Afternoon Report | BHP pulls ASX higher
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Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report for Wednesday the 15th of July 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 go.
How did BHP and materials stocks lift the ASX 200 today?
Story number one, the S&P ASX 200 gained 0.4% today to 8,841 points. Materials for the standout sector after iron ore held above 100 US dollars a ton, copper prices remained firm and the biggest company on the in its largest one-day gain in a month. Rio Tinto also rose after reporting stronger-than-expected iron ore shipments from the Pilbara. Elsewhere, Macquarie hit a record high, helping offset a bit of weakness from Westpac, NAB and ANZ. Energy stocks eased despite oil prices climbing for a third straight session. While Telstra fell 2% as the fallout from last week's nationwide network outage continued, data centre operator NextDC jumped more than 5% today. It's a big day really for the AI sector in Australia.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese outlined new Australian AI standards and an office of AI and rules for electricity relating to data centres. More on all of that tomorrow morning. Story number two, former Prime Minister Paul Keating has called for Australia's superannuation system and the age pension to be brought much closer together in what could be the biggest overhaul of the retirement system in decades. Speaking at a superannuation roundtable hosted by the Financial Review, Keating said big super funds should take on much of the work currently handled by Centrelink, arguing that it would reduce complexity, and make it easier for retirees to access the age pension. He said, and I quote, you've got to fill in 45 pages to get a pension, 45 pages, and then you have to work out what to do with it all.
Whereas what we could do is have the super funds build it all. The proposal comes as super funds warn many Australians are not spending enough in retirement because they fear running out of money. Story number three, speaking of former prime ministers, Kevin Rudd says he fears that Chinese President Xi Jinping could misjudge America's willingness to defend Taiwan, creating a dangerous risk of conflict as early as 2028.
Speaking in his new role as chief executive of the Asia Society, Rudd said a convergence of political events in China, Taiwan and the United States could create what he called a unique window of opportunity for Beijing.
Which companies and sectors drove market moves amid iron ore and copper strength?
He warned that Xi, could become overconfident and, based on the recent conflict with Iran, wrongly conclude that Washington would be unwilling to intervene militarily if China attempted to take Taiwan by force. He cautioned that any miscalculation by China could dramatically increase the risk of a conflict in the Indo-Pacific. Story number four back home now in Western Australia has confirmed two more cases of H5 bird flu in wild seabirds, bringing the state's total to eight detections and Australia's national total to 14. The latest cases involve giant petrels, both birds likely to have carried the H5 strain, although... The advanced state of decomposition apparently made it difficult to identify the exact variant.
More than 1,700 reports of sick or dead wildlife have been made in Western Australia since the first case was detected last month. Of those 1,700 reports, eight have been confirmed as bird flu.
official stress rather that there is still no evidence that the virus has spread into commercial poultry flocks or Australia's agricultural production system and the risk to human health remains low.
And finally, story number five, the US House of Representatives has voted to make daylight saving time permanent. moving the long-running debate over changing the clocks one step closer to now becoming law. The Sunshine Protection Act, passed with bipartisan support, now heads to the Senate. If approved, Americans would no longer change their clocks twice a year, remaining on daylight saving time throughout the year with later evening sunsets but darker winter mornings. President Donald Trump has backed the proposal, arguing it would save time, money, and eliminate the inconvenience of changing clocks every spring and autumn.
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