It’s Tuesday the 15th of April, 2025 and a $5 billion gold merger is on track for completion, the Aussie dollar surges against the greenback and hospitality businesses top the list of insolvencies over the past year. Plus the local share market jumps and opposition leader Peter Dutton introduces his son Harry to the campaign trail. 

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News in brief

Northern Star is set to buy out smaller rival De Grey Mining in a $5 billion deal, creating a top 20 company on the ASX and continuing the consolidation in the gold sector. De Grey’s largest shareholder, Gold Road Resources, has backed the deal, meaning Northern Star should be able to buy the WA-based miner, with flagship operations in the Pilbara.

It's been a very good 24 hours for the share market with the S&P/ASX200 jumping 1.3pc to finish at 7749 points. Tech stocks led the way on the back of a strong weekend for Wall Street. The big miners and banks did well as did healthcare and property stocks 

The Aussie dollar is on the rise, at least against the greenback. It is up to 63 US cents, though it is more about US dollar weakness. Against a basket of other currencies, the USD is at a three year low. The greenback is down nearly ten per cent since Donald Trump took over.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has introduced his son Harry into the election campaign, with the 20-year old saying he and his sister are struggling to save for a house. Dutton was then asked whether he was going to help – he has a multi million home portfolio – and he ignored the question.

Six of the top seven ranked industries for business closures in the last 12 months are dependent on household discretionary spending. Industries with the highest closure rates are food and beverage and hospitality, administrative and support services and arts and recreation.

Fear-o-meter

Oh to have invested in gold at the beginning of the year. While equity markets have tumbled, gold stocks and exchange traded funds have surged. With the price of the precious metal pushing beyond $US3,000 an ounce – well over $A5,000 an ounce – the share prices of the major gold stocks have risen.

Even before the sharp price spike, there’s been consolidation in the industry, as highlighted by Canada’s Newmont buying ASX-listed Newcrest Ltd in 2023. This morning there is another big gold deal likely – Northern Star’s purchase of De Grey Mining. Mining is an expensive business, and increasingly smaller producers are being marginalised.

In uncertain times central banks and investors look for gold. And seldom has it been as uncertain as it is now. Gold is the winner.

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Who's talking today?

Bruce Wolpe is the author of What Trump’s Second Term Means For Australia. He worked with the Democrats in Congress during President Barack Obama’s first term, and he's made a bold claim about the future of American democracy: 

 

"Donald Trump has centralised power. No president has governed with so much executive power as Trump... He continues to take actions which end up in the courts, principally on immigration, what he's doing to government agencies, the people he's firing and things like that. And you have a series of rulings, some in favour, most against. But they have not matured to a point where there's a landmark case before the Supreme Court about what his powers are as president. And everyone is anticipating that at some point the Supreme Court will say, thou shalt not. And Trump will say, I certainly will, and I will not obey a ruling of the Supreme Court and that would precipitate a constitutional crisis."

Greed-o-meter

Oil prices are low, meaning drivers should be seeing cheaper petrol prices at the bowser - good news ahead of the Easter long weekend. Here's the average prices for our capital cities, compared to the cheapest and most expensive petrol in the country.

Sources: FuelPrice Australia, ACCC

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