Elon Musk starts another fight with the SEC; ATO whistleblower faces 161 years in prison; and solar panels produce worrying amounts of toxic waste, so what can be done about it? Here's what's happening in markets today. 

What I'm reading

SEC asks judge to hold Musk in contempt of court

Elon Musk is in trouble with regulators again, following his Feb 19 tweet that misquoted the number of cars Tesla would produce this year. Musk had been ordered by the court to have all his tweets reviewed by a securities lawyer. Not one to shy away from a fight, he again laid into the SEC overnight on Twitter. 

Read article

ATO whistleblower faces hard time

Richard Boyle, the ATO employee who helped news agencies expose poor culture inside the ATO, faces up to 161 years in prison for 66 offences. 

Read article

Why do solar panels produce so much toxic waste?

Solar panels contain lead, cadmium, antimony and plastics, and we currently lack an effective recycling strategy for dealing with old panels. 

Read article

Tanarra Capital's John Wylie back Flexigroup's new strategy

Investment Banker, John Wylie, thinks Flexigroup can regain market share against Afterpay and Zip following the launch of their new strategy. 

Read article (AFR subscription required)

Stocks to watch

The following companies had reported results at the time of writing:

• Saunders International (SND)
• Azure Healthcare (AZV)
• EML Payments (EML)
• Marley Spoon (MMM)
• Energy Action (EAX)
• ClearView Wealth (CVW)
• Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers (KPT)
• Bravura Solutions (BVS)
• Bathurst Resources (BRL)
• Cogstate (CGS)
• Traffic Technologies (TTI)
• Wiseway Group (WWG)
• Respiri (RSH)
• Oz Minerals (OZL)
• Murray Goulburn Co-operative (MGC)
• Janus Henderson Group (JHG)
• National Storage REIT (NSR)
• Livetiles (LVT)
• Consolidated Operations Group (COG)
• Viva Energy Australia (VEA)
• Shine Corporate (SHJ)
• Seek (SEK)
• Xenith IP Group (XIP)
• Capitol Health (CAJ)
• Collection House Group (CLH)
• Acrow Formwork and Construction Services (ACF)
• PS&C (PSZ)
• Ambition Group (AMB)
• Think Childcare (TNK)
• Trademe Group (TME)
• Genesis Energy (GNE)
• Michael Hill International (MHJ)
• Bellamy’s Organic (BAL)
• Southern Cross Electrical Engineering (SXE)
• Senetas Corporation (SEN)
• Vocus Group (VOC)
• Costa Group (CGC)
• NextDC (NXT)
• Pro-Pac Packaging (PPG)

Key market data

• ASX Futures: 6,120.0 (-0.41%)
• AUD/USD: 0.7188 (+0.29%)
• ASX200: 6,128.40 (-0.94%)
• S&P 500: 2,793.90 (-0.08%)
• China A50: 12,451.37 (-2.23%)
• Australia 2-yr bond: 1.728 (+0.41%)
• Australia 10-yr bond: 2.083 (+0.77%)
• US 2-yr bond: 2.484 (-1.04%)
• US 10-yr bond: 2.638 (-1.14%)
• Gold (USD/oz): 1,331.00 (+0.11%)
• Copper (USD/lb): 2.949 (+0.14%)
• Brent Oil (USD/bbl): 65.78 (+1.58%)
• 62% Iron Ore (USD/t): 83.5 (-1.18%)

Upcoming releases and events

• ABS Construction Work Done for Q4 is released today at 11:30am AEST
• Private Sector Credit, Private CapEx, and HIA New Home Sales for Q1 are all released on Thursday at 11:30am AEST
• US GDP for Q4 is released on Friday at 12:30am AEST
• European Unemployment for January is released at 9pm Friday AEST.

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