Ministers to hold critical minerals crisis talks

Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.

1.

Mining crisis: Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King and her WA counterpart David Michael are set to hold crisis talks with lithium and nickel companies this week as critical minerals prices continue to fall, leading to a wave of pullbacks in the sector. Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals, a BHP nickel business, Chalice Mining and Liontown Resources were among those to announce negative news on Monday, with Liontown and Chalice's share prices plummeting in response. The ministers plan to discuss the industry’s key challenges and inform possible responses from government. (The Australian) (AFR)

2.

Critical assets: Macquarie has raised €8 billion ($13.2 billion) for its new European infrastructure fund, the largest such vehicle to exist that is solely focused on the continent. Investors include a mix of pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds and family offices, with around half of the investors based in EMEA. (Financial Times)

3.

Boeing woes: The US aviation regulator has called for checks on another model of Boeing aircraft after operators of the 737-900ER reported issues with bolts during inspections. The aircraft has the same door-plug design as the 737 Max 9, the model used by Alaska Airlines when it suffered a mid-flight cabin door blowout on a flight in early January. Boeing has appointed an independent adviser to examine quality control practices in its manufacturing processes as many affected aircraft remain grounded. (Reuters)

4.

Face-off: Nikki Haley will go head-to-head with Trump in tonight’s second Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire, after Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race yesterday. DeSantis endorsed Trump after bowing out, and polling suggests Trump will benefit as a second choice for supporters of the Florida governor over Haley. A CNN poll shows Trump continuing to lead Haley 50% to her 39% in the state. (Wall Street Journal)

5.

Irreconcilable differences: Sony has abandoned a USD10 billion ($15.2 billion) merger of its Indian unit with media group Zee entertainment, following the weekend’s failed negotiations. A standoff emerged as the Japanese firm refused to allow Zee’s CEO to stay on after the merger. Other issues included concerns around a fraud investigation by India’s markets regulator and Zee’s declining financial performance. (Financial Times)

6.

Match point: Wilson rackets and Saloman ski boots maker Amer Sports is seeking to raise up to USD1.8 billion in one of 2024’s first major IPOs, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. Amer could sell 100 million shares at USD16-$18 per share, which would value Amer at around USD8.7 billion. If it goes ahead, the listing would be the largest in the US since Arm Holdings went public in September last year. (Bloomberg)

7.

Human economics: AI cannot currently replace the majority of job roles in a cost-effective way, according to new research from MIT. The research analysed cost attractiveness of automating tasks in jobs where computer vision was used, by teachers and property appraisers for instance. It found just 23% of workers could be replaced, and that in other cases the AI-assisted visual recognition tools were too expensive to install and operate. (Bloomberg)

8.

Crypto collapse: Do Kwon’s crypto trading platform Terraform Labs filed for bankruptcy protection in the US, declaring it has between USD100-$500 million in estimated assets, and the same in liabilities. The firm behind the failed stablecoin TerraUSD collapsed in 2022 and is facing a class action lawsuit in Singapore. Kwon is currently in prison in Montenegro and also faces charges in the US for defrauding investors. (CoinDesk)