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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report

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Speaker 1: for Thursday, the fifth of March twenty twenty six. I'm

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Speaker 1: Michael Thompson, and every afternoon we've got the five stories

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Speaker 1: that happened today that you need to know about. Let's

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Speaker 1: jump straight into story number one. The S and p

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Speaker 1: ASX two hundred closed zero point four percent higher today

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Speaker 1: at eighty nine hundred and forty one points, bouncing back

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Speaker 1: after yesterday's one point nine percent route. A little bit

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Speaker 1: more confidence, it seems, from investors. The stronger US data

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Speaker 1: keeping expectations for rate cuts from the FED alive despite

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Speaker 1: those enduring worries about oil driven inflation. Tech stocks locally

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Speaker 1: led the way today. Wise Tech Global was up seven

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Speaker 1: point one percent. Zero was up by more than four percent.

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Speaker 1: Investors started to move back into names that have been

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Speaker 1: punished in recent sell offs. Energy extended its strong run,

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Speaker 1: even with Woodside down one percent after it went next dividend,

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Speaker 1: while the refiners companies like Viva and Ampole, they surged today.

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Speaker 1: Viva was up nearly twelve percent, Ampole was up eight

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Speaker 1: and a half percent. That was on reports that China

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Speaker 1: has told major refiners there to suspend diesel and petrol

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Speaker 1: exports elsewhere. We had BHP falling one percent again going extivident,

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Speaker 1: while gold stocks eased again, Drone Shield rebounded more than

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Speaker 1: ten percent, and Star Entertainment. This is quite a story.

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Speaker 1: It was flat after the Federal Court found that ASK

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Speaker 1: failed to prove its case that directors were liable over

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Speaker 1: money laundering at the casino, but did make an adverse

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Speaker 1: finding against former CEO Matt Beckia. I will have a

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Speaker 1: lot more on this one in tomorrow morning show. Honder

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Speaker 1: story number two now in Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi says

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Speaker 1: that Australia has deployed military assets to the Middle East

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Speaker 1: as contingency planning ramps up. They are there to help

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Speaker 1: repatriate stranded Australians if commercial aviation remains heavily restricted. The

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Speaker 1: government it's also sending six crisis response teams into the region,

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Speaker 1: with the Prime Minister thanking personnel going into a dangerous

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Speaker 1: situation was his quote, to help Australian to are caught

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Speaker 1: up over their candor's preferred pathway remains the resumption of

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Speaker 1: commercial flights, but it is examining alternatives, looking at countries

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Speaker 1: and places like Omar and Saudi Arabia that could be

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Speaker 1: potential hubs for government run charter flights in order to

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Speaker 1: get Australians out of the region. There was an Emirates

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Speaker 1: flight carrying two hundred people from Dubai that landed in

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Speaker 1: Sydney last night. I mentioned that yesterday afternoon, and Anthony

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Speaker 1: Abernezi also said that two more commercial flights were scheduled

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Speaker 1: to depart for Australia today. Story number three all important.

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Speaker 1: Household spending rose in January. It's four point six percent

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Speaker 1: higher than a year ago, highlighting that people are still

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Speaker 1: ready to splash the cash. A jump in household spending

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Speaker 1: late last year as a key reason why the Reserve

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Speaker 1: Bank is considering upping interest rates in coming months. The

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Speaker 1: peak in household spending growth was nearly six percent, so

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Speaker 1: it has slowed, but at four point six percent, it's

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Speaker 1: still pretty strong. Spendings on recreation, culture and more generally

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Speaker 1: services that is what led the increases. A strong labor market,

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Speaker 1: low interest rates last year, and rising wealth from higher

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Speaker 1: house price looks to really kind of supercharged the consumer,

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Speaker 1: giving us a bit more money in our pockets to spend.

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Speaker 1: All of this does add to the argument that the

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Speaker 1: Reserve Bank will lift interest rates in coming months. Story

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Speaker 1: number four. How about this one. Airport profits have surged

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Speaker 1: on the back of higher car park charges and aeronautical fees,

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Speaker 1: with the ageable se warning that heavy spending on expansion

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Speaker 1: projects by airports could ultimately flow through to higher airfares.

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Speaker 1: The watchdog said Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney collectively made

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Speaker 1: four hundred and two million dollars in operating profits from

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Speaker 1: car parking alone, with Brisbane the standout at a seventy

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Speaker 1: six point eight percent margin. When it comes to service quality,

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Speaker 1: Brisbane slipped to an airline rating of only satisfactory, while Melbourne,

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Speaker 1: Perth and Sydney held good overall ratings for services and facilities.

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Speaker 1: Sydney Airport also topped the profitability table on aeronautical assets,

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Speaker 1: posting a twenty point eight percent return that's largely due

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Speaker 1: to international arrivals increasing by nearly ten percent. And finally,

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Speaker 1: story number five, China has set its lowest growth target

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Speaker 1: since nineteen ninety one, a target of four point five

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Speaker 1: to five percent for twenty twenty six, with the Chinese

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Speaker 1: premier citing tough challenges and rising geopolitical risks as Beijing

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Speaker 1: confronts a property slump, weak consumption, and demographic headwinds, But

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Speaker 1: alongside that softer growth target, Beijing has still lifted the

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Speaker 1: country's military budget by seven percent, narrowing the gap with

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Speaker 1: the United States. For Australia, here the stakes are pretty high.

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Speaker 1: China is still the largest trading partner for Australia, but

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Speaker 1: our exports to China fell two percent last year to

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Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy five point eight billion dollars. That's

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Speaker 1: down thirteen percent since twenty twenty three, while China's exports

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Speaker 1: to Australia went the other way, rose twelve percent to

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Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty three point seven billion dollars, largely

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Speaker 1: boosted by electronics and evs. And that's it for the

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Speaker 1: Afternoon Report for Thursday, the fifth of March twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you're following the podcast and headlong to Fearangreed

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Speaker 1: dot com Today you to sign up for our free

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Speaker 1: daily newsletter. I'm Michael Thompson. Enjoy your eating