It was a big week for many S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares.
A week that saw the benchmark index close at a record high of 7,680.70 points on Wednesday before resetting that with a record close of 7699.40 points on Friday. These both topped the previous all-time closing high of 7,628.9 points, notched on 13 August 2021.
With records toppling, here's why these three ASX 200 shares grabbed the Motley Fool's headlines this week.
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Three ASX 200 shares grabbing the Motley Fool's headlines
The first ASX 200 share that leapt into the Motley Fool's headline news this week was Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA).
On Tuesday, CBA, Australia's biggest bank stock, set its own all-time intraday high. In early morning trade shares in the big four bank were changing hands for $116.94 apiece. That put CBA shares up 22% since 31 October.
With no fresh price-sensitive news out from CBA, Motley Fool analyst Sebastian Bowen attributed the record high to the same factors that were sending the ASX 200 towards all-time highs on the day. Namely "falling inflation, strong economic growth with low unemployment, and the expectations of interest rate cuts this year".
Also leaping into the Motley Fool's headlines this week was mining giant BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP).
The ASX 200 share led the news on Monday after it was reported that BHP, Vale and their Samarco joint venture could be facing 47.6 billion reais (AU$14.8 billion) in legal damages. Those compensatory damages, tied into the 2015 Samarco Fundao dam collapse in Brazil, were levelled by a Brazilian federal court judge.
BHP responded that it was "fully committed to supporting the extensive ongoing remediation and compensation efforts in Brazil through the Fundacao Renova".
However, as the miner had not yet been served with the court decision, management said they would review the implications and the potential for an appeal.
The BHP share price closed the day down 1.4%.
Which brings us to the third ASX 200 share that leapt into the Motley Fool's headlines this week.
Namely, uranium stock Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN).
Paladin, and indeed numerous ASX uranium stocks, made headline news on Friday as uranium prices soared to near 16-year highs.
The uranium price has more than doubled over the past 12 months, with 22 nations recently having pledged to triple their nuclear power capacity to provide reliable baseload power without atmosphere-warming carbon emissions.
New uranium supply was already lagging behind the demand growth. And on Friday, Paladin received another big boost after Kazatomprom, the world's top uranium producer, reiterated concerns that supply issues with sulphuric acid, crucial for its uranium mining methods, would impact its production levels in 2024.
The Paladin share price closed up 6.6% at $1.38 on Friday.
That sees the ASX 200 share up 39.5% so far in 2024.
