It's Wednesday the 25^th of June, 2025. A ceasefire between Israel and Iran appears to be holding, but only after the US President Donald Trump lashed out at both countries. Both sides violated the ceasefire within hours, though this morning Israel and Iran have indicated they'll abide by the truce. Equity markets around the world, including in Australia, surged on the news, and oil prices tumbled. Oil is now back to the level it was before Israel attacked Iran on 13 June. 

Listen to today's episode 🎧 

News in brief

Given everything happening it didn’t seem like a good day for Virgin Australia to rejoin the ASX, but day one was a cracker, with the carrier’s share price immediately jumping 7.5 per cent, before finishing up 11 per cent. Falling oil prices – fuel is a major cost of airlines – and news of the ceasefire between Iran and Israel overshadowed all other sentiment.

The country’s largest superannuation funds are risking the financial futures of millions of Australians by spending members’ funds on ventures that do not have clear benefits, the financial services regulator has warned.

Rio Tinto and Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting have agreed to develop a $2.4 billion iron ore project in Western Australia. The mining giants received state and federal government approval to develop the two deposits in the Pilbara region.

The share price of Collins Foods, operator of KFC in Australia, jumped 17 per cent yesterday after boss Xavier Simonet said lower interest rates are starting to help consumer sentiment.

A powerful new telescope in Chile has released its first images, showing off its unprecedented ability to peer into the dark depths of the universe. In one picture, vast colourful gas and dust clouds swirl in a star-forming region 9,000 light years from Earth.

Fear-o-meter

Day one of the new Virgin Australia and the carrier’s share price jumps 11 per cent. That’s a nice start.

It could have been horrendous timing with the closure of air routes over the Middle East. Instead, a ceasefire was struck, and that led to tumbling oil prices, and renewed confidence about an all-out war being avoided.

Given aviation fuel is one of the big costs of carriers, lower oil prices is a good thing. Virgin CEO Dave Emerson said the conflict overseas was distressing, though of limited impact to the airline because 90pc of its business is domestic.

Five years after going into administration, Virgin is a very different carrier, aligned around a single fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft that fly only domestically and to a handful of leisure destinations such as Fiji, Bali and Vanuatu, with little debt.

Business By Numbers

The top 3 numbers to know for the week, brought to you by Xero

$315 billion: the value of the Commonwealth Bank after yesterday’s surge. CBA’s share price is up nearly 50pc this financial year.

$20 billion: the amount of money Rio Tinto plans to spend in the Pilbara over the next five years developing iron ore mines.

9 per cent: the amount oil prices have fallen in two days as tensions in the Middle-East ease.

Who's talking today?

On the rise of jobs like Chief AI Officers, Chief Trust Officers, and Chief Automation Officers - insisting they're not buzzwords, but a reflecting of the changing needs of companies, clients and shareholders:

 

"In the last 10 to 15 years, many of these businesses [have been] on digital transformation journeys. They've been using integration and automation technologies, data management technologies, and other tools to digitise a lot of their processes. But the last three years, especially since ChatGPT exploded onto the scene, we're seeing the shift from digital transformation to agentic transformation and boards and C-suites are trying to understand: how do I bring in roles and expertise and other capabilities and to not only be able to meet this new world of agentic AI, but use those tools and technologies to actually pull ahead of the competition in the market."

Greed-o-meter

Pixar's new movie Elio has recorded the animation studio's worst-ever opening weekend, taking just $US21m at the US box office, and $US14m elsewhere in the world. Still, with generally good reviews, there's still hope of a late box office resurgence. The film cost an estimated $US150m to make, so it's got a long way to go to break even. Here's how it stacks up against some of Pixar's other opening weekends.

Source: BoxOfficeMojo, The Guardian

Tell us what you think, and win!

We’re working with Fonto, a research agency, to learn more about our community. We’re running a short survey to hear from you – how you’re feeling, what you love, what we could improve on, and more. It only takes a few minutes, and by taking part before 30 June, you’ll be in the running to win a $3,000 Luxury Escapes voucher. Click here to take part.

Forwarded from a friend? Sign up to our daily newsletter