US stocks surged to record levels as corporate earnings beat expectations and oil prices fell. SpaceX reported a $US541 million loss in its first quarterly report as a public company, but it was smaller than Wall Street anticipated while revenue jumped. Australian share futures pointed to a 35-point, or 0.4%, gain at the open, and the Australian dollar strengthened to US70.47¢. Caterpillar posted its first-ever quarterly sales above $US20 billion, and S&P 500 spring earnings growth expectations were nearing 50%, according to FactSet.

HSBC said it will sell its $36 billion Australian home-loan portfolio to Blackstone and wind down the rest of its local retail banking business over the next 18 months. The bank said it is exiting retail banking in Australia to focus on commercial and corporate clients as part of a simplification push. The move follows Citi’s decision to quit Australian retail banking in 2021 after selling its retail business to National Australia Bank.

Australia’s Federal Court fined Harvey Norman A$35 million for misleading advertising that promoted Latitude Finance credit products, breaching the Australian Consumer Law. Latitude Finance Australia was also penalised A$20 million in the same case. The judge cited public comments by CEO Gerry Harvey disparaging the legal system as one factor supporting a higher penalty. The matter is a domestic enforcement action in Australia that directly affects Harvey Norman’s profitability and market credibility.

China’s Moonshot AI has released Kimi K3, a 2.8 trillion-parameter openweight model it says trails only Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and OpenAI’s GPT5.6. The company temporarily paused signups after demand surged following the launch. Moonshot has told investors it reached $US300 million in annual recurring revenue in June and is considering an IPO within six months at a valuation of more than $43 billion, Bloomberg and others reported. The development has prompted investors to reassess whether closed AI models can sustain their commercial moats as openweight alternatives narrow the gap.

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers on July 16, 2026 issued updated “statements of expectations” for APRA and ASIC, instructing the regulators to place greater emphasis on promoting economic growth while maintaining financial stability and market integrity. The government says the changes will reduce compliance burdens and save the financial sector A$780 million a year. The updated approach is part of a A$10 billion productivity package announced in May and is directed at the regulatory framework for banks and listed companies.

An analysis argues that hawkish officials at the US Federal Reserve are likely to prevail internally and back a rate increase this year as inflation remains elevated. Core PCE rose to 3.4%, while renewed Middle East hostilities, fresh Trump tariff moves and AI-related infrastructure spending are adding to energy and semiconductor costs. The piece says “almost all” FOMC participants judged some additional policy tightening would probably be needed, and it notes oil prices jumped from about $US70 to about $US80 a barrel after the ceasefire with Iran was declared “over”.

The article says SpaceX’s market value fell 22% within two weeks of listing, even after expectations that Nasdaq index inclusion would spur buying. It adds that AI-linked debt demand has weakened, citing a $US25 billion Amazon bond issue that drew less interest, alongside widening credit spreads. The piece says valuations for AI companies are under pressure, with OpenAI and Anthropic delaying IPO plans as investors question profitability pathways and the durability of capital funding.

Deloitte Access Economics forecasts Australia’s GDP growth will fall below 2% in both this financial year and the next, the first consecutive sub-2% outcome since the 1990-91 recession. It expects inflation to linger around 4% through 2026-27, with real wages contracting and unemployment rising from 4.4% to an average 4.9% next financial year before peaking at 5% the year after. The report also sees the cash rate potentially rising once more to 4.6% in August, even as markets have shifted to pricing in cuts within the period. Western Australia is projected to grow just 0.7% this financial year, the weakest pace nationally.

The Bank of Japan failed to defend what had been seen as a 162 yen-per-dollar “red line,” after the currency briefly slid to a 40-year low. The BOJ has used more than $A100 billion in foreign-exchange reserves to intervene, but structural interest-rate differentials continue to widen. The article warns that if Japan is forced into large-scale sales of the $US1.2 trillion in US Treasuries it holds, US yields could jump, dollar liquidity could tighten and global financial markets could be hit. The episode unfolded in the first week of July 2026, alongside a surge in the US fiscal deficit as federal debt nears $US40 trillion, creating a systemic liquidity risk.