Good evening. Twelve hours after we told you to expect more stories like this, one landed.

NextDC shares plunged around 40% today, wiping a large chunk off the roughly $7 billion data centre operator’s value, after it told the ASX that energy distributor Jemena had suspended network works meant to boost power supply to its M3 site in Melbourne’s West Footscray, the ABC reports. Different outlets put the fall anywhere from 39% to 45% depending on the snapshot; ABC and CNBC both describe it as “around 40%.”

The dispute traces back to September, when Yarraville and Tottenham residents blocked crews installing 15-metre power poles capable of carrying 66,000 volts, over concerns about diesel generators, noise and inadequate consultation. NextDC CEO Craig Scroggie confirmed Jemena has paused the relevant works, pushing the next grid supply increase out to mid-2027. The company cut FY27 net revenue guidance to $475-500 million from $615-640 million, and operating profit guidance to $245-265 million from $385-410 million, and has frozen new developments and land acquisitions while it weighs selling some sites. A Victorian government planning decision on expanding the site is now delayed past the 28 November state election.

Independent Senator David Pocock has floated a 5% levy on data centres from next year, projected to raise over $500 million by the end of 2030, while Victoria has separately announced 150-metre buffer rules keeping new data centres away from homes and schools, the ABC reports.

Source: ABC News, 21 Oct 2026 → · Source: CNBC, 21 Oct 2026 → · Source: Marketindex, 21 Oct 2026 →

Oil pulls back from a five-month high, Wall Street mixed on earnings. Brent crude settled Tuesday at US$109.30, down 0.2%, after touching US$111.99 intraday, its highest since May, as reports that mediators are working to bring the US and Iran back to the table eased some of the war premium, Yahoo Finance and Reuters report. WTI fell 2.5% to $101.10, snapping an eight-session, 20%-plus winning streak. Wall Street closed mixed on a heavy earnings day: the Dow rose 1% to 52,495.88 on a nearly 6% jump in 3M, the S&P 500 added 0.28% to 7,712.57, and the Nasdaq slipped 0.02% as GM and GE Aerospace fell on their results.

RBA’s Hauser warns inflation outlook “materially worse.” Speaking at Sydney’s Citi Investment Conference, RBA Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser said the inflation outlook has deteriorated since the bank’s August forecasts, warning a growing share of businesses now treat 3-3.5% inflation as “the new normal” against headline CPI of 4% and the bank’s 2-3% target, the ABC reports. Bloomberg-tracked market pricing for a November hike jumped to 51%, from under 20% the week before.

Gold eases, silver and copper diverge higher. Gold futures fell 0.42% to US$4,142.50 an ounce, while silver jumped 2.05% to $58.14 and copper rose 1.19% to $6.616 a pound, Yahoo Finance data shows. “Precious metals” and “industrial metals” clearly aren’t telling the same story tonight.

Source: Yahoo Finance, 21 Oct 2026 → · Source: ABC News, 21 Oct 2026 → · Source: Marketindex, 21 Oct 2026 →

We said last night that a bank can shed headcount faster than a data centre operator can get a power line approved. NextDC just proved it harder than expected: a third of a year’s revenue guidance, gone, because one energy distributor and one group of residents in Melbourne’s inner west said no. That’s not a company failing to execute. That’s a company discovering it doesn’t control grid capacity, the one input its entire business depends on.

The RBA story matters more than a single speech usually would, because of what moved alongside it: a November hike went from under one-in-five to better than even odds in a week, on unemployment data, not on anything Hauser himself said. Markets are repricing fast on thin information, which tends to mean someone’s wrong in one direction. Oil easing off a five-month high on diplomacy reports is the one genuinely hopeful line in tonight’s issue. Don’t get attached to it; this war’s relief rallies haven’t lasted yet.