Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report for Wednesday, the 13th of May, 2026. I'm Sean Aylmer. Every afternoon, we've got the five stories that happened today that you need to know about. Story number one, the S&P ASX 200 finished down about half a percent today to 8,630 points.
Many more stocks rose than fell, but the ones that dropped were the big ones, or at least they were the big banks.
In fact, the only sub index to fall on the ASX today was the financials index. All the others rose, led by the consumer discretionary and materials indices. In terms of large caps, it was very much a tale of two stocks. BHP hit a new record high of $62.30 a share, pushing its market capitalization to more than $310 billion. It is now about 20% larger than Commonwealth Bank in market cap terms.
That disparity was widened today after Commonwealth Bank fell 10% following a disappointing quarterly update and fears it would be hard hit by changes in last night's budget. Story number two, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers defended the budget at the National Press Club at lunchtime today.
Much of the criticism today has been around changes to capital gains tax, the dumping of negative gearing and a minimum 30% tax rate for discretionary trusts.
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Chapter 2: What were the key movements in the ASX today?
Those changes broke an election promise, and Chalmers said he'd rather defend a broken promise than leave a broken status quo in place. The Treasurer said the war in the Middle East had forced the government to pivot on a number of its budget measures, but that the core remained intact.
Some of the fiercest criticism came from the investment community, worried about what the changes will do to markets, the housing sector, and start-up and venture capital funding.
Story number three, online furniture retailer Temple & Webster has increased prices across its product range and will cut promotions after revealing its earnings would be 30% below market expectations due to a decline in consumer confidence. That triggered a 6% drop in its share price. Now, Temple & Webster's share price was about $29 last August. Today, it's trading around $5.00.
Story number four, in other corporate news, buy now, pay later group Zipco rose slightly after the High Court ordered it to stop using the ZIP, Z-I-P, trademark in Australia. That followed a ruling in proceedings brought by Australian non-bank lender First Mac over alleged trademark infringements.
And mining services group Parenti Sword, after Bellevue Gold, awarded an underground mining contract worth $850 million to its subsidiary, a group called Biominco. He listed share price plunge 20% after the pathology group downgraded its 2026 earnings guidance. and warned of worsening trading conditions and a lack of funding in the federal budget.
Finally, story number five, US inflation jumped to 3.8% in April, its highest level in three years, as President Donald Trump's war in Iran triggered a surge in petrol prices that has inflamed America's cost of living crisis. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index has risen sharply since the conflict began. It had already increased from 2.4% in February to 3.3% in March.
That's a year earlier. And the figure last night was above Wall Street expectations and marks the first time in three years inflation has outstripped wages growth, according to the Financial Times. The report is the latest indicator of how the Iran conflict is reverberating across the world's biggest economy, with higher fuel costs increasingly spilling into other sectors.
It will pile pressure on Trump, whose popularity is near record lows, as well as new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Walsh, who will be pressured by the president to cut rates just as inflation is rising. That's it for the afternoon report for Wednesday, the 13th of May, 2026. Make sure you're following the podcast and head along to fearandgreed.com.au to sign up for our free daily newsletter.
I'm Sean Aylmer. Enjoy your evening.
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