Afternoon Report | CSL fall drags ASX down

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 closes down

2. PM rejects Bullock comment

3. iiNet cyber attack

4. Wong says Israel visa call ‘unjustified’

5. Trump, Zelensky meet

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report
for Tuesday, the nineteenth 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. Story number one.
The S and PASX two hundred closed down zero point
seven percent today to eight hundred ninety six points, ending
the share market's recent run of records. Headlining the losses, though,

(00:26):
was healthcare giants CSL. It fell a whopping sixteen point
nine percent today, its largest ever fall, driven by revenue
that came in below expectations and concerns over the company's outlook.
The company announced plans to slash three thousand jobs. Oil
and gas giant Woodside fell two point eight percent after

(00:47):
a twenty four percent drop in first half profit, while
fellow energy company Santos closed two point six percent lower,
though that was tied to news that it's unlikely to
reach a deal to be sold to the Abu Dhabi
National Oil Company before its deadline. At the other end
of the market, the banks were all higher. BHP closed
hired despite a twenty six percent drop in earnings, and

(01:08):
job site seek was up eight percent, one of the
best on the course after beating expectations with its full
year results. Story number two. The Prime Minister has rejected
claims that he was targeting Reserve Bank Governor Michelle Bullock
with a rather pointed comment at the opening of the
Roundtable on Economic Reform today. In his opening remarks in Canbro,

(01:29):
Prime Minister Anthony Aberezi said the Federal Government was proud
the jobless rate was a low four point two percent,
that real wages were rising again and interest rates were falling.
The PM said there are some economists, perhaps some in
this room who thought that you couldn't get inflation down
without getting unemployment up. Well, that's not my government's way.

(01:49):
My government has focused on looking after people on the
economic journey. The Australian reports that the Prime Minister's office
has rejected the assertion that his comments were directed at Bullock,
who was just three seats away from the Prime Minister
at the time and didn't look particularly impressed. Story number three.
Hundreds of thousands of Australians with I net accounts have

(02:09):
been caught up in a major cyber breach at TPG Telecom.
Hackers accessed the telco systems on Saturday, stealing two hundred
and eighty thousand active email addresses and twenty thousand landline numbers,
street addresses, usernames, mode and passwords. They were also stolen,
though no banking or ID documents were involved. The Financial

(02:29):
Review reports that TPG's investigating whether information about how to
access its systems used by a former employee had found
its way onto the dark web, perhaps through malware that
had been installed on the employee's personal mobile phone. It's
thought that the third party then obtained access credentials and
used them to get into a system used by its

(02:51):
Australian and overseas call centers to connect and disconnect broadband
plans and fixed line phone services. A lot of work
going into determining the cause of this one story number four.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called Israel's decision to cancel
visas for Australian representatives unjustified. Israel escalated tensions with Australia,
revoking visas for Australian officials to the Palestinian authority, warning

(03:15):
that future applications will face stricter scrutiny. It appears to
be almost a tit for tat move after Canbra blocked
an Israeli politician from visiting here, citing concerns that he
would spread hate and division. Opposition Finance spokesman James Patterson
has described Australia's relationship with Israel as the worst it
has ever been. Meanwhile, Hamas has accepted a proposal for

(03:37):
a Gaza ceasefire, including a sixty day halt to fighting
and the phased release of half of the roughly twenty
remaining Israeli hostages. The talks were mediated by Egypt and Katar,
and finally, story number five, a meeting between US President
Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski in the Oval Office,
has ended with Zelenski agreeing to meet Russian leader Vladimir

(03:59):
Putin to hopefully discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Also
attending the talks in Washington, where the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Finland,
the European Commission, and NATO. The focus was on security guarantees.
Trump floated NATO like protection for Ukraine led by Europe,
but with US backing, and he didn't rule out American troops,

(04:21):
but divisions do remain over whether a ceasefire is part
of the process, with Trump pushing instead to bypass that
and go straight for a full peace deal. He says, though,
that we will know within one maybe two weeks if
peace is possible. That's it for the Afternoon Report for Tuesday,
the nineteenth of August twenty twenty five. Make sure you
hit follow on the podcast and we'll be back tomorrow

(04:41):
morning with the Wednesday edition of Fear and Greed. I'm
Michael Thompson. Enjoy your evening.