Michael Thompson

Welcome to Fear and Greed, business news you can use.

Today, house prices in Sydney and Melbourne are going backwards while momentum across the other capital cities is waning.

Oil prices hit their highest level in four years in bad news for motorists and Woolworths boss warns of higher prices for vegetables, bread and milk.

plus mega earnings results for Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet.

And the Breakaway Live Golf Tournament is set to collapse as Saudi pulls its funding.

It is Friday, the 1st of May, 2026.

I'm Michael Thompson and good morning, Sean Aylmer.

I was going to say, like there's the one bright spot, mega earnings results for Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet, right?

At least there's some positivity here.

Yeah, I apologize.

There's not much though.

No, not much.

Well, you know, we can bring a bit of energy to it, but let's get through the main story.

The main story, which is...

Not a great one, necessarily.

House prices in Sydney and Melbourne are going backwards, Sean, and across the mid-sized capitals, I think Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, increases have lost momentum.

Higher interest rates and the ongoing cost of living crisis, which of course is exacerbated by higher petrol prices.

Well, it's all starting to bite.

now.

And so capital city home sales are down more than 5% compared to a year ago.