Markets were in Limbo for most of this week, with investors anxiously waiting on the world’s biggest company to eventually set the mood.

Nvidia earnings loomed like a grand final for the AI, with punters largely sitting on their hands to see whether the world’s most important stock could once again justify its astronomical valuation.

It did, with Nvidia smashing expectations after Wednesday’s closing bell, delivering a staggering US$96.2 billion (A$147 billion) in revenue and gliding towards an eye-watering US$108 billion (A$165 billion) for the current quarter. The result sent shares soaring more than eight per cent and pushed the chip giant’s valuation beyond US$5.5 trillion (A$8.4 trillion) – a figure now approaching the size of the entire London Stock Exchange.

Wall Street duly exploded higher on Thursday, with investors once again deciding the AI party still has plenty of life left in it.

Gold continued last week’s charge higher after the US Treasury quietly expanded its buyback program for longer-dated government bonds, doubling the size of purchases from a maximum US$2 billion (A$3.1 billion) per operation to a minimum of US$4 billion (A$6.1 billion).

Officially, the move is designed to improve liquidity and smooth market functioning. Unofficially, it looks suspiciously like Washington is trying to keep a lid on bond yields as America’s debt pile marches deeper into uncharted territory.

The irony is hard to ignore. The world’s reserve currency is increasingly relying on financial engineering to support confidence in its own debt market.

Gold bugs, unsurprisingly, have noticed. The yellow metal continued its march higher as investors sought refuge from a US dollar and a Treasury market that appear to require ever-greater intervention.

Back home and just as BHP became Australia’s biggest company, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese headed West. Touring Perth and the home of resources, he offered an iron-clad guarantee that Canberra would not touch WA’s GST arrangements - Albo word, of course, is his bond, so we’ll see how long that lasts.

The Prime Minister also found himself in an increasingly uncomfortable stoush with WA over domestic gas reservation and mooted export restrictions. Prime Minister Albanese locked horns with WA Premier Roger Cook over domestic gas reservation policies, with the Federal Government seemingly eyeing WA’s carefully managed supply to solve the energy woes currently plaguing the eastern states.

Premier Cook was having none of it, launching a full-throated defence of the state’s long-standing energy policy. He argued that Western Australia already directs about 20 per cent of its gas production into the domestic market, comfortably exceeding the very targets Canberra appears to be chasing for the rest of the country. The dispute cuts to the heart of Australia’s energy dilemma: the east is battling soaring power prices and gas shortages, while the west, having had the foresight to protect its domestic supply years ago, is now being asked to share its lunch.

The Bulls N’ Bears Runners roll call this week perfectly reflected that sentiment. A plucky AI data centre player took out the top spot with a truly breathtaking run, while a pair of junior gold explorers rode the wave of renewed interest in WA’s prolific goldfields.

X2M CONNECT LTD (ASX: X2M)

Up 500% (0.2c – 1.2c)

The Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is AI data centre player X2M Connect, which went from prospecting to landing its first binding data centre agreement this week – and the market’s reaction was nothing short of explosive.

X2M has secured a pivotal role in the design, delivery and ongoing management of an AI-enabled, high-density GPU facility with an estimated project cost north of a whopping $250 million. Initially, the company will provide design services to support the development approval process; however, the scope could then expand to include full project delivery and ongoing management once the project gets the green light.

The deal marks X2M’s first conversion from an impressive Australian data centre pipeline of around 150 megawatts, most of which is in Queensland. And judging by the market’s reaction, that pipeline is now being taken a whole lot more seriously.

X2M piled on more than 500 per cent following Thursday’s announcement, with an incredible one billion shares changing hands – more than four times the total volume traded across the whole of last year. That is not exactly a market shrug; it’s a full-blown stampede.

The company’s focus is squarely on GPU-accelerated facilities, where the immense power and cooling demands of AI computing create a perfect stage for X2M’s integration and management technology. The pitch is simple: squeeze more usable compute out of every megawatt.

The market opportunity is immense. Australian data centre demand is forecast to climb from around 1.5 gigawatts in 2025 to as much as 5GW by 2030, a surge that could require up to $190 billion in digital infrastructure investment and a lot of renewable electricity... cough ... gas power.

For X2M, this $250 million-plus facility is a beachhead, providing the first contracted reference point to unlock a much larger Australian pipeline. After this week’s 500 per cent share price explosion, investors are clearly betting that the AI data centre story is just getting started.

DISCOVERY ALASKA LTD (ASX: DAF)

Up 180% (1c – 2.8c)

Snatching the runner-up spot this week is Discovery Alaska, which burst out of the traps after adding to its WA gold footprint with a well-timed acquisition in the State’s prolific Murchison region.

The company executed a binding deal to acquire the Cuddingwarra gold project near Cue, backed by a $900,000 placement to fund the purchase and kick off exploration.

Cuddingwarra features almost 14 square kilometres of gold ground right next door to the historic Cuddingwarra gold mine. Crucially, the project is within trucking distance of the Tuckabianna gold mill and just 50km north of Ramelius Resources’ Mt Magnet gold operations, placing any potential discovery within easy reach of established mining infrastructure.

The project sits on highly fertile greenstone terrain along the Cuddingwarra Gold Trend, which has historically produced gold from 16 open pits. It’s hard to pick a better time to be hunting for gold in the Murchison. With the yellow metal jumping more than 10 per cent in a month, the region has cemented its status as one of the State’s hottest discovery addresses, having already produced around 35 million ounces of gold.

Despite its pedigree and proximity to operating mines, the project remains largely untested below the surface. Discovery plans to review historical data before launching a modern exploration program targeting the highest-priority structural corridors. That work will likely involve systematic soil and rock-chip sampling to define drill targets, followed by first-pass aircore drilling and deeper reverse circulation drilling to chase up any significant anomalies.

For Discovery, it’s a smart play: proven ground in a world-class district, a largely untested footprint and a gold price that provides every incentive to get the drill rods spinning.

METAL HAWK LTD (ASX: MHK)

Up 105% (9.5c – 19.5c)

Taking out bronze on the week was junior goldie Metal Hawk, after it knocked a discovery hole clean out of the park at its Leinster South project in WA’s Agnew-Lawlers region.

Grade is king in the mining game, and there was plenty of it at the company’s Thylacine prospect. Drilling returned a stellar intercept of 9m at 12.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from just 70m, including a spectacular high-grade core of 5m at 20.7 g/t gold. Other hits included 8m at 3.6 g/t gold from 40m and 3m at 4.2 g/t gold from just 5m downhole.

The market took notice, with more than 17 million shares changing hands after the company delivered the best drilling intersection recorded at the project to date.

The shallow, high-grade mineralisation remains open along strike and at depth, with the company wasting little time in lining up another round of drilling. The results support its interpretation of stacked, mineralised quartz-vein systems that appear to increase in grade and thickness at depth.

Early interpretations suggest a new high-grade lode, dubbed “Numbat”, which has given the company a fresh structural orientation in its hunt for more high-grade zones. The project sits within the world-class Agnew-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, a patch of ground that has somehow managed to escape the attention of the district’s major players.

The next test for Metal Hawk is simple: drill deeper and expand. It’s a very promising start in an exciting part of the world. Just how many lodes, only follow-up drilling can tell.

BAPCOR LIMITED (ASX: BAP)

Up 66% (44.5c – 74c)

Rounding out our runners list is automotive aftermarket giant Bapcor. The company delivered its FY26 results this week and one number immediately jumped off the page: net bank debt was slashed by an impressive $229.8 million to $135 million.

That was driven by a strong working capital performance, with the company generating $68.5 million of cash flow from initiatives in the second half alone. Cash conversion consequently came in at a very healthy 109.4 per cent.

The numbers suggest Bapcor is starting to get its house in order as it pushes through a turnaround program aimed at stabilising the business and improving performance. Management says the early progress provides a better platform for the future, but acknowledges this is still very much a work in progress.

The market, however, remains sceptical. Bapcor is currently the 17th most shorted stock on the ASX. With the shares having tumbled from above $2.90 this time last year, many of those bears have already enjoyed a lucrative ride down and may have even helped fuel this week’s pop as they scrambled to cover their positions.

For those unfamiliar with the business, Bapcor is Asia-Pacific’s leading automotive aftermarket player, with operations such as Burson Auto Parts and New Zealand’s BNT. This is no tiny punt; Bapcor is deeply embedded in the region’s automotive parts supply chain. That makes its ability to clean up the balance sheet and get sales moving in the right direction a particularly interesting story from here.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au