Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report for Wednesday, the 22nd of April, 2026. I'm Michael Thompson, and every afternoon we've got the five stories that happened today that you need to know about. So let's go. Story number one, the S&P ASX 200 dropped 1.2% today. It was 105 points down to 8,843 points. That is the biggest one-day drop. for the market in more than a month.
Healthcare really led the sell-off today. A major earnings downgrade from Cochlear saw it plunge more than 40% to a 10-year low after slashing its profit outlook. We'll have more on that one tomorrow morning. But the rest of the sector didn't do too well off the back of that. CSL fell nearly 6% to a 9-year low. ResMed lost 2.5%.
wasn't limited just to healthcare financials also weakened today commonwealth bank dropped two and a half percent nab was down about the same a and zed as well westpac 2.1 down not good overall macquarie group fell nearly four percent after a broker downgrade and the regional lenders were hit even harder bank of queensland tumbled nearly nine percent after missing profit expectations and warning on margins
The energy sector was mixed as oil prices eased.
Chapter 2: Why did the ASX tumble 1.2% today?
Woodside Energy fell 1.4%. Santos was flat, while Ampol rose nearly 4%. The standout performer today was Treasury Wine Estates, which jumped more than 16% after announcing a major restructure. More on that one in a minute. Story number two, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia has secured an additional 200 million litres of diesel as the government moves to shore up fuel supplies.
Four extra shipments have been locked in from Brunei, Malaysia and South Korea with the fuel expected to arrive by late May or early June. Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the additional supply would help stabilise the market as global disruptions continue to Of course, the shipping is still disrupted through the Strait of Hormuz.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has extended a ceasefire with Iran just hours before it was set to expire. The New York Times reports that the announcement came after Vice President J.D. Vance's trip to Pakistan for a second round of peace negotiations was put on hold because Tehran had reportedly failed to respond to American positions.
Story number three, I mentioned this before, Treasury Wine Estates will restructure its business and fold its flagship Penfolds brand back into the broader group. Chief Executive Sam Fisher said the move will simplify the business and improve accountability, reversing a decision from five years ago to run Penfolds as a standalone division. The company also reported improved sales.
China revenue was up 40% in the March quarter, helped by some strong demand for premium wines. As I mentioned, shares surged 16%, the best on the bores today. Investors seemingly welcoming both the restructure and that better than expected trading update.
Story number four, radio host Jackie Henderson, half of the Kyle and Jackie O Show, has accused her co-host Kyle Sanderlands of ongoing workplace bullying in a legal battle that has well and truly engulfed their former employer, ARN Media. Court documents reveal Henderson claimed she was psychologically unwell due to repeated on-air attacks and off-air comments and
alleging a pattern of bullying and a failure by the company to intervene. The dispute follows the collapse of their $200 million 10-year contract with both presenters now pursuing legal action after being terminated. And finally, story number five, AI company Anthropic is investigating reports that unauthorized users accessed its powerful new Mythos model.
Now, the Mythos model, which has been described as being capable of identifying cyber vulnerabilities at scale, is currently limited to a small group of companies, including major tech firms. But this breach is believed to have occurred through a third-party vendor system with a small group gaining access and using the tool outside those approved environments.
Anthropic said there's no evidence that the activity extended beyond that vendor environment, but the incident has raised a few concerns about the security of these advanced AI systems. The Financial Review reports that regulators, including the Reserve Bank of Australia, are monitoring these developments closely amid fears that the technology could be misused if it falls into the wrong hands.
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