Pacific Perspectives
S&P 500 closes higher on first trading day of 2026 as chip stocks offer small boost to the market
The S&P 500 closed slightly higher on Friday, the first trading day of 2026, as gains in semiconductor names kept the index afloat. The benchmark closed up 0.19% at 6,858.47, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.03% to finish at…
Google wraps up best year on Wall Street since 2009, beating megacap peers as AI story strengthens
After a tough start to the year, Google closed out 2025 with its strongest performance — from Wall Street’s perspective — since 2009, when the company’s shares doubled coming out of the financial crisis. Alphabet’s stock popped 65% for the…
Santos misses end-of-year deadline for first Barossa LNG cargo
Santos has missed its end-of-year deadline to ship the first cargo of LNG from its $6.1 billion Barossa gas project in the Timor Sea, creating an early threat to a forecast big lift in the…
Wall Street’s biggest winners and losers in 2025
The S&P 500 Index is poised to end 2025 up more than 17 per cent as the bull market continues for a third year driven by enthusiasm for artificial intelligence. The AI trade broadened out…
Sovereign funds push into tech as assets swell to $22.5trn
Sovereign wealth funds globally amassed a record $US15 trillion ($22.5 trillion) in assets under management in a year when many deepened their technology investments and profited from buoyant markets, according to a new report by Global…
Economist Mark Zandi sees the Fed surprising with three rate cuts in first half of 2026
Labor market weakness, uncertainty about inflation and political pressure will push the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates aggressively in the early part of 2026, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. Though…
Fed minutes show officials were in tight split over December rate cut
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/30/fed-minutes-december-2025.html
Tesla publishes downbeat analysts’ car sales estimates
Tesla published a compilation of analyst estimates for vehicle deliveries to its website, and the averages for the current quarter are more pessimistic than those gathered by Bloomberg. By Tesla’s count, analysts on average expect…
4 ways to squeeze more into super in 2026
If you want to give yourself a Christmas present that lasts for years, maximising your super contributions is the gift that keeps on giving. Whether your account is below average for your age or retirement…
6 charts ASX investors need to see before 2026
A new global tariff regime, the world’s first $US5 trillion company, three rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of Australia and the S&P/ASX 200 topping a landmark 9000 points. 2025 has had its fair share…