ASX 200 closes at new high above 9,000 points in broad-based rally— as it happened

That’s a wrap on your Thursday, on the local stock market at least.

Reporting season continues tomorrow, so take a look at this calendar if you want to know what’s coming up:

We’ll be back bright and early with all your markets news, so don’t miss us too much in the meantime.

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And if the weather near you is anything like it is here in Sydney, stay dry.

The blog might be about the wrap-up but the evening TV coverage is just getting started,

I’m hosting The Business tonight and I’m chatting to BHP CEO Mike Henry from Washington DC about his visit to the Oval Office and why he has the ear of the US President over a controversial joint venture copper mine.

Rhianna Witson is looking at the transparency of insurance premiums, given the bumper profits have posted this reporting season.

And the Bega Cheese boss Peter Findlay joins me to explain why the company increased the dividend and whether consumers are facing higher cheese prices anytime soon.

I hope you can tune in at 8:44pm AEST on the ABC News Channel or any time on iView.

And you can read more of my conversation with BHP’s Mike Henry here:

News just in via our reporter Emilia Terzon — Australia Post is suspending some forms of shipping to the United States as a Trump administration tariff deadline creates “chaos” for postal networks and retailers globally.

The development means goods from other countries will no longer be able to be shipped to the US via Australia, a method known as “transit” shipping.

“In line with a number of other postal operators, Australia Post has temporarily suspended its transit service to the US and will no longer accept transit items containing goods destined for the United States of America,” an Australia Post spokesperson said.

Australia Post’s suspension comes as low-value goods imported into the US face additional tariffs from next week.

The looming tariffs and resulting chaos and confusion facing global carriers has prompted some Australian businesses to pull out of the US market altogether.

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Until now, parcels of goods from Australia worth less than $US800 ($1,200) were not taxed when they arrived in the US, under what was known as the “de minimis” exemption.

The tax exemption is due to end on August 29 for imports from all countries globally, with parcels to be slugged with tariffs or flat fees.

Read more here:

After breaking through 9,000 points, the benchmark index managed to hang onto its gains through the afternoon, to close at a fresh high.

In terms of the sectors, all sectors of the market made gains:

(yes I’m aware these lines are blue not green)

Looking at individual stocks, there were some major swings in both directions, as reporting season rolled on, providing a lot of company news flow.

The best performers:

Brambles +13.2%Super Retail Group +12.3%Vault Minerals +11.9%Codan Ltd +10.7%Bega Cheese +7.7%

And the worst:

IPH Ltd -19.5%Sonic Healthcare -12.8%James Hardie -9.4%Insurance Australia Group -3.9%Megaport -3.4%

The benchmark ASX 200 index has closed above 9,000 points for the first time in its history.

At the end of trade, it was sitting at 9,019.1, up 1.1% on the day.

It’s older cousin, the All Ordinaries index, which covers the top 500 stocks by market value, passed 9,000 a little while ago and closed today at 9,284.2.

But individual stocks continue to be extremely volatile through reporting season, with even minor profit misses like CSL punished hard, and big misses punished very hard, like James Hardie, down a further 9.4% today after yesterday’s near 28% slump.

“Big sell-offs in CSL and James Hardie can attest to the fact that, if anything, companies are being punished for misses more than they are being rewarded for beats,” notes Capital.com’s Kyle Rodda.

But he says there’s a bigger threat to the market as a whole than the share price punishment dished out to a few stocks that miss earnings forecasts.

“The risk to the market now is that valuations start to deter buyers,” he warns.

“Just like Wall Street, multiples look lofty at the moment. Forward price to earnings multiples are around the levels they were at the start of the year when everyone was screaming ‘bubble’.

“Although multiples are never a strong indicator of turning points, they can tell you if the market is likely to be more sensitive to a negative shock.”

And what is a possible near-term shock?

“That puts Friday night’s (AEST) speech from chairperson Jerome Powell into focus,” Rodda notes.

“If the Fed doesn’t deliver guidance that supports the rate cuts currently being priced into US rates curves — 82% of a cut is priced-in for September and there’s a one-in-three implied chance of 75 basis points of cuts before year end — then equity markets risk having the rug pulled from underneath them.”

A magic carpet ride indeed.

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Flagging a great piece of analysis by my colleague Nas Campanella, who is the ABC’s disability affairs reporter.

She is examining the proposed “Thriving Kids” program that is intended to divert children with milder developmental delay or autism from the NDIS.

It’s part of the Albanese government’s broader moves to reduce what was 20% annual growth in the cost of the NDIS when it took office down to 5-6%.

The NDIS has repeatedly been fingered as a major source of federal budget pressure, making it (and the many people who rely on it for support) vulnerable to cuts if the growth in cost can’t be reined in.

“No one wants the NDIS to continue to succeed more than the disability community,” Nas writes.

“The quicker the details of these next steps of reform are ironed out, the quicker the government and families can have certainty in a sustainable future for themselves and the NDIS.”

You can read Nas’s analysis piece here.

As the US Federal Reserve prepares to hold the world’s pre-eminent annual gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at the end of this week, Rabobank’s Michael Every warns many are fighting for their career survival.

“While each central bank is different in terms of its constitutional set-up, how many of them are truly safe in their (very recent in historical terms) independence when push comes to shove?” he asks rhetorically.

“Who appoints whom? That’s a one-way street.

“As, tellingly, what can central banks do to ensure their independence if it’s threatened? ‘Raise rates?'(!) Yes, some central banks have done so in the past to hurt governments they didn’t like: no, they won’t do that now. But it might delay rate cuts, perhaps.

“Or might they not buy their own government’s bonds in a market panic ensuing from fears over their loss of independence? There’s a discussion point with strong views either side, depending on which country we are talking about.”

Every also warns that these central bankers and governments around the world could be about to confront a huge energy shock if Donald Trump calls Vladimir Putin’s bluff as the Russian leader attempts to play hardball on a Ukraine deal.

“As Politico puts it bluntly, ‘Russia wants … Russia to have veto over Western security guarantees for Ukraine’ while ‘Europe has no real solutions for security guarantees on Ukraine’,” he observes.

“The stakes here are sky high and so are the market’s fat tail risks.

“Is Putin risking the massive increase in US and EU primary and secondary sanctions that could disrupt global trade and markets? Or will the US accept his terms, seeing Ukraine and Europe humbled even further?

“On one hand, that’s a ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ markets environment alongside the total defenestration of European strategic autonomy, with real long-run implications for its economy. On the other, it’s a likely rapid surge in energy prices and a massive supply chain shock as long-threatened global bifurcation accelerates rapidly.”

As Every concludes, “we’re in a hole alright”.

A cross post from Jake Evans at the ABC’s Parliament House bureau, who is covering the final day of the government’s Economic Reform Roundtable:

We’ve heard that the government isn’t rushing to new taxes beyond its election commitment, but that is what much of today’s productivity roundtable meeting is about.

Aruna Sathanapally from the Grattan Institute delivered an address to the roundtable this morning on its final day about tax reform priorities.

She tells the ABC personal income tax is probably at the top of her list.

“It’s an area where there’s a pretty high degree of consensus around the problems we’ve got in the system,” she says.

“We lean too heavily on taxes on people’s work and employment, and too lightly on taxing income you make pretty much any other way.”

Dr Sathanapally also notes that it’s a wholly federal tax, unlike some others, making it an easier lever for the Commonwealth to pull.

You can read more on the ABC News politics blog.

Elon Musk has been ordered by a US federal judge to face a lawsuit by voters accusing him of defrauding them into signing a petition to support the US Constitution for a chance to win his $US1 million ($1.5 million) giveaways.

US District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin, Texas, said on Wednesday, local time, Arizona resident Jacqueline McAferty plausibly alleged in her proposed class action that Mr Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, wrongly induced her to provide personal identifying information as part of the giveaway, late in the 2024 election campaign.

Lawyers for Mr Musk and America PAC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mr Musk founded America PAC to support Republican Donald Trump’s successful 2024 presidential run.

Ms McAferty said Mr Musk and America PAC induced voters in seven battleground states to sign his petition by promising that people would be chosen randomly to win $US1 million, as in a lottery, though the voters had no real chance to collect.

Read more:

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Thanks Stuart, never got into Dragon Ball Z myself so you sent me down an internet rabbit hole on this one.

Here’s a simple explanation, courtesy of Wikipedia:

“‘It’s Over 9000!’, also known as simply ‘Over 9000!’, is an Internet meme that became popular in 2006, involving a change made for English localizations of an episode of the Dragon Ball Z anime television series titled ‘The Return of Goku’, which originally aired in the United States on April 19, 1997.

“The phrase is typically used as an innumerable quantifier to describe a large quantity of something. Variations of the phrase are also employed as a form of trolling.

“The phrase refers to an alteration of the original line spoken in Japanese by the Saiyan character Vegeta, voiced in English by actor Brian Drummond, in the 21st episode of the Ocean Productions English dub.

“In the original Japanese and English-translated manga as well as the original Japanese anime series, the power level of series protagonist Son Goku is actually read as ‘over 8000!'”

It’s a day of all-time highs, and among them is Brambles. The stock scaled new heights today and is currently 10.7% higher.

The logistics firm Brambles unveiled a $US400 million ($623m) share buyback programme and increased its dividend payout after reporting a 15% jump in full-year net profit.

The world’s largest pallet pooling company logged $US896 million ($1.4b) in profit attributable for the year ended June 30, up from $US779.9 million a year earlier, as its “transformation programme” delivered improved margins.

Brambles declared a final dividend of 20.83 US cents per share, up from 19 US cents paid last year. It also announced the share buyback programme for the new financial year.

“Looking forward, the consumer environment appears to be impacting revenue guide. However, better operating leverage than usual is driving an inline/modestly ahead underlying profit,” Citi said in a research note.

Reporting with Reuters.

Wishing your grandparents many happy (crypto) returns, Phillip.

The Finance Sector Union’s national secretary Julia Angrisano has criticised the Commonwealth Bank for not being transparent when making decisions on cutting jobs.

Ms Angrisano said it was a big win that CBA had backflipped on laying off its 45 staff after the union brought in a dispute.

For more details, you can catch up on my colleague Stephanie Chalmers’ coverage here.

Consumer advocates are calling for a national independent insurance price monitoring scheme, as premiums surge.

Julia Davis from the Financial Rights Legal Centre said households were facing steep hikes with little or no explanation.

“It’s impossible for consumers to know if they’re being charged a fair price,” she said.

“The pricing algorithms insurers use are commercial in confidence — it is a total black box.”

Ms Davis has also highlighted the difficulty of disputing premiums, as the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) does not have the power to decide whether an insurer has charged an accurate premium.

AFCA will occasionally investigate if an insurer fails to explain a sudden increase, but “very few of those complaints ever make it through”.

Even then, she said, “an insurer can provide a lot of detailed information to AFCA that the complainant will never be allowed to see”.

Read more from Rhiana Whitson:

Happy ASX 200 passes 9,000 points to you too, Sam.

Here’s a look at the cycle of investor emotions, thanks to Russell Investments:

Our business correspondent, David Taylor, took a look at the phenomenon a few weeks back.

While traders and investors might like to think of themselves as logical actors, like all of us, they’re human.

“It’s well-known investment markets move more than can be justified by moves in investment fundamentals because investor emotion plays a huge part,” AMP’s head of investment strategy, Shane Oliver, noted.

So if we are at the euphoric state of the cycle, we should be bracing ourselves.

Read more:

It’s a new record for the local share market, with the ASX 200 surpassing 9,000 points for the first time:

Shares in Super Retail Group have touched a record high in today’s session.

Earlier, the stock made gains of more than 20% but has since retreated from its peaks — shares are currently up 13.9% and it’s the best performer on the ASX 200.

The retailer behind BCF, Supercheap Auto, rebel and Macpac reported a net profit of $221.8 million in the last financial year, down 7.6% from a year earlier.

The company reported a 4.5% lift in sales.

As for the outlook, Super Retail said it had been a “positive start” to financial year 2026, with sales growth of 5% over the first seven weeks.

My colleague Adelaide Miller has done a great series of stories this year on super fund HESTA’s transition to a new third-party administration platform, which resulted in people being unable to easily access their accounts for a couple of months — and longer in some cases.

I asked the chair of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, which is responsible for regulating super funds, what he thought about this disruption.

John Lonsdale said he couldn’t comment on individual organisations, but added that those types of situation were “a concern to us, that you expect us to be in there when you see something like that”.

I later asked him more generally about what he thought of super funds outsourcing their administration and parts of their member services.

“Investment governance has been a really big focus for us,” he responded.

“We want trustees to be doing the best things for their members, and we’re not dictating where those services live; that’s up to the super fund trustees, but we certainly want those decisions to be in the best interests of the members.”

HESTA’s chief operating officer was interviewed on The Business in July to discuss the outage and member complaint’s about being effectively locked out of access to their own retirement savings.