Afternoon Report | ASX up as miners, banks climb
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Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report for Thursday the 14th of May 2026. I'm Michael Thompson and every afternoon we've got the five stories that happened today that you need to know about. Let's get cracking with story number one. The S&P ASX 200 rose 0.1% today to 8,641 points with the banks leading the way. Commonwealth Bank rebounded 1.8% after yesterday's record fall of more than 10%. Macquarie Group jumped more than 3%, but analysts do warn that there could still be a bit more pressure to come on the banking sector with investors still processing really what the federal budget and all of the reforms to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, what that all means for the housing market and how it impacts the banks.
Meanwhile, mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto both hit fresh record highs today as investors really looked for exposure to the booming copper and iron ore prices that are tied to the global AI build-out. Fortescue also climbed 12.2% today. Meanwhile, software stocks came under pressure after fresh AI concerns, with WiseTech Global down almost 5%, Xero falling 9%, more on that one shortly. Megaport, though, surged almost 28% today after it announced $254 million worth of long-term network and storage contracts with US-based customers. while Coles fell 2.2% after the ACCC won a federal court case against the supermarket over claims that it misled shoppers on grocery price discounts. We've had a lot to say about this one in the past and we'll dig into it in a little bit more detail on tomorrow morning's episode.
Story number two, the ASX, or rather the company that runs it, ASX Limited, has appointed French markets executive Anthony Attia as its next chief executive, turning to an outsider after years of operational challenges and regulatory scrutiny. Attia is the former chief executive of Euronext Paris, the French stock exchange, and most recently ran derivatives and post-trade operations across the broader Euronext business. He will replace Helen Lofthouse in September on a package including a $2 million base salary plus bonuses and stock incentives worth millions more. It does come after a pretty challenging time for the company running the local boss, which saw the failed chess replacement project.
and a pretty damning independent review into governance and infrastructure problems. The ASX says that Attia's global markets experience will help drive the next phase of its transformation. Investors seem to like it. ASX limited share price was up more than 2% today. Story number three, cloud accounting group Xero says its $3.9 billion acquisition of US payments platform Melio has weighed on profits, while chief executive Sikinder Singh-Cassidy's take-home pay has taken a hit from the company's falling share price. Xero's annual profit dropped 22% with Melio dragging on earnings despite strong revenue growth in the US market. Overall revenue, however, rose 31%, while customer numbers climbed to nearly $5 million, just a touch under at $4.9 million.
Xero has been battered like a lot of software companies this year as part of the broader SaaSpocalypse as investors question the impact of AI on software companies. But Singh Cassidy says Xero's proprietary data and customer trust position it to become a long-term AI winner. Story number four, BATCOR has downgraded its earnings guidance, warning that the impacts of the Middle East conflict, higher interest rates and weaker consumer sentiment are hurting sales of automotive parts and accessories. What was particularly noteworthy about this one today was that the group had good momentum at the beginning of the year and then in late March, higher fuel, freight and supply costs hit earnings while business confidence and consumer demand took a hit.
It shows, in pretty stark terms, the impact of the war. The company's share price was down 18.5% today. And finally, story number five, pressure is mounting on British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, with speculation growing that he could face a leadership challenge as early as today, local time.
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