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Welcome to the Fearing Greed Business News Afternoon

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Report for Friday 3rd May 2024. I'm

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Shawn Aylmer. Every afternoon, we've got the

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5 stories that happened today that you need to know

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about. Story number 1, the S&P

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ASX200 closed up a little over half percent today to

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7629 points, led

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higher by some of the interest

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rate sensitive stocks, consumer discretionary, real

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estate and technology stocks. There wasn't

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a huge amount going on really.

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Wesfarmers and Goodman Group were among

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the best performers, both Westpac and

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ANZ, ended higher ahead of

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their half year results next week. Aristocrat Leisure

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had a good day while among the tech

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leaders, both REA and Weistec Global closed up

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sharply. QBE, Transurban and Telstra

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were among the laggards. One stock that

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found a friend today was Star

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Entertainment. It finished 7% higher, coming off

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all-time lows earlier in the week. For

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the five days trading, the benchmark was

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up just over half a percent. As

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we head into the weekend, the Aussie dollar has picked up a bit,

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fetching nearly 66 US cents.

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Story number 2, Macquarie Group's annual net profit

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fell 32% to $3.5 billion, lower than

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expected, as fewer asset sales

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and lower commodity prices hit the bottom

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line. Australia's ninth largest

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company also cut its dividend with

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boss Shimara Wickramana Yaka saying while

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the business was resilient over the

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year, ongoing economic uncertainty and subdued

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market conditions had hurt. The

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fall in earnings came from the Commodities

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and Global Markets Division and the Asset

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Management Arm. The commodities fall, well, that

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just reflects lower commodity prices. The Asset

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Management Arm suffered from lower realizations in

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green investments and higher spending in

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green energy portfolio companies, which I

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think means ESG investing didn't do

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as well as Macquarie had hoped.

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The banking and financial services business,

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along with capital markets operations, did

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better. Ms Wickramana Yaka said

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the bank remained well positioned in the medium

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term, but she's taking a cautious stance in

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the outlook, given the current market conditions where

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interest rates are high. and inflation is

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only subsiding slowly. Macquarie's share price

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closed down 2% today. Story

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number 3, US-based Block's $39 billion

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purchase of Afterpay three years ago

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is finally starting to pay dividends

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with the payments systems company reporting

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a big jump in buy-and-out pay

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later transactions during the March quarter.

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Incorporating Afterpay into Block's cash

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app, which allows people to transfer

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money via mobile device, has resulted in a

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25% jump in Afterpay volumes

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and a 32% increase in

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gross profit. Block founder Jack Dorsey had

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the strategy in mind when he bought

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the Australian FinTech and the March quarter

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results triggered a 10% rise

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in Block's share price here on

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the ASX. Mr Dorsey refuted media

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reports overnight that said the US

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prosecutors had met this

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year with former Block employees relating

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to alleged compliance failures at cash

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app. He said it related to

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a previously disclosed investigation into matters

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Block had self-reported. Bottom

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line there, Afterpay seems to be working for

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Block. Story number 4, process

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at the University of Sydney by

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pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups have wound

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down after tensions flared before lunch

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with both groups shouting slogans and

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small groups from both sides facing

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off. The pro-Palestine rally was first

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to begin earlier this morning at

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the University of Sydney's pro-Palestine encampment

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as the pro-Israeli contingent gathered on

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the other side of the campus

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block. Hundreds gathered at the University's

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iconic quadrangle festoon with banners, Palestinian

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flags and chants of from

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the river to the sea. Security

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personnel were spread throughout the campus.

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It all came after US President

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Joe Biden denounced violence and anti-Semitism

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on US campuses saying he supported

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the right to peaceful dissent but

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protesters had gone too far. Story

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number 5, Apple's share price jumped in late

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trading after the company posted stronger than expected

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sales in the March quarter and predicted a

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return to growth. Apple's share price has been

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a not so magnificent part of the big

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seven tech stocks that have driven over

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the past year, Apple's share price is

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actually down about 7% this year,

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even after a jump following that earnings

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announcement. Revenue was down, but not by

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as much as forecast. Apple has actually

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posted sales to clients in five of

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the past six quarters hurt by a

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sluggish smartphone market and headwinds in China.

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Profit for the quarter was also better

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than projections, and the company announced a

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USD 110 billion share

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buyback. Massive. That's like buying

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all of Commonwealth Bank back almost anyway. That's

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it for the afternoon report for Friday 3rd

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May 2024. Michael

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Thompson, Adam Lang and I will be back

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tomorrow morning with the weekend edition of Fearing

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Greed Business News. I'm Shawn Aulmer. Enjoy your

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evening.