Afternoon Report | System outage sparks market chaos

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. Eraring closure risks blackouts

3. Woolies ramps up delivery offering

4. US - Venezuela tensions

5. Mistake dents Piastri's F1 title dream

Join our free daily newsletter here.

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 Monday, the first of December. I'm Michael Thompson, and
every afternoon we have the five big stories you need
to know about. So let's get going with story number one.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Bit of a strange day for the share market today.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
The SMPAX two hundred closed zero points six percent lower
to eighty five hundred and sixty five points. But a
system outage saw about eighty companies placed in long trading
holts because the ASX wasn't able to publish market sensitive announcements.
The delay lasted for about three hours. That did plenty
of angst for companies and for investors. It is the

(00:39):
latest in a string of problems for the share market
operator ASX. The company that is fell almost three percent today.
A bit more on this one tomorrow. Losses on the
burs were led by healthcare today both CSL and Sigma,
which is the operator of Chemist's Warehouse, They were both
off one point four percent today. Grocery wholesale met Cash

(01:01):
fell more than nine percent after half year revenue came
in below expectations. Insurance broker and underwriter AUB tumbled almost
eighteen percent. After ending takeover talks with two private equity
firms that would have valued the company at more than
five billion dollars. All four banks were lower, with investors
heading instead to commodities. Big miners BHP, Rio Tinto and

(01:23):
Fordescu were all higher, as was oil and gas giant
Woodside On destorying number two now an Origin Energies giant
Aararing coal power plant cannot close in twenty twenty seven
without risking blackouts in New South Wales. That's the warning
from the Australian Energy Market Operator, who also said that
equipment needed to keep the grid secure will not be

(01:45):
installed in time. The threat to power supply from shutting
down Erring is not because of a lack of electricity
to replace the two eight hundred and eighty megawatt generator,
which is the country's biggest, but because of a lack
of system strength services for the power grid. These services
essentially act as a shock absorber, maintaining grid voltage and
frequency stability. They are particularly important in a grid powered

(02:09):
by relatively volatile wind and solar generation. This is according
to a report in the Financial Review. System strength services
have typically been provided by coal plants, but these are
being phased out. Story number three. Online shopping and delivery
is shaping up to be the key battleground for the
supermarketsi Christmas, with Woolworth's announcing a new strategy designed to

(02:32):
claw market share back from rival Coals. From today, Woolworth's
is opening up an extra one million delivery and pickup slots,
plus free delivery for any online order over one hundred
and fifty dollars. It comes as Wooly's sales growth is
lagging somewhat behind Coals by the widest gap in nearly

(02:52):
twenty years. Woolworth's CEO Amanda Bardwell, has also tipped more
than one hundred million dollars into lower shelf prices and discounting,
fueling a bit of a price war with Colds and
also with Aldi and Costco.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
But this new strategy banks more on convenience than price,
with the Australian newspaper reporting that the supermarkets expecting more
than four million orders online across the festive season that
has two point four million home deliveries one point six
million pickups. Story number four. Tensions between the US and
Venezuela have escalated sharply after President Donald Trump reportedly delivered

(03:27):
a blunt ultimatum to Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro, telling him
to resign and leave the country or face consequences. According
to US media reports, the two spoke by phone recently,
and Maduro asked for guarantees, including global amnesty for himself
and his allies, and also the right to keep control
of Venezuela's military in exchange for free elections. Trump reportedly

(03:51):
rejected both demands immediately and told Maduro that he, his wife,
and son could leave Venezuela only if they did it
right away. Asked about the phone call, Trump confirmed that
it happened, but offered no details, saying only it was
a phone call. Since then, the US president has announced
online that Venezuelan airspace should be considered closed in its entirety,

(04:11):
with maps showing international airlines are now largely avoiding the area.
He also warned that US military operations inside the country
could begin quote very soon. Finally, story number five. This
might be a little left field for a business podcast,
but considering the Formula one brand as worth billions, I
think it probably fits. Australian F one driver Oscar Pstre's

(04:32):
title Dream has suffered a major blow after a brutal
strategy decision from his McLaren team in Qatar. Pstre was
dominating all weekend comfortably. The fastest driver took pole position
was leading the race when a crash saw a safety
car come out early. The crash did not involve Pastree.
It does get a little bit complicated here, but in short,

(04:54):
the McLaren team made the decision not to use that
time for Pastre and his teammate Atlando Norris to head
into the pits while every other driver did, and that
mistake ended up costing the Australian the lead and the win.
It is the latest in a run of mistakes by
the McLaren team. Piastre said he was left speechless by

(05:15):
the error. It is now set up a three way
decider next week in Abu Dhabi, an outcome that seemed
extremely unlikely earlier in the season. And that's it for
the Afternoon Report for Monday, the first of December. Make
sure you're following the podcast, and please head along to
Fear and Greed dot com dot au to sign up
for our free daily newsletter.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
I'm Uncle Thompson.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Have a good evening,