BlueScope Steel (ASX:BSL) has announced plans to increase its metal coating capacity.

The company will, subject to board approval, invest in a A$415 million expansion of the metal coating capacity at its operations in Erskine Park.

The project is expected to be in full commission and operation by the conclusion of the calendar year 2025.

This investment will reportedly add 240ktpa to the metal coating capacity.

BlueScope Steel is a leading steel company based in Australia, manufacturing a range of goods from steel building products to colorbond steel.

Baby Bunting (ASX:BBN) recently disclosed that their total sales growth over the past six weeks presented a fall of 4.0%.

The company also revealed its plans to open five fresh stores in the financial year of 2024.

This expansion will include three new outlets in New Zealand and two in Australia.

Over the same six-week period, the firm’s comparable store sales also displayed a descent of 9.0%.

Besides, Baby Bunting (ASX:BBN)also mentioned its pursuit of initiatives that will back net cost reductions out of the group’s current cost base.

These reductions are estimated to be in the range of A$6 million to A$8 million for FY24.

The company also stated that it is holding the appropriate levels of inventory with minimal seasonal and clearance stock.

Baby Bunting is an Australian company specializing in infant products, including toys, clothes, and care equipment.

REA Group (ASX:REA) has announced that it expects the FY24 losses from its combined contributions with associates to be modestly higher than those of FY23.

The residential buy yield growth for the financial year 2024 is estimated to experience double-digit growth.

Seller confidence, however, is facing a dent due to uncertainty in the interest rates along with a shortage of property inventory available for both buying and renting.

Despite this, the company continues to report strong demand and a resurgence in price growth in the Australian property market.

REA Group also anticipates the EBITDA losses in India to decrease in FY24 compared to FY23.

Positive operating jaws are being aimed for the entire group for the financial year.

The company is hopeful for stabilization of interest rates, which they believe will boost activity in the Australian property market.

Lastly, the group’s operating cost growth is expected to increase to low to mid-teens, due to the anticipated consolidation of CampaignAgent.

REA Group is an online real estate advertising company based in Australia.

REA Group (ASX:REA) has announced their final dividend of 83.0 AU cents per share.

In financial updates, the company also disclosed the full-year net profit after tax, which is attributable and reported at A$344.7 million, in comparison to last year’s A$371.7 million.

REA Group is a digital advertising business specializing in property.

The brokerage Jefferies has recalibrated the price target for the Australian software solution provider, WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC).

This upward revision is on the heels of potential growth opportunities detected in WiseTech’s customs solution.

The price target rose robustly from A$64.72 to A$80, with an accompanying rating of ‘hold’.

Jefferies also projected that customers already utilizing the company’s leading technology offering, the CargoWise Freight Forwarding module, are extremely likely to use the more lucrative customs solution.

However, despite this optimistic outlook on WiseTech’s growth, Jefferies expressed some concerns regarding the fiscal year 2024 consensus forecasts.

It predicts a net profit after tax for FY24 that is 6% below the consensus estimate of A$330.5 million.

A recent Refinitiv survey highlights a median price target of A$79.50, with 8 out of 15 analysts rating the stock a ‘buy’ or higher, 6 recommends to ‘hold’, and 1 advises to ‘sell’.

Year-to-date, the stock has surged approximately 72% in value.

WiseTech Global is a provider of software solutions to the logistics industry.

Fonterra Co-Operative Group (ASX:FCG) has updated its FY23 earnings guidance.

The dairy co-operative expects to pay a full-year dividend at the top end of its dividend policy, which is set between 40-60% of normalised earnings.

Additionally, Fonterra aims to end the financial year at the near-maximum of its forecast range set at 65-80 NZ cents per share.

The higher-than-anticipated results have been credited to favourable ingredient margins which have reportedly allowed Fonterra to excel in the FY23.

Fonterra is a global dairy nutrition company owned by 10,000 farmers and their families and is one of the world’s largest dairy exporters.

The dollar index initially dipped before recovering to erase previous day’s losses following the near-forecast U.S.

consumer price inflation (CPI) announcement.

The expected CPI increase on all items and core by just 0.2% from the previous month initially plummeted Treasury yields, hence extending the dollar’s earlier risk-on driven losses against the euro and other currencies.

Hawkish remarks from San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly contributed to the dollar steadying alongside Treasury yields after they further surged after a poorly received 30-year Treasury auction.

The euro relinquished its initial gains, while the USD/JPY moved from intraday lows towards the highs expected in 2023.

The yen’s weakness was fuelled by Japanese wholesale prices hitting their lowest since March 21st, rendering intervention by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) or the Ministry of Finance (MoF) unnecessary.

The sterling’s initial advances gave way to a 0.3% loss, dogged by the weakest RICS house price balance since 2009 and fears that the Bank of England’s (BoE) ultimate rate hikes may be succeeded by an economically painful slackening that may negate sterling support from declining Fed rates.

All eyes now turn to the impending U.S.

retail sales report.

Copper miners are experiencing a drop, seeming to follow the trajectory of the red metal’s price.

The benchmark three-month copper, monitored on the London Metal Exchange, is down by 0.3% at $8,370 a tonne.

Copper prices have reversed earlier gains, influenced by a slower dollar decline following U.S.

inflation data.

This is in addition to enduring optimism for further stimulus measures from China.

Shares of mining industry leaders, Rio Tinto and BHP Group, listed in the U.S., have decreased by 1.1% and 0.2%, respectively.

Other copper miners like Southern Copper and Freeport-McMoRan are also down at 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively.

Canadian miners Ero Copper, First Quantum Minerals, Hudbay Minerals, and Teck Resources have experienced decreases ranging from 1.2% to 2.7%.

Rio Tinto is a global leader in the mining industry, dealing primarily with essential minerals including copper.

Shares for the American synthetic biotech firm, Amyris (NASDAQ:AMRS), have significantly dropped, nearly 70% in premarket trade to 10 cents.

Amyris has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an American court, with non-U.S.

entities not being included in this process.

The company announced its intention to divest its consumer brands, with plans to start marketing them for sale.

Amyris stated that it will persist in operating its consumer brands as the sale proceeds.

They have also secured a commitment for $190 million to maintain their day-to-day operations.

As of the most recent closing, the company’s share value has dropped by 77.6% since the start of the year.

Amyris (NASDAQ:AMRS) is a U.S.-based biotechnology firm that specializes in synthetic biology.

Shares of marine services provider, MMA Offshore (ASX:MRM), have surged as much as 3.8% to A$1.37, a peak not seen since August 1, 2019.

The company revealed that it has procured a finance facility worth A$130 million, which will serve as a replacement for its pre-existing debt facility.

This newly acquired finance facility spans a four-year term and is expected to expire by August 2027.

MMA Offshore anticipates that this initiative will fortify its balance sheet as well as its capital structure.

The company’s stock has been experiencing an upward trend for the third consecutive session, making its most substantial intraday percentage gains since August 1.

To close, MMA Offshore’s stock has risen by an impressive 38.2% YTD.

MMA Offshore is a marine services company that provides a range of offshore vessel services to the energy industry on a worldwide scale.