Afternoon Report | ASX falls, super tax backflip

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. Markets

2. Chalmers softens super tax plan

3. ANZ boss announces overhaul

4. Govt to meet social media execs

5. Israel / Hamas hostage release begins

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report
for Monday, the thirteenth of October twenty twenty five. I'm
Michael Thompson, and every afternoon we've got the five stories
that happened today that you need to know about. Let's
go with story number one. It's all about markets. The
SMPA s X two hundred fell almost one percent today,
down seventy six points to eighty eight hundred and eighty

(00:24):
three points, ten of the eleven sectors losing ground. It
is the worst day in three weeks, comes after investors
were spooked by the ongoing and escalating US trade dispute
with China. Tech sector was the worst, Life three sixty
and Wise Tech Global both losing about two and a
half percent today. Computer share that was another one that
was off more than four percent. Most of the big

(00:45):
banks fell to which certainly doesn't help Commwealth Bank and
NAB were both down almost two percent. Westpac was lower
as well, but A and Z actually jumped three point
three percent today. More on that one in a moment.
A good day for the gold miners and the silver
miners as well for that matter, with gold hitting surprise
surprise yet another record. Regius Resources climbed seven percent, and

(01:08):
Evolution Mining and Newmont were both up between two and
a half and three percent. I mentioned the silver miners.
The standout there was Sun Silver, which saw it eighteen
percent today after being asked to give an update on
a US project ahead of a meeting between the Prime
Minister and the US President and just two more to mention.
Quantus was down one point six percent today as Investors'

(01:30):
process news that the stolen data of five point seven
million customers had emerged on the dark web, and Treasury
wines dropped fifteen percent. That was the worst on the
day after withdrawing its profit guidance onto story number two.
Now it's been a big day. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has
announced significant changes to its controversial plan to tax superbalances

(01:51):
over three million dollars, backing down on really some of
the most contentious elements of the policy. The tax threshold
will now be indexed and unrealized capital gains will no
longer be included in the fifteen percent earnings tax. Earnings
on balances between three million dollars and ten million dollars,
which is about ninety thousand people, will be taxed at

(02:11):
thirty percent, while the new forty percent rate will apply
to balances over ten million dollars, which does affect a
smaller amount. That's still eight thousand people. The changes reportedly
came after intervention by Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi. There is
a lot more detail too, There's a lot of politics involved.
We will have a lot more on it in tomorrow
morning's episode under story number three and I mentioned A
and Z before. Chief executive Nuno Matos has unveiled an

(02:34):
aggressive five year plan aimed at cutting costs, boosting profits,
and regaining market share. It's a strategy that he says
will challenge staff and change the culture of the bank.
Matos took over in May. He's previously announced major job cuts.
The new strategy, which was detailed today, focuses on four
main pillars. They are customer focus, simplicity, resilience, and delivering value.

(02:59):
Includes things like plans to expand branch based lending, hire
more business bankers, and rely less on mortgage brokers. On
to story number four Now and the federal government, We'll
meet with executives from Meta, Snapchat, YouTube, and TikTok this
week to discuss how they plan to enforce Australia's new
social media laws, which ban under sixteens from using their platforms.

(03:21):
We've talked a lot about this, but Communications Minister Annika
Wells and e Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant will now
press the companies to explain how they are going to
detect and block underage users ahead of the enforcement date,
which is December tenth, So not that far away. Platforms
face fines of nearly fifty million dollars if they fail

(03:42):
to comply. And finally, story number five, this is very
much an evolving story. It is happening as we speak.
The Red Cross has begun a large scale operation to
oversee the release of hostages and prisoners as part of
the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. The first seven
hostages held by Hermas have already been handed over and

(04:02):
will be reunited with their families before receiving medical care.
There are believed to be twenty hostages still alive, and
the Red Cross is coordinating their transfer over the next
couple of hours. Once the hostages have been released and
the remains of those who died as well have been returned.
Nearly two thousand Palestinian prisoners will then be released by Israel.

(04:22):
US President Donald Trump, who negotiated the peace deal, is
due to arrive in Israel shortly. That's it for the
afternoon Report for Monday, the thirteenth of October twenty twenty five.
Make sure you follow on the podcast and we'll be
back tomorrow morning with the Tuesday edition of Fear and Greed.
I'm Michael Thompson. Enjoy your eat