Leadership battles; ANZ's flat profit; Woodside AGM gets feisty

Leadership battles; ANZ's flat profit; Woodside AGM gets feisty

News in brief

At the end of a momentous week in Australian politics, the leader of the Greens Adam Bandt has conceded he has lost his seat, a high profile National Party MP is defecting to the Liberal Party, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese readies himself to announce a new Cabinet next week. 

 

ANZ has posted a flat half-year profit, with earnings coming in at just under $3.6 billion, in what is long-time CEO Shayne Elliott’s final half-year results.

 

Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson says China’s ban on Boeing aircraft has yet to impact the airline supply chain, as the Australian carrier is working hard to get its new Airbus airliners delivered on schedule.

 

Woodside Energy held a feisty annual general meeting, with several superannuation funds voting against the reappointment of directors in protest over the group’s climate policies.

 

Donald Trump has announced that the United States has struck a trade agreement with Britain; a precursor, hopefully, to a number of trade deals between the US and other countries.

Fear-o-meter

Risk assets are back in fashion, notwithstanding the geopolitical landscape. Nothing demonstrates that more than the rise of Bitcoin, with the most popular cryptocurrency now trading around $US100,000 a unit. In equity markets, Wall Street and the ASX have been trending higher for about a month.

 

Bitcoin has achieved a modicum of respectability in financial markets, and it rises and falls with economic optimism and pessimism. So too equities.

 

In the past few days, the US Federal Reserve opted to not cut rates, but investors believe it will later this year. Donald Trump announced a deal with major trading partner the United Kingdom. And US officials are on their way to meet their Chinese counterparts to start talks on a tariff deal.

 

In Australia, the election is over, removing any of the uncertainty that comes with a poll. And the Reserve Bank board is likely to cut rates in a little less than a fortnight. Financial markets just feel a little more stable at the moment.

Who's talking today?

On the airlines doing the best job of going green, Qantas's recovery, Virgin Australia's deal with Qatar Airways, and what's happening with airfares as we enter the northern summer:

 

"Airfares are still kind of crazy. There's still capacity problems. You've got airlines like Qantas still to bring airplanes back into their fleet. Qatar, course, is expanding at a great rate, so is Emirates and a few others. But there's no stability yet in the airfares. We haven't seen them return internationally back to 2019 levels. Hopefully by the end of the year things will stabilise and the normal patterns will resume, but for the moment it's still a bit chaotic."

It’s Friday the 9th of May 2025, and the Liberals and Greens both need a new leader, while PM Anthony Albanese readies a new Cabinet. ANZ reports a flat profit and Qantas is upbeat on new aircraft. Plus Woodside's AGM gets feisty and the US does a deal with the UK.

Greed-o-meter

	Bank	Profit
1	CBA	$5.1b
2	NAB	$3.6b
3	ANZ	$3.6b
4	Westpac	$3.3b

Forwarded from a friend? Sign up to our daily newsletter

This week three of the big four banks announced their half-year results (Commonwealth Bank operates to a different calendar, so reported in February). Here are the first-half profits of the big four: 

Listen to today's episode 🎧 

Who's the real hero here?

Is it Sean and Adam, who volunteered to ride 380km to raise money for kids? Or Michael, who put his hand up to stay behind in the comfort of the studio and keep the show on air?

 

Alright, it's probably the ones in lycra. 

 

They're only days away from setting off on Royal Far West's Ride For Country Kids. The goal is to raise as much money as possible to improve life options for kids from rural communities.

 

All donations are enormously appreciated. You can donate here. And we'll be giving supporters a shout-out on the podcast too!