Crypto News: Cheaper flights, finally

Good morning, it's Amy in Melbourne with your Thursday newsletter.

Today's must-reads:
• Cheaper air fares
• Speeding up market listings
• Macquarie update

Airline passengers are winning some respite from the fare madness that followed the pandemic. International fares globally fell 6% in the first six months of 2024, while flights out of Australia were 13% cheaper.

Macquarie Group said profit was buoyed by an uptick in its key commodities and global markets business, supported by increased trading activity in north American gas and power. Macquarie told investors performance in the first quarter was consistent with expectations and was broadly in line with a year ago, according to a statement Thursday.

Barrenjoey wants to make it faster to get companies listed in Sydney. Barrenjoey's co-executive chair Guy Fowler told Bloomberg's Australia Briefing event in Sydney he'd like a US-style system that keeps some key details confidential. Meanwhile, Western Australia-based uranium producer Paladin has listed in Canada.

Guy Fowler, co-executive chair of Barrenjoey. Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

The nation's markets regulator said its investigation into irregularities in ANZ's markets unit won't be complete before the end of this year. It's in the "early stages" Australian Securities and Investments Commission Chair Joe Longo told Bloomberg TV. Longo also said the regulator has set up a specialized unit to engage with private markets.

Antipodes Partners will acquire Maple-Brown Abbott, to oversee A$18.6 billion in assets. It's the latest consolidation of Australian money management firms.

New Zealand's key yield curve ended inversion as the nation's central bank edged closer to cutting interest rates. While the curve has previously turned positive twice this year, "you can still get false starts," said Philip Brown, head of research at FIIG Securities.

The number of births in Australia has plummeted to the lowest level since 2006. Prolonged inflation and elevated interest rates have spurred a "baby recession," KPMG analysis showed.

US investors soured on the promise of artificial intelligence Wednesday, sparking a $1 trillion rout in the Nasdaq 100 Index as questions swirled over just how long it will take for the substantial investments in the technology to pay off. The Nasdaq indexes tumbled more than 3% for the worst days since October 2022. Asian equity futures are lower. Tesla slid more than 12%.

The US Federal Reserve should cut rates, preferably at next week's policy-making meeting, writes Bloomberg Opinion's Bill Dudley. Dudley says he's changed his mind, from insisting the Fed must hold short-term interest rates at the current level or higher to get inflation under control.

On the US campaign trail, Kamala Harris is targeting Donald Trump and what she calls "his extreme Project 2025 agenda." Her comment puts the spotlight on Project 2025, the 900-page conservative manifesto led by the right-leaning Heritage Foundation. Trump says his campaign isn't affiliated with the plan. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress the US must remain united with Israel in its war against Hamas.

Kamala Harris Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Taiwan's stock exchange will stay closed for a second day today as deadly Typhoon Gaemi approaches. The storm has devastated the Philippines, where at least four people died in a landslide and more than half a million people have been displaced.

Canada's defending Olympic women's football team has been accused of using a drone to spy on the 28th-ranked New Zealand team ahead of the Paris Games. Meanwhile, Paris has unveiled an impressive number of new cycling routes to make it the first fully cyclable Olympic Games of the modern era.

Photographer: Riccardo Milani/AFP

Fortescue Ltd reports 4Q sales and revenue

We've launched the first episode of a new season of Bloomberg Originals' premier documentary series, Bloomberg Investigates. In Stealing the Gods, we meet two men on opposite sides of the planet who joined forces with Indian authorities and a special unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in New York to bring down the mastermind behind one of the biggest art thefts in history.