Afternoon Report | ASX200 tumbles

This is the Fear and Greed Afternoon Report - everything you need to know about what happened in the markets, economy and world of business today, in just a few minutes.

1. Mega cap sell-off

2. Cryptos sold-off

3. Ramsay downgrades

4. TPH in talks with Vocus

5. Middle east heats up

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report
for Monday, the fifth of August twenty twenty four. I'm
Sean Alma, and every afternoon we've got the five stories
that happened today that you need to know about. Straight
Number one SMPASX two hundred tumbled three point seven percent
today to finish at seven six hundred and fifty points,
as fears of a US recession and questions about tech

(00:24):
stock valuations hit global markets. Tech stocks locally led the
way down, with the Technology index fall link six point
six percent today, while the financial's real estate and energy
indices also got hit hard. One hundred and ninety seven
of the top two hundred companies lost ground today. Come
Off Bank and Macquarie Group film more than five percent,

(00:44):
National Australia Bank, Westpac and a z All dropped more
than four percent. Interest rate Census stocks were certainly sold off.
Property Giant Goodman Group, for example, fell nearly seven percent.
Tech Darling or at least one time tech Darling wise
tech global It fell nearly nine percent. Bond nils tumbled
as well, three year bond neals around twenty five basis
points to just over three point four percent. What that

(01:06):
points to is that investors believe that over the next
three years, the benchmark rate, which is currently four point
three five percent, will average about three point four percent.
IE interest rates will fall. We'll know more about that
tomorrow when the Reserve Bank finishes its board meeting. Story
number two. Cryptocurrencies have sunk, with Bitcoin tumbling ten percent.

(01:26):
Cryptos don't do so well in uncertain times. Hence Bitcoin
today fell to around fifty four thousand US dollars a unit.
For the last week, the tokens lost thirteen percent. It's
the opposite in the case of Goal, which investors buying
uncertain times, it's trading around twenty four to fifty US
dollars a unit. A recession of the US, which is
the world's top consumer of oil, would lower demand for Brent,

(01:48):
and in futures trading, a barrel of oil fell to
under seventy four US dollars. That was the lowest since
the beginning of the year. But there's something else at
play in oil markets. The crisis in the Middle East
and fears of further military action that's working to push
oil prices higher. So there are two powerful counter forces
in the oil market at the moment. Finally, the Aussie
dollar has been caught up in the rush to safe assets.

(02:10):
It's now fetching just over sixty four US sense, back
around the lows of late last year. Story number three
Ramsey Healthcare, the nation's largest operator of private hospitals, today
warned of a drop in profit for the last financial
years its underperforming European and UK businesses. Some of the
poorer performance reflected one off items and impairments, but the

(02:30):
group said the underlying result has been driven by improving
activity trends and labour productivity. Ramsey reports its official half
year earnings on thirtieth of August. Its share price ended
down just zero point three percent today. That was a
pretty good effort given what the rest of the market did.
Stroying number four TPG Telecom is once again in talks
with Focus over its fiber network, nine months after a

(02:52):
proposal to sell the network for six point three billion
dollars fell over. In a statement, TPG said shareholders should
be aware that the twenty twenty three discussions did not
lead to a transaction. There's no certainty that these talks
will lead to one either. Focus has around twenty seven
thousand klombers of fiber network, mostly in metropolitan areas, and
story number five. Israel is braced for a possible attack

(03:14):
from Iran and regional militias in retaliation for assassinations of
Hesbalah and Hamas officials, as the US sent defensive reinforcements
while pressing for a Gaza ceasefire ideal. Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's said at the start of a cabinet meeting that
Israel is in a multi front war against Iran's Axis
of Evil. He said, Israel's striking every one of its

(03:36):
arms with great force and is prepared for any scenario,
both offensively and defensively. The US, which is moving a
fire jet squadron to the region and keeping an aircraft
carrier nearby to help Israel, is pressing mister Netanyahu to
redouble negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza to prevent the
nearly ten month long war from escalating. According to Bloomberg,

(03:56):
group of seven foreign ministers express concern about the risk
of a wider regional crisis during a video call over
the past forty eight hours. That's it for the afternoon
report for Monday, the fifth of August twenty twenty four,
Michael Thompson and I will be back tomorrow morning with
a Tuesday edition of Fearing Greed Business News. I'm Sean Elma.
Enjoy your evening.