The Australian sharemarket is expected to open higher on Thursday, with ASX futures pointing to a 28-point, or 0.3%, gain despite another weak session on Wall Street.
Investors will be balancing persistent concerns over elevated oil prices, global bond yields and geopolitical tensions against a busy domestic earnings calendar and the release of Australian employment data.
Stripe has agreed to acquire OpenRouter, the fast-growing marketplace and gateway for artificial intelligence models, as the payments company pushes deeper into infrastructure supporting the AI economy.
The deal was announced on August 19, 2026, making it one of the latest major transactions in the global technology sector. Stripe did not disclose the purchase price, although reports have valued the cash-and-stock transaction at about US$8 billion.
The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (ASX:XSO) closed at 3,500.90, down 0.38% or 13.40 points yesterday.
The small-cap benchmark has lost further ground over the past 5 trading days, declining 1.62% or 57.60 points over the period.
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is preparing to raise as much as A$5 billion through its first Australian-dollar bond sale, potentially setting a record for the country’s corporate debt market.
The Google parent is considering 3-year, 5-year, 10-year and 20-year tranches. The shorter maturities may be offered with fixed or floating interest rates, while the longer-dated notes would carry fixed rates.
WiseTech Global shares fell sharply after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) executed a search warrant on the logistics software company as part of an investigation into potential breaches of competition law.
Shares in WiseTech dropped 10% to a 2-week low of $38.72 in less than 10 minutes following news of the regulator’s action.
ADX Energy Limited (ASX:ADX, OTC:ADXRF) has applied for two new exploration permits covering a combined 787 square kilometres in the Sicily Channel offshore Italy, potentially expanding its acreage around the company’s 100%-owned CR 150.AU permit.
The applications for the d 368 C.R.-AU and d 369 C.R.-AU permits cover 573.3 square kilometres and 213.7 square kilometres respectively and are directly adjacent to ADX’s existing acreage.
Australian workers have gone backwards in real terms over the past year, with wage growth failing to keep pace with inflation.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed wages rose 0.8% in the June quarter, taking annual growth to 3.2%.
Recce Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:RCE, OTC:RECEF) has secured Australian Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval for a further protocol amendment to its pivotal Phase 3 trial of RECCE® 327 Topical Gel (R327G), adding a 208-patient active-controlled study arm in diabetic foot infections (DFI).
The new randomised, non-inferiority arm will compare R327G directly with physician-selected antibiotics currently used to treat DFIs, generating comparative clinical data as Recce advances the treatment through its international regulatory program.
ImpediMed (ASX:IPD) has secured US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for its SOZO Digital Health Platform to assess patients at risk of sarcopenia, expanding the clinical applications of its bioimpedance spectroscopy technology.
The clearance makes SOZO the only FDA-cleared bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) solution for the clinical assessment of sarcopenia risk, according to the company.
ACDC Metals Ltd (ASX:ADC) has contracted FTE Drilling USA Inc for its maiden drilling campaign at the Mount Jackson Gold-Silver Project in Nevada, with up to 2,500 metres of reverse circulation drilling targeted to begin in Q4 2026.
The company is permitting around 15 drill holes across the Pegasus and three Shaft zones, where drilling will test extensions to known gold-silver mineralisation and, at 3 Shaft, assess a target that has never previously been drilled.
Canadian Phosphate Ltd (ASX:CP8) has extended the known strike of the Phosphate Main Zone at its Wapiti Phosphate Project in British Columbia by more than three kilometres, with all eight holes completed so far in the 2026 diamond drilling program intersecting the targeted horizon.
The company has completed 1,051 metres of drilling, representing about 1/3 of a planned 3,000-metre program, with drilling scheduled to finish in September. Samples have been sent to AGAT Laboratories, with initial assay results expected during the September quarter.
The US Treasury has moved closer to implementing landmark stablecoin legislation, proposing new rules that spell out when issuers and digital asset platforms will fall under the GENIUS Act.
Treasury released the proposed regulations on August 17, 2026, opening a 60-day public consultation on rules governing the issuance, offering and sale of payment stablecoins in the US.
American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:ARR, OTCQX:ARRNF) has appointed Nick Lissolo as chief commercial officer (CCO), expanding his responsibilities across the company’s Nasdaq listing plans, US investor relations, commercial partnerships and development of the Halleck Creek Rare Earths Project in Wyoming.
Lissolo, who joined American Rare Earths in March 2026 as vice president of corporate development and strategy, has been promoted to the senior executive team with immediate effect as the company moves Halleck Creek from evaluation toward development.