selling wine when tariffs of more than 200% are removed.

'New iron age': Gupta backs Australia's green steel

The Australian Financial Review - Page 20 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Liam Walsh - Portmac.News Summary

GFG executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta has told the Informa Connect Australian Hydrogen Conference in Brisbane that Australia has the potential to become the world's largest producer of 'Green' iron.

GFG's assets include the Whyalla steelworks in South Australia, and it has stated on a number of occasions that it aims to be a carbon-neutral steel producer by 2030.

Gupta argued that Australia would benefit from using hydrogen to produce 'green' iron and steel locally rather than export just the energy source.

'Ignored for too long': New arts bodies to be established

The New Daily - Page Online : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Andrew Brown - Portmac.News Summary

Legislation introduced into federal parliament will see the formation of two new arts bodies, with Creative Workplaces and Music Australia to both come under the auspice of Creative Australia.

Music Australia will seek to grow the Australian contemporary music sector, while Creative Workplaces aims to improve the working conditions of artists across a wide range of sectors.

Arts Minister Tony Burke says contemporary music has been ignored by government for too long, while he says Creative Workplaces would lead to improved protections for artists in Australia.

Deal fever just getting started in resources

The Australian Financial Review - Page 16 & 17 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Alex Gluyas - Portmac.News Summary

Data from Refinitiv shows that the value of mergers and acquisitions involving Australian-listed mining companies has risen to a record $US30.5bn so far in 2023.

Tribeca Global Natural Resources Fund portfolio manager Ben Cleary expects deal-making activity to remain strong for several years, noting that it is usually much cheaper to buy a mine that is either in production or close to it rather than starting a greenfields project.

Cleary expects uranium miners to be the next target for consolidation, while other observers anticipate further merger activity in the gold and lithium sectors.

ASX Banks & miners drag exchange down

The Australian Financial Review - Page 28 : 26 May 2023 - Original article by Alex Gluyas - Portmac.News Summary

The Australian sharemarket retreated on Thursday, with the S&P/ASX 200 shedding 1.1% to close at 7,138.2 points.

Fortescue Metals Group was down 3.2% at $19, Gold Road Resources shed 6.4% to end the session at $1.74 and the Commonwealth Bank was 2.2% lower at $97.72.

However, Megaport rose 12.8% to $6.44 and Costa Group was up 6.7% at $2.54.