1 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,239 Speaker 1: for Thursday, the ninth of April twenty twenty six. I'm 3 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: Michael Thompson, and every afternoon, we've got the five stories 4 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: that happened today that you need to know about. Let's 5 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:17,760 Speaker 1: get cracking. Sorry, Number one. The S and p ASX 6 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: two hundred edged higher today, up zero point two percent 7 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: to eighty nine hundred and seventy three points, building on 8 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: yesterday's strongest rally in a year as investors really kind 9 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: of hold their breath over a very fragile ceasefire in 10 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,879 Speaker 1: the Middle East. Sentiment certainly remained cautious as oil prices 11 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: rebounded and uncertainty lingered around the Strait of Hormuz. Will 12 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: have more on that in the moment. Energy stocks led gains, 13 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: with Woodside Energy up four percent and Santos two and 14 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: a half percent. Ample and Viva Energy also jumped after 15 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: securing financing for oil purchases outside of the energy company's 16 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: bend to go on. Adelaide Bank was the standout, climbing 17 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: more than eight percent today despite warning of job cuts 18 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: after stronger than expected earnings. NAB also had a good day, 19 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: up more than two percent. Tech stocks was sold off today, 20 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: though with Wistech Global down nearly eleven percent, Zero Off 21 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: more than eight percent, Buy Now, Pay Later group Zipco 22 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: Film more than ten percent, while packaging group Aurora plunged 23 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:21,119 Speaker 1: eighteen percent after downgrading earnings guidance. Under story number two 24 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: and as I mentioned, the ceasefire between the US and 25 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: Iran is holding for now, but really only just. US 26 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: President Donald Trump has warned American military forces will remain 27 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: in the region until what he calls a real agreement 28 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: is reached, adding that if talks fail, the conflicts could 29 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: restart quote bigger and stronger than ever. Meanwhile, traffic through 30 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:46,680 Speaker 1: the Strait of Humuz remains effectively stalled, despite a run 31 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: announcing that conditional safe passage that we talked about yesterday. 32 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: The ABC reports just seven ships moved through the critical 33 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: waterway in the first twenty four hours after the ceasefire, 34 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: compared to more than one hundred and third vessels a 35 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: day before the war. That suggests that while the ceasefire 36 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: may have stopped the fighting, it hasn't yet restored the 37 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: flow fully of global energy supplies. Story number three. I 38 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: mentioned Ampole earlier. It's making another push to get its 39 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,079 Speaker 1: one point one billion dollar takeover of EG Australia approved, 40 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: offering to divest more sites to satisfy competition concerns, The 41 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: company has now proposed selling thirty seven service stations, nearly 42 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: double its original offer, as it tries to address issues 43 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: raised by the competition watchdog. The h will See has 44 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,959 Speaker 1: flagged concerns about overlapping locations. It has the power to 45 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: block the deal. Ampole says it has already lined up 46 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: potential buyers and believes the expanded divestment package should be 47 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: enough to get the deal over the line. Story number four. 48 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:52,399 Speaker 1: Meta has unveiled a new artificial intelligence model called mews Spark, 49 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: marking a pretty significant shift in strategy. Unlike previous models, 50 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: mews Spark it's quite hard to say. Mews Spark is 51 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: closed rather than open source, so it gives Meta more 52 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: control over how the technology is used, how it's monetized. 53 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: That the release comes after a year of heavy spending 54 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: on AI talent and infrastructure. There is a new AI 55 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:18,639 Speaker 1: boss at the company and the move really highlights a 56 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: key tension in the AI race, whether to prioritize openness 57 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: and ecosystem growth overall, or to put the focus on 58 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: control and profitability. Meta claims that mews Spark can compete 59 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: with or outperform rival AI models in various benchmarks. The 60 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: company's share price shot up as much as nine percent 61 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: after the announcement overnight. And finally, story number five, Apple 62 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: is pushing ahead with plans to launch its first foldable 63 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: iPhone later this year, despite reports about production delays. Apple 64 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: shares fell as much as five point one percent after 65 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: Nicky Asia reports that the company was facing challenges in 66 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: the engineering test fase of the phone, which threatened to 67 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: push back the production and shipment schedule, but Bloomberg reports 68 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: now that the device is still on track for very 69 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: September unveiling alongside the next generation of iPhones. The foldable 70 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: model is expected to cost more than two thousand US 71 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: dollars and it'll form part of a broader strategy really 72 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: to reinvent the iPhone lineup and boost revenue growth at Apple. 73 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,159 Speaker 1: And that is it for the Afternoon Report for Thursday, 74 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: the ninth of April twenty twenty six. Make sure you're 75 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,480 Speaker 1: following the podcast and headlong to Fear and Greed dot 76 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: com today You to sign up for our free daily newsletter, 77 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: I'll put a link in the show notes for today 78 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:37,040 Speaker 1: as well. I'm Michael Thompson. Enjoy your evening.