Qatar Airways acquisition of a 25 per cent stake in Virgin Australia has been given the green light by Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
The ASX is tipped to open lower after losses on Wall Street and tech darling Nvidia has reported strong fourth-quarter results.
Follow the day's financial news and insights from our specialist business reporters on our live blog.
Disclaimer: this blog is not intended as investment advice.
Key Events
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ASX up at the open
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Qantas CEO fronts media about Qatar-Virgin deal, half-year results
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Tech giant Nvidia sales grow 78%
Market snapshot
- ASX 200: -0.1% to 8,241 points
- Australian dollar: +0.1% to 63.10 US cents
- S&P 500: Flat at 5,956 points
- Nasdaq: +0.3% to 19,075 points
- FTSE: +0.7% to 8,371 points
- EuroStoxx 50: +1.5% to 5,528 points
- Iron ore: -0.1% to $US105.95 a tonne
- Spot gold: –0.1% to $US2,920/ounce
- Brent crude: -0.3% to $US72.81/barrel
- Bitcoin: -0.6% to $US83,878
Prices correct around 10.45am AEDT
Young workers drive union membership surge
Union membership in Australia has grown by nearly 200,000 members from 2022 to 2024, a 12.5% increase—the largest jump since the ABS began collecting the data.
The rise has been driven by young workers, with membership among 15-24-year-olds up 53% and 25-34-year-olds up 22%, shifting the median union member's age from 46 to 44.
Union density has increased from 12.5% to 13.1%, outpacing general employment growth (7.7%).
Membership gains span both public and private sectors, with notable growth in health care (+2.8%) and construction (+2%).
Technicians and trade workers (+2.2%) saw the largest occupational increase, while labourers (-2.1%) saw the biggest decline.
Women still make up the majority of union members (54.1%), though the gender gap has narrowed slightly.
ACTU Secretary Sally McManus says young workers are joining unions to secure better pay and conditions, with union members earning $251 more per week than non-members.
Nvidia's stock price barely budges despite strong results
Jacob Falkencrone, global head of investment strategy at Saxo, has made some comments about Nvidia's quarterly results.
He says the company is "smashing revenue and profit expectations" after reporting revenue of US$39.3 billion, up 78% from a year ago.
Despite these stellar numbers, Nvidia's stock barely budged in after-hours trading. Why? Investors had hoped for an even bigger blowout, and there are growing concerns about profitability and competition in the AI space, Falkencrone said.
"Nvidia remains the undisputed leader in AI chips … Tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are continuing their AI arms race, snapping up Nvidia’s chips to power the next generation of artificial intelligence.
"But there are signs that competition is creeping in. The emergence of DeepSeek raised concerns about efficiency improvements in AI model training.
"If powerful AI models can be built with fewer high-performance GPUs, demand for Nvidia’s chips could cool off faster than expected."
What's next for Nvidia?
AI demand remains strong, but some analysts warn cloud giants like Microsoft and Google could slow AI hardware spending after an initial buying spree.
However, Nvidia still has major growth drivers ahead:
- AI adoption is still in its early days, with industries like healthcare and finance just beginning to harness its power.
- New product cycles, including Nvidia's Rubin AI chips expected in 2026, could fuel another wave of demand.
ASX up at the open
The ASX 200 has opened higher this morning up +0.2% to 8,259 points.
The Aussie dollar and spot gold are both flat at 63.07 US cents and $2,917, respectively.
Bitcoin remains low, down -0.3% to US$84, 215.
The tech sector has opened in the red (-0.2%), despite strong results from AI giant Nvidia overseas.
Education is down a whopping -15.2% likely due to IDP Education reporting an -18% drop in revenue this morning and a -39% decline in net profit.
Financials is down -0.5% and Energy slipped -0.3%.
All other sectors are in positive territory.
IDP Education is leading the bottom movers down -14.3% to $10.10.
While Eagers Automotive is leading the top movers up +16.1% to $14.48.
#ICYMI Woolworths wings back to profit
Results, results, results, it's a week for results!
And in case you missed Woolworths' half-year results yesterday business reporter Rhiana Whitson has you covered:
CEO says Qantas focused on improving reputation
Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson is continuing a lengthy press conference on the company's results.
One question from reporters was about how Qantas is reflecting on recent reputational damage.
Qantas has faced a series of scandals and controversies over the past couple of years, including the ACCC suing the airline for selling tickets on flights that had already been cancelled.
The High Court also found that Qantas illegally sacked 1,700 ground staff in 2020 during the pandemic and outsourced their jobs.
"We are a leadership team focused on getting the balance right … and investing in our customers, building a culture that is inclusive and one where all of our people feel engaged and [have] a sense of belonging and continuing to get the balance right for our shareholders."
Qantas CEO fronts media about Qatar-Virgin deal, half-year results
Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson held a press conference this morning in Melbourne on the company's latest results.
She said the results were unpinned by a "continued strong appetite for demand" for both premium and low-cost travel".
"The group carried over 28 million customers for the half, a growth of 10 per cent. Jetstar carried a record number of customers, enabling more Australians to travel for less."
Ms Hudson drove home the message that Qantas was offering low-cost flights, managing to squeeze in that "one in three Jetstar customers travelled for less than $100" more than once.
When it came to the Qatar-Virgin deal, Ms Hudson said she welcomed the competition.
"We said we weren't going to oppose the result so from the outset that's been our position and the outcome today was expected. Our focus is bout looking after our customers."
She said the government's guidance around the wet lease was "a balanced outcome".
Ms Hudson was also asked why Qantas had such a high flight cancellation rate.
"Weather plays a really big part, especially because Qantas flies the largest network. We are investing in our fleet … and we are going to be laser-focused going forward in making sure we avoid as many cancellations as possible."
More and more companies avoid public trading
ICYMI the corporate regulator ASIC announced on Wednesday it was growing increasingly concerned about the growing investment in private markets over public markets.
ASIC chair Joe Longo spoke with chief business correspondent Ian Verrender about the issue and what it means on The Business last night:
Tech giant Nvidia sales grow 78%
Nvidia has reported its fourth-quarter earnings after the bell on Wall Street, local time, that beat expectations.
The AI company's revenue for the fourth quarter ending January 26, 2025, was US$39.3 billion, up 12% from the previous quarter and up 78% from a year ago.
Nvidia founder and chief executive Jensen Huang said in a statement: "Demand for Blackwell is amazing as reasoning AI adds another scaling law — increasing compute for training makes models smarter and increasing compute for long thinking makes the answer smarter".
"We've successfully ramped up the massive-scale production of Blackwell AI supercomputers, achieving billions of dollars in sales in its first quarter. AI is advancing at light speed as agentic AI and physical AI set the stage for the next wave of AI to revolutionize the largest industries."
The company says it will pay a quarterly cash dividend of US$0.01 per share.
The figures show how the tech giant has performed after the low-cost, Chinese AI model DeepSeek was launched last month.
DeepSeek claimed it was able to create its chatbot far cheaper than anyone in the industry thought possible. Although the figure is disputed it led to Nvidia suffering its biggest single-day market value loss.
Qantas posts positive half-year result
The results are coming in thick and fast!
Next up is Qantas, which has reported statutory profit after tax of $923 million for the half-year ending December 31, 2024.
It's a 6% gain from the same period a year earlier.
In its announcement, Qantas says demand for travel remains strong across all its customers and that Qantas and Jetstar's domestic and international businesses boosted customers by almost 10 per cent.
Eleven new aircraft and five mid-life aircraft arrived in the half, with Jetstar's aircraft numbers growing to 21.
Qantas has also announced today it's investing in new cabins for its Boeing 737 fleet, which will include new seats, larger overhead lockers, new carpets, and better onboard Wi-Fi.
Coles posts half-year results
Supermarket giant Coles has posted a $576 million, half-year, after-tax profit for the six months to January 5, 2025.
It's a 3% drop from the same period in 2023.
Underlying profit was $666 million up 6.4% from the same period in 2023.
Sales revenue was up 3.7%. Supermarket sales revenue increased 4.3% and liquor was up 0.8%.
Houses move further out of reach for first home buyers compared to units
New figures from real estate firm Domain show where young people can save for a deposit on a house or a unit the fastest.
Domain's annual first home buyer report crunches the numbers for young couples wanting to enter the housing market.
It also delves into where mortgage stress is being felt the most.
I've written up the below to keep you covered:
Airports Association welcomes Virgin-Qatar deal
The Australian Airports Association says it welcomes the approval of Qatar's stake in Virgin.
The association's chief executive Simon Westaway said in a statement the deal would improve competition and "is a major win for the aviation industry".
"We're pleased to see this move that will drive down airfares and create jobs growth," he said.
"There are also added benefits for regional Australia, as the alliance will provide improved inbound tourism connections and sales and marketing visibility to regional tourism destinations."
"The Treasurer's approval includes necessary safeguards, including a three-year deadline to implement dry lease arrangements in Australia."
Australia's attachment to Qantas has long passed
Today's announcement by the treasurer that Qatar can go ahead with its stake in Virgin has a controversial background.
Our chief business correspondent Ian Verrender wrote a column late last year on what it all means for travellers and for national carrier Qantas:
Nvidia to set the tone
Stocks in the US inched lower on Wednesday local time and saw the S&P 500 slip for a fifth day in a row.
The Dow dropped -0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose +0.1%.
Shares in Nvidia rose +2.9% ahead of its earnings report that is due just after the bell on Wall St.
Nvidia's results are likely to set the tone for the AI sector going forward after the launch of low-cost, Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek threw the sector into a panic last month.
Qatar Airways acquires 25% stake in Virgin Australia
The federal government has approved Qatar Airways acquisition of a 25% stake in Virgin Australia.
In a statement, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the deal was subject to enforceable condition and that he expects the deal to boost competition.
Last week, the Foreign Investment Review Board approved the deal and said it aligned with Australia's national interests.
A key aspect of the agreement includes an integrated alliance between Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia, sanctioned by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for five years.
This collaboration will introduce 28 new, weekly return flights between Doha and major Australian cities, including Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.
To safeguard Australian interests, Mr Chalmers announced there would be legally binding conditions on the acquisition including:
- Australian representation on Virgin Australia's board to maintain local oversight.
- Protection of customer data to uphold privacy and security standards.
Virgin pilots and cabin crew will also travel to Doha for training in long-haul flying.
Good morning!
Good morning and welcome to the ABC's markets blog.
This is Rachel Clayton and I'll be here to take you through the morning.
It'll be another big day for results.
Nvidia's quarterly results are due just after 8:00am AEDT.
Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson will hold a press conference later this morning in Melbourne on the company's half-year financial results.
Coles is also due, a day after Woolies reported disappointing figures.
And embattled casino operator Star Entertainment will also reveal how it's tracking financially, so stay tuned! We'll bring you everything you need to know.