Sean Aylmer

Now, BHP Rio Tinto...

Fortescue, South 32, mineral resources were all lower today.

Oil was up.

on the back of little sign of progress in ceasefire talks, but the energy stocks, Woodside and Santos, were lower.

The banks were also generally lower.

It was a day for defensive stocks.

CSL, Cochlear, ResMed, Coles and Woolies all did pretty well.

Story number two, the federal government will put more than $270 million in KPMG contracts under scrutiny and reopen an examination of how large partnerships are governed.

as the growing data misuse scandal threatens to engulf the entire professional services industry.

In a major escalation, the Federal Finance Department has formally declared the scandal a significant event.

According to the FinReview, the crisis was triggered by a whistleblower, a former audit director,

who came forward internally in May 2024.

The core of the allegations are that KPMG partners misused confidential lend-lease board papers to pitch for and win the external corporate audits of Westpac and Dexus.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen's leadership may face a challenge within the next six weeks, according to media reports, with unnamed sources saying they're increasingly concerned about the government being wiped out at the state election in late November this year.

Allen was elected Labor Party leader in September 2023 after former Premier Daniel Andrews resigned.

And the leaks to the media, whether or not a challenge is on the way, shows that some MPs are worried.

The main concern internally is that Alan has failed to address integrity issues stemming from union misconduct on government construction sites.

Story number four, Megaport jumped as much as 27% today before closing up 14%.

That's after it raised $518 million to invest in NVIDIA chips as part of an artificial intelligence push.

Citi, the investment group, also upgraded Megaport's target share price by 41%.