Afternoon Report | ASX tumbles 1.4pc

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 flat

2. Auction results

3. Gas discovery off Vic coast

4. Scam email alert

5. Trump pushes to release Epstein files

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well, welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon
Report for Monday, the seventeenth of November. I'm Michael Thompson,
and every afternoon we have the five big stories that
you need to know about. Let's get going a story
Number one. The SMPA SEX two hundred closed just two
points higher today to eighty six hundred and thirty six points.
I would call that pretty flat. It comes as investors

(00:24):
are waiting on data to start flowing in the US
again after the government shutdown. The backlog of economic data
reports will help shape interest rate expectations locally. Though Commonwealth
Bank fell one percent today, the other three big banks
were either up slightly or flat. BHP was zero point
six percent lower today. Everyone was watching that one closely.

(00:46):
Investors digesting the news that the miner was liable for
the twenty fifteen Somaco dam collapse in Brazil. We talked
about the ruling in this morning's episode. The decision from
the UK High Court could see BHP and Brazilian Minor
Valley up for billions of dollars more in compensation. That
is in addition to existing agreements with the Brazilian government.

(01:10):
Agribusiness Elders share price serves more than six percent today,
even though it's underlying earnings for the last year came
in below expectations, the group's constructive outlook statement impressed investors.
A bunch of well known stocks hit fifty two week
lows today, including Treasury, Wine Estates, Wires Tech Global, and Zero.
While it was overall a pretty steady day on the

(01:31):
local boss, there is still plenty happening in markets. Bitcoin,
for instance, as trading around ninety five thousand US dollars
a unit. Will have a bit more on this one
in tomorrow morning's episode on to story number two. Now
and the property market just recorded its busiest auction week
since March, with three two hundred and fifty eight Capital
City homes going under the hammer and seven to ten

(01:54):
properties selling despite fading hopes of future rate cuts. At
Melbourne led the activity with one four hundred and eighty
four auctions. That's the third busiest week of the year,
with a clearance rate of seventy point five percent. Sydney
followed with about two hundred less auctions and then its
strongest preliminary clearance rate in a month at seventy point

(02:17):
eight percent. Auctions have been fairly steady. Agents say buyer
demand remained strong, with ray White reporting an average of
three point one bidders per auction, up from two point
six last year. Tim lawlece from Totality, which is where
a lot of this data comes from. It says that
prices are being supported by very low supply, with listings

(02:39):
still tracking around eighteen percent below average. Story number three
US energy giant Conoco Phillips has made a major gas
discovery off the Victorian Coast. The discovery is in the
Otway Basin, southwest of Port Campbell and comes two weeks
after drilling commenced in the area, which is about fifty
kilometers offshore and twelve kilometers from existing gas production wells.

(03:02):
The hope is that the discovery can contribute to alleviating
pressure on gas supplies along the East Coast. Conoco and
partner Korean National Oil Corporation were aiming to find about
two hundred and sixty billion cubic feet of resources in
two separate reservoirs, and the early results of the drilling
came in largely in line with expectations. One winner from

(03:23):
the find was its junior drilling partner, three D Energy,
that's energy with an eye at the end. Its share
price jumped more than fifty percent. Story number four. More
than two hundred and seventy thousand malicious emails impersonating Services
Australia and Centrelink have flooded Australian inboxes over the past
four months in one of the nation's largest ever phishing campaigns.

(03:46):
The sophisticated attacks have specifically targeted the country's most vulnerable citizens,
according to a report in nine Media, and was uncovered
by human risk management platform mimecast. Attackers are using artificial
intelligence to create really what are near perfect clones of
legitimate government communications. The emails mimic government correspondence about medicare,

(04:08):
about job seeker payments, superannuation, and family tax benefits with
alarming accuracy. The scam is pretty broad. It's going to individuals, schools, hospitals,
law firms, corporations, and even government agencies themselves. Finally, Story
number five, US President Donald Trump is urging Republicans now
to vote to release the so called Epstein files, saying

(04:32):
he has quote nothing to hide and he wants Congress
to move on. But there are concerns the release could
be limited by new criminal investigations Trump has ordered into
the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's links to prominent Democrats,
including Bill Clinton. Trump told Republicans to back a bill
that would force publication of the files, saying Democrats are

(04:53):
using Epstein as a distraction from his achievements, including ending
the recent government shutdown. Epstein died in jail in twenty
nineteen while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His associate,
Gilead Maxwell, is serving a twenty year sentence. That's it
for the afternoon Report for Monday, the seventeenth of November.
Make sure you're following the podcast and head along to

(05:14):
Fearangreed dot com dot au or check the link in
our show notes to sign up for our free daily
newsletter in your inbox every morning by six am. A
great cheat cheap to get you started for the day.
I'm Michael Thompson. Have a great evening,