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Travel + Leisure Co. (NYSE:TNL) reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter results on Wednesday, driven by solid revenue growth and improved profitability.

The vacation ownership and travel services company posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.80 per share, surpassing Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $1.72 per share. The latest figure also represented a 14.7% increase from $1.57 per share reported in the same period last year.

The company’s revenue for the quarter rose 5.1% year-over-year to $1.04 billion from $0.99 billion last year quarter, coming in slightly above analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion.

Also Read: Airbnb Impresses With Earnings, Yet Wall Street Flags Travel Headwinds And Tougher Comps

The company reported total adjusted EBITDA of $266 million for the third quarter of 2025, up from $242 million a year earlier. The consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 25.5%, compared with 24.4% in the same period last year.

Michael D. Brown, president and CEO, said, “This quarter marked exciting progress in our multi-brand strategy with the launch of the Eddie Bauer Adventure Club and the announcement of a new Sports Illustrated Resort in Chicago. These partnerships expand our reach to new audiences, strengthen our brand portfolio, and reinforce our ability to deliver exceptional vacation experiences.”

Capital Returns and Balance Sheet

The company paid a cash dividend of $36 million, or 56 cents per share, for the third quarter. Management said it will recommend a fourth-quarter dividend of 56 cents per share for approval by the Board of Directors in November 2025.

In the third quarter of 2025, the company repurchased 1.2 million shares of its common stock for $70 million, at a weighted average price of $59.90 per share.

The company reported cash and cash equivalents of $240 million as of September 30, 2025.

Segment Performance

Vacation Ownership revenue rose 6% year over year to $876 million in the third quarter of 2025. Net vacation ownership interest (VOI) sales climbed 9% from the prior year, despite a higher provision rate.

Travel and Membership revenue edged up 1% to $169 million in the third quarter of 2025, compared with a year earlier. The modest growth came as transaction revenue rose by $3 million, fueled by a 12% increase in transaction volumes, though this was partly offset by an 8% drop in revenue per transaction.

Outlook

Travel + Leisure expects adjusted EBITDA for 2025 between $965 million and $985 million, up from its prior outlook of $955 million to $985 million.

The company also expects gross vacation ownership interest (VOI) sales in the range of $2.45 billion to $2.50 billion, compared with its previous outlook of $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion.

The Volume Per Guest (VPG) is projected at $3,250 to $3,275, up from the prior outlook of $3,200 to $3,250.

Price Action: TNL shares were trading higher by 2.36% to $62.10 premarket at last check Wednesday.

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Image via Shutterstock

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is aggressively accelerating its artificial intelligence deployment, a strategy bolstering its cloud business and fueling significant stock appreciation.

The company’s multifaceted AI push is marked by the launch of two new dense visual-language models within the Qwen3-VL family and the internal development of a conversational AI initiative codenamed “Plan C.”

This dual focus on advanced models and strategic cloud expansion positions Alibaba to drive robust revenue growth.

Also Read: Alibaba Singles Day Event Sales Soars, iPhones Fuel Record-Breaking Start

Advanced Models and Edge AI Deployment

Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen team has unveiled two new dense AI large language models, the 2B and 32B, for its Qwen3-VL suite, substantially enhancing capabilities for visual-language understanding tasks.

These models are engineered for efficiency; the company emphasizes that both are lightweight enough to run on smartphones and are designed to be more “developer-friendly,” as reported by TechNode on Wednesday.

Notably, the Qwen3-VL-32B reportedly rivals the performance of larger systems, including OpenAI’s GPT-5 mini and Anthropic’s Claude 4 Sonnet, while the 2B model facilitates efficient deployment on edge devices.

Simultaneously, Alibaba’s Quark business unit is spearheading an internal AI project, “Plan C,” according to Chinese tech media Sina Tech.

The project, led by Quark’s core team with support from Alibaba’s Tongyi Lab, is centered on developing conversational AI products.

Sources indicate the team has been working on “Plan C” for months as part of a long-term effort linked to model breakthroughs, signaling a direct challenge to ByteDance’s chatbot, Doubao.

Cloud Growth Fuels Stock Gains

The market has reacted positively to Alibaba’s AI and cloud focus, with the stock gaining nearly 97% year-to-date as its strategic investments begin to unlock tangible value.

Analysts overwhelmingly attribute this rebound to the strong performance of Alibaba Cloud.

Goldman Sachs, for example, cited Alibaba Cloud’s full-stack AI capabilities, diversified chip supply, and international expansion as crucial growth drivers, prompting the firm to raise cloud revenue forecasts to 31–38% over the next three fiscal years.

Daiwa Securities highlighted cost optimizations, marketing reductions, and supply-side expansion as factors projected to reduce EBITA losses while forecasting 30% year-over-year revenue growth for Alibaba Cloud.

Furthermore, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) emphasized new AI models, applications, and hardware unveiled at the Apsara Conference, alongside supply-side advantages, as key drivers of sustained revenue and profit growth.

Price Action: BABA stock was trading lower by 0.34% to $166.10 premarket at last check Wednesday.

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Photo by Poetra.RH via Shutterstock

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is about to rubber-stamp one of the most extravagant CEO pay packages in corporate history — a $1 trillion, 10-year deal for Elon Musk — even as its valuation stretches further from reality.

Musk’s compensation includes $31 billion in restricted stock and could soar past $113 billion in total. It also comes at a time when the car company’s market share is shrinking.

That’d be bad enough if it weren’t just a car company trying to be something else. Its Optimus robot projects, for example, are stalling. And those long-promised robotaxis? They remain years behind rivals like Alphabet Inc‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Waymo, Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) and Amazon.com Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) subsidiary Zoox.

Indeed, the chorus of boos is loud ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings, which are to be announced on Wednesday. Still, Musk has plenty of like-minded business people cheering on his wild salary bump.

See Also: Elon Musk’s ‘Stupid’ Actions Will Be Tesla’s ‘Nail In The Coffin,’ Ross Gerber Warns

ISS Says ‘No,’ Wood Cries Socialism

International Shareholder Services (ISS) opposes Musk’s pay package, citing “unmitigated concerns surrounding the special award’s magnitude and design.”

If approved, the plan would become the most extensive CEO compensation package ever granted by a public company. It could potentially increase Musk’s stake in Tesla by 12% if the automaker reaches a market capitalization of $8.5 trillion in 10 years.

But here’s the thing: Under Musk, Tesla experienced a decline in its global market share, which has dropped from about 23% to 18% over the past year. Its market capitalization remains strong at $1.4 trillion, though its stock price has faced significant volatility.

ARK Invests‘ CEO Cathie Wood isn’t worried. She even criticized the ISS’s recommendation to vote against the pay package.

“Isn’t it sad, if not damning, that institutional shareholders rely on proxy firms to tell them how they should vote? Index funds do no fundamental research, yet dominate institutional voting,” Wood said, calling index-based investing a “form of socialism.”

Tesla Has Trouble Justifying Trillions

The automaker’s $8 trillion market cap dream hinges on a narrative that Tesla is no longer just a car company but a futuristic AI powerhouse.

“After a brutal few quarters we are finally starting to see stable demand trends for Tesla,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives recently wrote. “The Tesla story going forward is around the AI transformation being led by the autonomous and robotics initiatives.”

That narrative is fraying fast.

The Optimus robot project is on pause. Milan Kovac, the head of engineering for Optimus, resigned in June, and a separate Optimus AI lead, Ashish Kumar, left the company in September to join Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META).

Tesla is now pinning its hopes on a merger with Musk’s other PR-nightmare of a company, xAI.

Whether Tesla can wield M&A to capture market share from its competition is not yet clear. Most mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions tend to fail in the long term.

The deal won the endorsement of at least one other billionaire: Chamath Palihapitiya. The Social Capital founder even suggested including Musk’s other venture, SpaceX, in a three-way.

“I’m here for it,” Palihapitiya, a Musk admirer, said.

Musk’s rivals, meanwhile, are accelerating: BYD Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF) is selling EVs for a fifth of Tesla’s price. And Waymo’s autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet is already on the streets, slated to launch in London in 2026.

As NYU professor Scott Galloway quipped on a recent podcast, Musk is “the David Copperfield of the modern economy” — and the magic may be fading.

If Tesla deserves a trillion-plus valuation for lagging in autonomy, then Google, which owns Waymo, should be worth an extra trillion itself, Galloway’s co-host, Ed Elson, added.

Regulatory Challenges

Divisiveness within the Trump administration, which had an acrimonious breakup with Musk, could exacerbate Tesla’s challenges. The elimination of EV tax credits keeps the cars expensive. Recall how the company hyped up the lower-priced Model 3 Standard and Model Y Standard. Yes, it comes with fewer features than the traditional models, and the vehicles have cheaper price points than Tesla’s main vehicles.

However, with the expiration of the federal EV tax credit, consumers are actually paying more for models with fewer features than they would have paid for the regular version before the tax credits were eliminated.

The robotaxi segment is also in trouble. Trump’s NHTSA administrator nominee, Jonathan Morisson, has advocated for stricter oversight of self-driving vehicles, potentially clashing with Duffy’s approach. Meanwhile, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) plans to introduce legislation that would effectively ban fully autonomous driving, calling such vehicles “terrible for working people.”

On the other hand, Tesla’s expansion aligns with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy‘s announcement that the NHTSA will relax autonomous driving regulations, a move that bolsters Tesla’s robotaxi ambitions as federal standards evolve.

“The rules of the road need to be updated to fit the realities of the 21st century,” Duffy said.

Ironically, Musk doesn’t seem to like Duffy, calling him a “Dummy” when it comes to NASA.

“The person responsible for America’s space program can’t have a 2-digit IQ,” Musk said. 

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Image: Shutterstock

President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday signed a multibillion-dollar partnership at the White House. The goal is to secure the future of global critical mineral supply chains and strengthen defense cooperation.

New Framework for Supply Chain Security

The agreement, titled the “U.S.–Australia Framework for Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths,” establishes a bilateral response group to coordinate policy, investment, and project delivery.

“President Trump and I agreed today we will work very hard together in both our nations’ interests. We have agreed today Australia and America are going to make more things together with our historic framework on critical minerals,” Albanese said.

Also Read: Trump Likely To Invest In More Rare Earths, Bessent Says

Commitment of Billions in Joint Investment

The framework will channel billions in joint investment into mining, refining, and advanced manufacturing projects vital for defense and technology.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States has issued seven Letters of Interest worth $2.2 billion, unlocking up to $5 billion in total investment. Furthermore, direct contributions from both governments will be $3 billion over six months, toward an $8.5 billion project pipeline.

Australia’s superannuation funds are also expanding U.S. exposure, expected to rise to $1.44 trillion by 2035, fueling technology and energy ventures across both economies.

Strengthening Defense Collaboration

The deal also strengthens industrial defense collaboration, with additional Australian investment in Anduril underwater vehicles, Apache helicopters, and U.S.-made missile defense systems, reinforcing AUKUS cooperation.

High-Priority Projects: Rare Earths and Gallium

Two high-priority mining projects will receive immediate support. The first is Arafura Rare Earths’ (OTC:ARAFF) Nolans venture in the Northern Territory, which secured $100 million in equity. Its fully integrated “ore-to-oxide” model will enable processing onshore, ensuring a secure, transparent supply chain for Western defense industries.

When complete, Nolans will supply roughly 5% of global rare earth demand, focusing on neodymium and praseodymium. These are key metals for missiles, electric vehicles, and fighter jet systems.

The second project is Alcoa’s (NYSE:AA) Sojitz joint venture gallium recovery project in Wagerup, Western Australia. The project will receive $200 million in concessional equity from Canberra and matching support from Washington.

It will extract gallium— a metal essential for semiconductors, radar systems, and defense electronics. Once operational, it will produce 100 metric tons per year, significantly reducing dependence on China, which currently dominates global gallium output.

Analyst Commentary on China’s Market Dominance

The latest note from Goldman Sachs points to this problem and its underlying risks. On Monday, the bank warned that China controls 69% of rare earth mining, 92% of refining, and 98% of magnet manufacturing. Analysts cautioned that even a 10% disruption could trigger $150 billion in global economic losses.

Still, the US-Australia partnership is one of the best efforts to de-risk this market concentration.

“Australia is really, really going to be helpful in the effort to take the global economy and make it less risky, less exposed to the kind of rare earth extortion that we’re seeing from the Chinese,” Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said per The New York Times. 

Price Action: AA stock was up 0.98% at $39.34 in premarket trading Tuesday, after closing 8.31% higher on Monday.

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Image by Brian Jason via Shutterstock

On Tuesday, Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) and Gutsche Family Investments disclosed a deal to sell a 75% controlling stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) to Coca-Cola HBC AG for around $3.4 billion.

Under the deal, The Coca-Cola Company will sell 41.52% of its 66.52% ownership in CCBA, while Coca-Cola HBC will also purchase the 33.48% stake held by Gutsche Family Investments.

Notably, CCBA operates in 14 African countries and represents around 40% of all Coca-Cola product sales in the region.

Also Read: Coca-Cola Q3 Preview: Will Warren Buffett’s Favorite Beverage Stock Post A Double Beat?

The sale is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

Additionally, Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola HBC have entered into an option agreement that allows Coca-Cola HBC to acquire the remaining 25% interest in CCBA still held by Coca-Cola within six years after the deal closes.

Management Commentary

Henrique Braun, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Coca-Cola, said, “Coca-Cola HBC has demonstrated a strong track record of growing our system across Africa, having strong market share growth in Egypt and realizing strong volume and share growth in Nigeria over the past several years.”

“We are pleased with Coca-Cola HBC’s continued and aligned investment in the Coca-Cola system and in taking another significant step forward in the refranchising of company-owned bottling operations.”

Strategy Behind Sale

Coca-Cola’s divestment in CCBA marks another major move in its ongoing strategy to refranchise company-owned and operated bottling businesses.

As of 2024, bottling investments accounted for 13% of Coca-Cola’s consolidated net revenue, a sharp decline from 52% in 2015.

Once the CCBA transaction is finalized, the company expects that figure to fall further to about 5%.

In July 2025, Coca-Cola advanced its refranchising efforts in India by selling a 40% stake in Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. to Jubilant Bhartia Group, while retaining a 60% ownership interest in the bottler.

Coca-Cola plans to release quarterly results on Tuesday, October 21.

Investors can gain exposure to the stock via iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF (NYSE:IYK) and Global X Funds Global X PureCap MSCI Consumer Staples ETF (NYSE:GXPS).

Price Action: KO shares were trading higher by 0.22% to $68.60 premarket at last check Tuesday.

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Wall Street kicked off the week on a strong footing, led by a rebound in small-cap stocks and regional banks, easing some of the credit-driven anxiety that shook markets last week.

The Russell 2000 Index climbed 1.8% on Monday, outperforming large caps, as the SPDR Regional Banking ETF (NYSE:KRE) rose 2%, extending Friday’s 1.6% gain.

The recovery comes after KRE plunged 6.2% on Thursday, its worst single-day drop since April, following fresh credit concerns tied to regional lenders.

Large-cap benchmarks also posted solid gains. The Nasdaq 100 advanced 1.4% to 25,155, just shy of its all-time high of 25,195 set on Oct. 10. The S&P 500 gained 1.1% to 6,733, now within 0.5% of its record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1% to 46,630.

Investor attention now turns to a packed earnings calendar. Key reports are due this week from Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC), and International Business Machines Inc. (NYSE:IBM), along with industrial heavyweights GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE), GE Vernova (NYSE:GEV), Raytheon Technologies Corp. (NYSE:RTX) and T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS).

Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) was the top gainer in the S&P 500, jumping over 7%, after announcing that new data on two investigational flu vaccines will be presented at IDWeek 2025, running from Oct. 19–22 in Atlanta.

On the flip side, Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX)—up 145% year-to-date and one of the index’s best performers—was Monday’s biggest loser, as profit-taking pressure that began earlier this month continued to weigh on the stock.

Gold prices rebounded 2.3% to $4,350, fully recovering Friday’s 1.8% pullback and pushing further into record territory amid ongoing macro uncertainty.

The biggest surprise came from natural gas, with Henry Hub prices surging over 11% to $3.34, driven by a combination of colder weather forecasts and aggressive short covering.

Meanwhile, oil extended its slide. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 0.8% to $56.70 a barrel, inching closer to April lows of $55.10, the weakest level since February 2021, as surplus concerns continued to pressure the energy market.

Monday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	%
Russell 2000	2,497.24	1.8%
Nasdaq 100	25,174.75	1.4%
S&P 500	6,741.10	1.2%
Dow Jones	46,664.30	1.0%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) rose 1.1% to $617.46.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) rose 1.1% to $466.64.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) soared 1.4% to $612.33.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rallied 1.8% to $247.83.
• The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) outperformed, up 1.4%; the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) lagged, down 0.3%.

Stocks scheduled to report earnings after the close include W.R. Berkley Corp. (NYSE:WRB), Crown Holdings Inc. (NYSE:CCK), AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC), Wintrust Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:WTFC), Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:ZION), BOK Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:BOKF), Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF), and Cadence Bank (NYSE:BXS).

S&P 500’s Top 5 Gainers On Monday

Company Name	% Change
Moderna, Inc.	+7.6%
Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD)	+7.40%
Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI)	+7.38%
ON Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:ON)	+5.90%
Jacobs Solutions Inc. (NYSE:J)	+5.40%

S&P 500’s Top 5 Losers On Monday

Company Name	Chg %
Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX)	-4.59%
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)	-4.56%
AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP)	-4.11%
Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)	-3.68%
Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)	-3.03%

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) has quietly become America’s go-to passive wager even while the very index that it tracks becomes riskier by the day.

• VOO saw inflows north of $3 billion in the last 5 days. Check its prices live.

With the S&P 500 up almost 85% in the last three years, VOO has ballooned to more than $750 billion in assets, making it the world’s largest ETF. But behind that success is an irony: the most “diversified” fund in the market is more concentrated than ever.

Ten mega-cap stocks, headed by Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), now constitute almost 40 % of the index. That’s a level of concentration not experienced since the dot-com bubble. So VOO’s “broad market exposure” is dominated by a few tech giants.

That notwithstanding, VOO doesn’t seem bothered. Despite the escalating trade war with China, the U.S. federal government continuing an extended shutdown, and local banks reporting bad and phony loans, VOO is standing firm and shrugging off three full-blown catalysts that would typically send even the toughest bull winching.

Also Read: High Stakes For VOO And SPY: The S&P 500’s Lofty Valuations Put ETF Strategies To Test

Breaking It Down

• Trade tensions escalating — the U.S. Treasury Secretary is to meet his Chinese counterpart in the face of new tariff threats and delisting Chinese companies.
• Government shutdown impasse — the Senate again could not approve funding, extending the shutdown into double digits.
• Banking trouble in the making — regional banks like Zions Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp are fighting loan-fraud and exposure problems.

None of these has derailed VOO. It is up over 13% year to date, even with sideways trading in recent weeks. Also, according to data on Etfdb.com, the fund experienced inflows of $3.4 billion in the past 5 trading days, surpassing peers like SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:IVV).

There is, however, a downside. While investors might enjoy the low-cost, sit-back ease of VOO (mere 0.03% expense ratio), they are, in effect, relying on the leading holdings continuing their reign and profit growth. The index’s elevated forward P/E (~22.4x) is reflecting the past. For instance, periods when the S&P 500 traded at over 22x have provided 10-year average annualized returns close to zero (around 3%).

For the moment, VOO is the epitome of stability. But as concentration risk runs deeper, the low-cost index behemoth may soon be confronted with a paradox: too cheap to ignore, and too concentrated to resist.

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Photo: Shutterstock

Australia is pitching itself as a solution to the U.S. critical metal problems. The West has struggled to break China’s grip on the 50-odd “critical minerals” that are vital for electronics, renewables, defense systems, and more. However, Monday’s meeting between Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Donald Trump might bring the two nations closer to bridging this commodities gap.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that China’s export restrictions signal “China versus the world,” according to the Financial Times. Bessent told Bloomberg that U.S. officials are in discussions with European allies, Australia, Canada, India, and other Asian democracies to coordinate a response.

From Australia’s side the pitch is clear. The country offers massive deposits of lithium, rare earths and other strategic elements, coupled with a globally competitive mining sector and mining-engineering expertise.

Also Read: China’s Rare Earth Policy Could ‘Backfire’, Warn Analysts While Highlighting Options Available To Trump: Beijing ‘May Find Itself Cut Off…’

“Australia equals the periodic table. Having it is one thing — knowing how to mine it … is another — and we have the world’s biggest and best miners,” Australia’s Ambassador to the U.S., Kevin Rudd, said per Bloomberg.

Rudd noted that the U.S. currently has a deficiency in many of the 50 designated critical minerals. With proper investment and offtake agreements, Australia “can meet 30 to 40 of those without much additional effort, most particularly in terms of processed rare earths.”

According to The Guardian, Australia is offering the U.S. access to a proposed 1.2 billion Australian dollars ($780 million) critical minerals reserve as a signaling mechanism of trusted supply. Terms of such a deal are still uncertain, but even equity stakes are not out of the question. The U.S. government is increasingly willing to take equity stakes in strategic supply-chain companies. State-capitalism has re-entered mining sector, and Washington is not just a buyer — it may become a co-owner and strategic partner.

Yet, Australia has its conditions. It needs U.S. investment, technology transfer, downstream refining capacity, offtake guarantees and security assurances—especially under the broader security umbrella of the AUKUS pact. Australia also wants to ensure that its resource diplomacy does not force it into a direct confrontation with China, its largest trading partner.

These risks are exactly what former Prime Minister Paul Keating warned nearly four decades ago. The danger of Australia relying on digging rocks and letting advanced manufacturing slip away.

“We took the view in the 1970s – it’s the old cargo-cult mentality, ‘we’ll just dig up another mound of rock and someone will buy it from us. If Australia is so undisciplined that it doesn’t deal with these fundamental problems … Then you are gone. You are a banana republic,” he said.

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Image by RHJPhtotos via Shutterstock

Australia is pitching itself as a solution to the U.S. critical metal problems. The West has struggled to break China’s grip on the 50-odd “critical minerals” that are vital for electronics, renewables, defense systems, and more. However, Monday’s meeting between Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Donald Trump might bring the two nations closer to bridging this commodities gap.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that China’s export restrictions signal “China versus the world,” according to the Financial Times. Bessent told Bloomberg that U.S. officials are in discussions with European allies, Australia, Canada, India, and other Asian democracies to coordinate a response.

From Australia’s side the pitch is clear. The country offers massive deposits of lithium, rare earths and other strategic elements, coupled with a globally competitive mining sector and mining-engineering expertise.

Also Read: China’s Rare Earth Policy Could ‘Backfire’, Warn Analysts While Highlighting Options Available To Trump: Beijing ‘May Find Itself Cut Off…’

“Australia equals the periodic table. Having it is one thing — knowing how to mine it … is another — and we have the world’s biggest and best miners,” Australia’s Ambassador to the U.S., Kevin Rudd, said per Bloomberg.

Rudd noted that the U.S. currently has a deficiency in many of the 50 designated critical minerals. With proper investment and offtake agreements, Australia “can meet 30 to 40 of those without much additional effort, most particularly in terms of processed rare earths.”

According to The Guardian, Australia is offering the U.S. access to a proposed 1.2 billion Australian dollars ($780 million) critical minerals reserve as a signaling mechanism of trusted supply. Terms of such a deal are still uncertain, but even equity stakes are not out of the question. The U.S. government is increasingly willing to take equity stakes in strategic supply-chain companies. State-capitalism has re-entered mining sector, and Washington is not just a buyer — it may become a co-owner and strategic partner.

Yet, Australia has its conditions. It needs U.S. investment, technology transfer, downstream refining capacity, offtake guarantees and security assurances—especially under the broader security umbrella of the AUKUS pact. Australia also wants to ensure that its resource diplomacy does not force it into a direct confrontation with China, its largest trading partner.

These risks are exactly what former Prime Minister Paul Keating warned nearly four decades ago. The danger of Australia relying on digging rocks and letting advanced manufacturing slip away.

“We took the view in the 1970s – it’s the old cargo-cult mentality, ‘we’ll just dig up another mound of rock and someone will buy it from us. If Australia is so undisciplined that it doesn’t deal with these fundamental problems … Then you are gone. You are a banana republic,” he said.

Read Next:

• US Cancels $500 Million Cobalt Tender, Bessent Points To More Equity Stakes

Image by RHJPhtotos via Shutterstock

French luxury group Kering SA (OTC:PPRUF) (OTC:PPRUY)  on Sunday disclosed a long-term partnership with L’Oréal (OTC:LRLCF) in the luxury beauty and wellness segment.

As per the agreement, the Gucci-owner will sell its Kering Beauté business to L’Oréal for 4 billion euros ($4.66 billion) in cash.

L’Oréal will acquire the iconic high-end luxury fragrance brand, House of Creed, and gain exclusive beauty and fragrance licenses for several Kering brands.

Also Read: Gen Z Is Rewriting Luxury — Can KLXY And FINE ETFs Keep Up?

Under L’Oréal Luxe, Creed will expand its global reach in both men’s and women’s luxury fragrance markets.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026, with L’Oréal paying royalties to Kering for its licensed brands.

50-Year Exclusive Brand Licenses

The partnership grants L’Oréal exclusive 50-year licenses to create, develop, and distribute fragrance and beauty products for Gucci, Bottega Veneta, and Balenciaga.

The Gucci license will begin after the current Coty agreement ends, while the Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga licenses will take effect upon the transaction’s closing.

Joint Venture in Luxury Wellness and Longevity

Beyond beauty, Kering and L’Oréal also plan to form a 50/50 joint venture to explore opportunities in luxury, wellness, and longevity.

The partnership will combine L’Oréal’s innovation expertise with Kering’s luxury market insight to create advanced experiences and services for high-end consumers.

Management Commentary

Luca de Meo, CEO of Kering, said, “Joining forces with the global leader in beauty, we will accelerate the development of fragrance and cosmetics for our major Houses, allowing them to achieve scale in this category and unlock their immense long-term potential, as did Yves Saint Laurent Beauté under L’Oréal’s stewardship.”

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Photo by Below the Sky via Shutterstock