The Saturday Edition | 23 May 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is the Saturday edition of Fear and Greed, business news you can use. I'm Michael Thompson and good morning, Sean Aylmer. Good morning, Michael. Sean, our Saturday show is very different to the weekday show. This is a competition. We are here to win. We are each going to nominate what we think is the biggest business story of the week, the most remarkable business story ever. a mystery category that we change every week, and then our favourite business-related story. We are joined by a judge because we could not judge ourselves because we would both think we are the winner. That judge is our fear and greed colleague, Adam Lang. Adam, good morning. Oh, good morning, Michael, and good morning, Sean.
Good morning, Adamski. Not too much mucking around this morning. We're going to be... Brisk, Michael?
Brisk? Yeah. Efficiency is the aim today. On that... Like a good economy.
What are the biggest business stories of the week?
Efficient, Adam, could you please give us your criteria that you're looking for? Which is kind of pointless asking you because they're rarely actually applied. But what are you actually looking for? And is brevity and efficiency wonderful? Sean is yawning while you're saying this.
He's just kidding. Here's the best bit, everyone. Here's the criteria. Economic impact. That's chiefly what we're going for. But it has to be topical and timely, but it has to have happened this week. And then we need a little bit of playing to my subjective reform bias, please, and melodrama, no doubt.
Did you notice that, Michael? My subjective reform bias. Bias.
Which means that in the past, we've been able to go to anything that applied to your broader biases, including unusual music that no one's ever heard of, AFL, a nice tie, anything like that, kind of like a good pair of cufflinks, anything like that.
Wearing a suit on a Sunday, that sort of stuff.
Spoiled for choice. Yeah.
Whereas now it's just reform. However. Let me tell you the biggest story of the week, can I?
Yep, please.
Because it's got reform all over it. It is reformation. of how investors are viewing commodities in the rest of the market. It is the big switch, Adam. BHP at one point during the past week was $50 billion bigger than Commonwealth Bank. Now, remember, for years we've been saying Commonwealth Bank is taking over the world. Miners and energy players have been the shining lights of the local ASX over the last 12 months. Without them, the ASX would be lower. Recent years, all about tech companies, a few years back then, banks, Commonwealth Bank became this incredible powerhouse. That's all over. Miners are now the stars. The materials index on the ASX, which includes all the miners, up 50% over the past year.
Energy index up 17%, the rest backwards or flat. BHP, Rio up 50%, Fortescue up 35%. It is quite phenomenal. It is on the back of iron ore prices staying high, which, as the wonderful Vivek Dhar from Commonwealth Bank told us in an interview yesterday morning, that's more of a supply issue. Well, yeah, I mean, a supply issue. We have copper prices hitting a new high. Gold, of course, we know what's happened there. Lithium and rare earths have bounced from where they were in the middle of 2024. Quite incredible. The switch from resources, no, to resources, so miners, energy companies, from the rest. That is the biggest story of the week.
There's a hint of sadness in your voice, Sean, and I'm detecting this. And that is because you were relegated to the second best story of the week because you and I had a bit of a battle between us over who got to do the best story, the story that everyone wants to talk about and the story that everyone loves and knows in so much detail. And I won. I got to do it. The biggest story this week, Adam... It's all happening in bond markets. End. End.
Michael, you said it with so much love and understanding.
Well, this is the thing, right? I have been, and I use this term cautiously, I have been infected by Sean with a passion for bonds, right? To the point that one night through the week, I found myself at, I played tennis on one night of the week.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:06–0:59
2
What are the biggest business stories of the week?
0:59–7:52
3
How is the switch from banks to mining stocks impacting the market?
7:52–15:46
4
What recent developments have occurred in the bond markets?
15:46–20:56
5
How are rising bond yields affecting the global economy?
20:56–32:06
6
What significant events occurred with Nvidia, SpaceX, and OpenAI?
32:06–32:34
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from FEAR & GREED | Business News
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