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Welcome to the Fearing Greed Business News afternoon report

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for Monday 6 May 2024. I'm

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Sean Elmer. Every afternoon, we've got the 5 stories

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that happen today that you need to know about.

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Story number 1, the S&P ASX200 closed up 0.7%

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today to 7,682 points, with the property sector

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leading the way, followed by utilities and financials.

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The Big Four banks did well on the

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back of Westpac's half-year results, more on that

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shortly. The 12th Bank and ANZ ended up

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more than 1%. Fortescue Metals

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Group jumped 2.7%, while Westfarmers

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Weistech Global and Macquarie Group all

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did well. Among the

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large caps, CSL, Transurban, Woolies,

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Aristocrat Leisure, REA,

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Coles and QBE underperformed.

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Best on the day was Pathology Group Helios,

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while Goodman Group was another strong performer. Block

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was worst, following the lead-in from

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Wall Street. In corporate news, Westpac

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announced a 16% drop in its

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first half earnings to $3.3 billion,

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as competition in the mortgage market hurt profit

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margins, but the result was better than expected,

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and Westpac's share price jumped 2.7%. And

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Endeavor Group has recorded increases to sales

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in its retail and hotels division. Third

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quarter retail sales were $2.4 billion, up about 2.5% on a year earlier.

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Endeavor's share price rose just a bit today. Number

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2, the boss of the National

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Broadband Network, Stephen Roo, will take

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over running Optus. He replaces

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former CEO Kelly Baier-Rosmarin, who resigned

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in November last year following criticism

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of the way she handled a

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national network outage and a cyber

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attack back in Optus

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Chair, Paul O'Sullivan, said Mr Roo's experience

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in setting up the digital backbone of

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Australia would benefit the Telco Group. Mr

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Roo has been boss of the NBN

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since 2018. His term

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was not due to end until

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late 2026, so Chief

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Financial Officer Philip Knox will run

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NBN until a new CEO is

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appointed. Mr Ru was formerly

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NBN's Chief Financial Officer and also

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worked at News Corp. Story

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number 3. Dry weather conditions have

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triggered a big downgrade in Grain

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Corp's profit outlook and a 4%

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fall in its share price. The East

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Coast Grain Handler said a significant

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fall in farm production in Australia

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and stronger global supply of wheat

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and oil seeds is behind the downgrade.

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Dry conditions across much of Western

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Australia's wheat belt region and problems

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within food manufacturing also added to the

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problems. Good harvest in southern NSW

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and Victoria had been offset by

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below average conditions in Queensland and

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northern NSW. Also

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a rebound in wheat exports from

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Russia, despite international sanctions, has added

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to the global supply dynamic. Story

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number 4. The ASX is enquiring into

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the sale of $17.4 million

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worth of share options by the

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Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officers

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of kogan.com back in early April,

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just weeks before the company downgraded

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its outlook, sending its share

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price tumbling. kogan.com says the poor sales

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update that sent the shares tumbling more

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than 27% was not

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material. In letters disclosed to

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investors today, ASX compliance

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officials queried the online retailer about

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the sale of the options held

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by Chief Executive Russell Kogan and

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Chief Financial Officer David Schafer back

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to the company on April 4, according

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to the Financial Review. The options were issued

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in 2020. Last

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month, kogan.com said it would allow the two

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executives to sell the options back to the

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company for the difference between the strike price

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and a proxy share price that took account of

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the volume weighted average tradeover 20 days. The

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stock soared at the time to $7.90

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when those options were sold. That was

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April 4. kogan.com

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told investors profit margins and

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earnings were strong. Following

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that update, the two sold

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their options and then the company came

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out with a much poorer outlook. Shares

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sold 27.5%. I think

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we're going to hear a lot more about this one. Story

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number five, Mexican authorities have been concerned

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that the two Australians and one American

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tourist who went missing in northern Mexico

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last week have died after their bodies

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were identified by their parents. The bodies

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of Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson,

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as well as American Carter Road were

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found at the bottom of a well

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in an advanced state of decomposition in

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Baja California State earlier this week. The

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three foreigners went missing while on a

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vacation surfing near the popular tourist town

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of Ensenada about 90 minutes

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south of the US-Mexico border.

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Baja California State Attorney General Elena

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Andrade told the parents and diplomatic

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officials that there was total institutional

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commitment to continue with the investigation

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of these unfortunate events until

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those responsible received the full weight of the

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law. That's it for the afternoon report

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for Monday 6 May 2024. Michael

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Thompson and I will be back tomorrow morning with

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a Tuesday edition of For You and Greed Business

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News. I'm Shaunay Alma, enjoy your evening.