Good morning all, and mentally prepare yourself for maybe having the Olympics in 11 years’ time.

1. Australia is officially in the box seat to secure the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, after the IOC selected Brisbane as the non-binding preferred candidate. The IOC will now “engage in detailed and targeted discussions with Brisbane organisers”, per the SMH. If the organisation’s commissions are met, Australia will host its third Olympics.

2. Market leaders in Australia’s buy now, pay later sector are set to follow a new, self-regulatory code of practice from Monday. Players like Afterpay and Zip will reportedly pledge to cap customer transactions at $2,000 and install limits on fees. But consumer advocates argue the sector should face stricter oversight from Australia’s financial sector watchdogs.

3. Some interesting earnings coming out now. Scentre profits have swung $5 billion into the red in the space of 12 months after downgrading the value of its Westfield centres. As a result, the retail empire produced a $3.7 billion loss for the full year to December. Rents also took a hit, falling to just 70% in the first half of 2020.

4. InvoCare, one of Australia’s largest funeral providers, yesterday reported a net loss of $9.2 million over 2020. The group says a downturn in revenue is linked to a drop in the mortality rate, which it attributed to the effectiveness of COVID-19 lockdowns. New figures from the ABS show Australia’s mortality rate dipped through 2020, but returned to baseline average levels in November.

5. Qantas fell to a $1.08 billion loss in the six months to December 31. Revenue was 75% lower compared to the same half last year at $2.3 billion, after coronavirus border closures forced the airline to ground much of its fleet and passenger numbers plummeted. “These figures are stark but not surprising,” Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said.

6. Sydney Airport has tumbled to a $145 million full-year loss, down from a $403 million profit a year earlier. No surprises there. “The COVID-19 pandemic delivered a crisis of unprecedented magnitude to the global aviation industry, and Sydney Airport has been right on the front line,” Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert said in a statement to the ASX. However, he said he was “cautiously optimistic” that recovery would start this year.

7. Social media platform TikTok says it received 32 government requests to remove content in Australia over the second half of 2020. In a new report, TikTok said those requests led to 74 user accounts being banned or restricted. Only from Russia and Pakistan did TikTok receive more government requests to remove content.

8. Thought you were done hearing about GameStop? Wrong! GameStop shares jumped 104% before Wednesday’s closing bell, forcing a trading halt. There’s no sign on what exactly has gone on there, but the ailing retailer was in focus on Wednesday following news Tuesday of the resignation of Jim Bell as chief financial officer.

9. Daily US coronavirus cases have fallen roughly 74%, on average, in the last six weeks. Experts are hopeful that the US outbreak has turned a corner. Daily deaths have declined 38% over the last six weeks, while daily hospitalisations have fallen 55%. “If B.1.1.7 cases don’t accelerate markedly over the next month, it will become realistic to call the effective end of the US COVID crisis – at least in terms of the case and hospitalisation numbers – by the end of April,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

10. A tweet from Elon Musk sent Dogecoin’s price soaring on Wednesday. Yes, again. The Tesla CEO and SpaceX chief fired off a tweet at 8:00 AM ET with just one word: “Literally.” Dogecoin as of 10:17 AM ET on Wednesday was trading higher by 23.11% to $US0.0581.

BONUS ITEM

Any Jon Lovitz fans out there?

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