Oil retreat rescues a rattled Wall St

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

1.

Wall Street: US stocks steadied to close a turbulent week as a retreat in oil prices offset a chip-led tech selloff. Brent crude fell around 3% overnight to trade below USD100 a barrel, easing pressure on bond yields. That came after Reuters reported that Pakistan and Iran were exploring a path toward reviving US-Iran talks in an effort initiated by China. After the close, however, US Central Command said it “disabled” a second merchant ship, the M/T Lavine, for trying to breach its blockade of Iranian ports. It fired into its engine room in the Gulf of Oman after the crew ignored warnings, Centcom spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins told the Associated Press. The Dow rose 0.5%, the S&P 500 was largely unchanged, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index dropped more than 4% and is on track for its worst month since 2022. Intel slid 7.9% despite forecasting quarterly profit and revenue above estimates. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their first back-to-back weekly losses since March. Traders are looking ahead to megacap earnings week including from Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Apple. Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance agreed to pause its USD110 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery until legal challenges are resolved or until 1 June, 2027, sending Paramount down 3.3%. (Reuters)(Bloomberg)(WSJ)(AP)

2.

Serious business: The Federal Court’s dismissal this week of Charlotte MacInnes’ defamation claim against Rebel Wilson is the best sign yet that changes to Australia’s defamation laws are having their desired effect. The centrepiece of the June 2021 changes was a “serious harm” test and the abolition of the triviality defence. Plaintiffs must now prove serious reputational harm in every state but Western Australia, and Justice Elizabeth Raper disallowed what looked like a blatant case of forum shopping when MacInnes tried to have the case heard under WA law. Raper found the tweets had no adverse impact on MacInnes’ professional opportunities, that there was “a great circumspection for any claims Ms Wilson makes” and that readers don’t dwell on social media posts. Senior defamation lawyers told Capital Brief, on background, the change had not discouraged high-profile cases against mainstream media but has largely killed off the low-level “backyard dispute”. (Capital Brief)