Afternoon Report | CBA profit; shares sold off

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. CBA sold off

2. Results galore

3. Wages steady

4. Epic win

5. Israel crisis worsens

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report
for Wednesday, the thirteenth of August twenty twenty five are
Michael Thompson. Every afternoon, We've got the five stories that
happened today that you need to know about. Let's go.
It's story number one. What a day on the local
share market. The SMPA SEX two hundred opened at a
new record high, but it closed zero point six percent lower,

(00:25):
dragged down by Commonwealth Bank Now CBA reported a ten
point two five billion dollar cash profit, which is pretty
much on expectations, but investors sold off the stock hard
over concerns about the bank's valuation and the outlook. Australia's
largest company closed five point four percent lower today. NAB
and Westpac followed suit, down two point six percent and

(00:47):
two point one percent respectively. We talked a lot about
the big switch from banks into minors and BHP, Rio,
Tinto and Fortescue were all up one percent or more today.
The other big winner was Healthy Care, led by Clarity
Pharmaceuticals and csl Onto Story number two. Now CBA certainly
stole the limelight today, but there were plenty of other
companies reporting results Treasury wine estates climbed one point two percent,

(01:11):
helped by strong penfold sales and its US premium wine acquisitions.
Not a great day for AGL, the energy company, reporting
a twenty one percent drop in profit. It shares fell
thirteen percent today, and ensurer IAG increased its net profit
by fifty one percent to one point four billion dollars
for the year. Investors liked it at first with the

(01:32):
share price climbing, but it just couldn't sustain it and
it closed just zero point one percent higher for the day.
Onto story number three, And a huge week for the
economy continues with the Wage Price Index today showing steady
wages growth of the June quarter. The index rows zero
point eight percent in the second quarter, holding annual growth

(01:52):
three point four percent, which was a little bit above market.
And RBA forecasts the public sector pay increases outpay the
private sector, but momentum is slowing now. Next up in
this bumper economics week is the labor force data which
comes out tomorrow onto story number four. And Epic Games,
which is the maker of Fortnite, has scored a partial

(02:13):
win in its long running legal battle against Google and
Apple in Australia. Back in twenty twenty, Fortnite was removed
from the Google and Apple app stores after offering its
own in app payment system that ultimately cut out the
fees that Apple and Google get for in app payments.
The Federal Court found both tech giants misused their market

(02:35):
power by tightly controlling app distribution and in app payments,
stifling competition. Now, while Epic lost its claim of unconscionable conduct,
the ruling means Fortnite and the Epic Game Store can
now return to iPhones in Australia. And finally, story number five,
a serious one to finish on Israel has intensified air
strikes on Gaza, killing at least eighty nine people in

(02:57):
twenty four hours, including fifteen reportedly waiting for food. Australia
has joined twenty three nations, including Britain, Canada, France and Japan,
in calling on Israel to allow aid into Gaza, where
the humanitarian crisis has reached quote unimaginable levels. In a
joint statement, they called for all crossings to be opened

(03:17):
for food, water, fuel and medicine, and for civilians, medical
staff and aid workers to be protected. Alongside pushing for
a ceasefire and the release of hostages, and a local
political update to this story. Nine newspapers are reporting that
Hamas has praised the Albanese government's decision to recognize Palestinian statehood,

(03:38):
arguing that the move by Australia and other governments around
the world has vindicated its commitment to armed resistance. That's
it for the afternoon report for Wednesday, the thirteenth of
August twenty twenty five. Make sure you follow on the
podcast and we'll be back tomorrow morning with the Thursday
edition of Fear and Greed. Are Mirk Thompson. Enjoy your evening.