Afternoon Report | ASX climbs; Qantas bonus haul

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. ASX climbs 0.5pc

2. Labor’s tax plan stalls

3. Qantas bonus haul

4. Atlassian’s $1b purchase

5. Giorgio Armani dies

Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report
for Friday, the fifth of September twenty twenty five. Oh
Michael Thompson. Every afternoon, We've got the five stories that
happened today that you need to know about. Let's go
story number one. The SMPA is Sex two hundred closed
zero point five percent higher today to eight hundred and
seventy one points nine out of the eleven sectors gained ground.

(00:25):
It followed a strong lead in from Wall Street, where
the S and P five hundred hit a new record.
That was because a payroll data that made a September
rate cut from the FED more likely. Locally, the techtocs
were a strong performer by now pay Later Company Zip
was up four point seven percent and Life three sixty
was up three point one percent. Gold climbed again, giving

(00:46):
a boost to most of the gold miners and a
good day for some of the retailers to meyer up
three point eight percent. JB hi Fi and West Farmers
were both up nearly two percent, but overall the rally
wasn't quite enough to make up all of the losses
from early in the week, and the ASX finished the
week lower than where it started, ending a four week
winning streak. Story number two, Labour's plan to lift the

(01:09):
tax rate on super earnings for balances above three million
dollars has apparently stalled, with Shadow Treasurer at Ted O'Brien
labeling the government cowards for going slow, with no sign
of the bill being debated in parliament. The policy, which
has forecast to raise two point seven billion dollars a year,
is under review inside government amid criticism of its proposal

(01:31):
to tax unrealized gains, a move that's been likened to
taxing paper profits. It's not just the opposition having a cracklough.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi faces pressure from both sides, all
sides really, business groups, farmers. Even Paul Keating has warned
that it risks damaging confidence in retirement savings, but Treasurer

(01:53):
Jim Chalmers insists the plan is still on track, even
as Labour weighs up some possible refinements. Story number three. Today,
Quantis's sawing share price has handed former CEO Alan Joyce
a hefty parting bonus worth almost four million dollars. How
about this, though it pushes his total remuneration over the
seventeen years that he spent at the airline and then

(02:17):
this period since he left to one hundred and seventeen
million dollars. Joyce's final bonus comes despite the airline with
holding nine million dollars last year after damning court rulings
over its treatment of workers. Attention now turns to curren
CEO Vanessa Hudson. Her paypacket climb to six point three
million dollars, which is much less than what Alan Joyce

(02:39):
received towards the end of his stint at the airline
after the board cut her bonus by twenty two percent
in response to this year's massive cyber attack that exposed
the data of six million customers. Some investors were pushing
for tougher cuts, but chair John Mullen told investors in
Quantus's annual report that was published today that the board
had quote comprehensively dealt with the remuneration consequences for management

(03:03):
from this matter in the last financial year. Quantas's share
price closed zero point six percent higher today. Story number
four at Lassian is taking on Google and Microsoft and
Apple and the browser Wars. Co founder Mike cannon Brooks
has announced the company is spending nearly a billion dollars
to buy the Browser Company of New York. I love

(03:23):
a company that tells you exactly what it does. It
is a startup behind two other browsers. The aim here
is to reinvent the browser for the AI era of work.
Canon Brooks has argued that today's browsers were built for
kind of casual browsing, not the more demanding requirements of
people who make their living using a browser with dozens

(03:43):
of tabs open. We know what that's like. Atlasian's vision
is a productivity first browser powered by AI that can
streamline tasks across email, projects, budgets, design tools, that kind
of thing. This is at Lassian's biggest acquisition since loom
in twenty twenty three three and finally story number five.
Georgio Armani, one of the most powerful figures in global fashion,

(04:05):
has died in Milan at the age of ninety one.
Omani built one of the most profitable privately owned fashion
empires in the world, generating billions in annual revenue and
setting a template. Really that's studied in business schools. I'm
deferring to the New York Times on this one, who
said that his suits redefined corporate dress in the eighties,

(04:26):
his embrace of Hollywood stars effectively inventing red carpet marketing,
turning fashion into big business. Amani Group today spans clothing
lines and fragrances, accessories, hotels, restaurants. It is a diversified
empire that is still entirely family controlled. How about this.
Though even into his nineties, Amani remained at the helm
of the company, resisting calls to name a successor, saying

(04:49):
there'll be plenty of time for them to figure that
out later. That's it for the afternoon report for Friday,
the fifth of September twenty twenty five. Make sure you
hit follow on the podcast and we'll be back tomorrow
morning with the weeknd and addition of Fear and Braid.
I'm Chaele Thompson. Enjoy your evening.