Afternoon Report | ASX down 1.3pc on Iran, inflation fears

0:00Welcome to the fear and greed business news afternoon report for Tuesday, the 3rd of March, 2026. I'm Michael Thompson and every afternoon, we've got the five stories that happen today that you need to know about. Let's go with story number one. The S and PA sex 200 fell 1.3% today to 9,077 points with 10 of 11 sectors lower. As the conflict in the Middle East pushed oil prices up more than 2.5% and fueled fresh inflation concerns, there's more talk now of another interest rate hike as early as this month. Energy stocks were really the standout today supported by an 8.6% jump in coal prices, that's really the best in years, at new hope rose 7.4%, Yang coal gains nearly 5%, white haven coal was up more than 3%. While Ampole climbed 3.2%, Santos and Woodside were both up around 1%. Gold miners actually retreated, despite the geopolitical issues, Newmont, Northern Star

1:03and Evolution mining were all down, BHP came off 2.6%, a couple of other big moves to mention Magellan, surged almost 22% today after a capital raising tied to its merger with Baron Joey, while the monitoring up life 360 tumbled more than 17% on weaker first quarter guidance. The story number 2 now, and Amazon's cloud arm has warned of prolonged service disruptions after drone strikes damaged 3 of its data centers in the Middle East, Amazon web services said that drones directly struck 2 facilities in the United Arab Emirates, while a nearby strike in Bahrain damaged infrastructure that supported another site, 2 of the 3 regional hubs remained significantly impaired. AWS said that customers are experiencing elevated error rates and degraded availability and recovery is expected to take time, given the physical damage to these centers.

2:05The incident highlights the widening economic impact of the escalating regional conflict, which as we've talked about, a lot already on the podcast has already disrupted aviation and energy markets, with oil prices spiking, even today, and tanker traffic through the strait of Hamou's slowing sharply. Story number 3, the effect is being felt locally, as well Melbourne hotels are reporting a spike in no shows ahead of this weekend's Formula One Grand Prix after the Middle East conflicts disrupted flights through major hubs, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. The financial review has reported that about 30 aircraft belonging to those Middle Eastern Airlines, Eddie Had, Emirates and Qatar are now on the ground here in Australia after being forced to divert over the weekend. F-1 teams are scrambling to get here via Asia. Instead, as airlines adjust their schedules, accommodation Australia says hotels in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have been hit with Melbourne the most exposed,

3:07obviously, given the scale of the Grand Prix event. Story number 4, one person who has been able to make it to Australia, Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney has landed in Sydney. It's his first visit here as Prime Minister, and it's all about what he calls a rupture in world order. Carney is here to bolster ties between the so-called middle powers. Countries like Australia and Canada that aren't superpowers, but still have significant economic and strategic weight is going to meet business leaders in Sydney, then head to Canberra to address Parliament. The agenda is really critical minerals, defence cooperation and trade diversification. Both countries are dealing really with the same pressures, an unpredictable American President, a conflict pushing up energy costs and a really pressing need to build alternative partnerships. Carney was previously governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, so he's coming at this almost from as much of an economic perspective as a diplomatic one. And finally, story number 5, grocery chain Aldi suffered a sharp sail slowdown heading into

4:12Christmas, coinciding with a strong showing by colds and a resurgent Woolworths. A report in the Australian today, with data from consumer research company Sokana, suggests that unit sales were down more than 4% and dollar sales of 1.5% in the eight weeks to December 28, which should be very busy, as you'd imagine. The biggest falls were in bakery, down 7% by volume, fresh food, which was down 4%, beauty down nearly 9%, and pantry items off 5.6%, general merchandise unit sales dropped more than 35%, though it must be pointed out that these figures exclude the centre aisle special buyers for which Aldi is renowned. The data suggests that Woolies and colds have been gaining share with both reporting above market growth in recent trading updates that analysts say the gains appear to be coming at Aldi's expense, rather than from each other. And that's it for the afternoon report. For Tuesday, the 3rd of March, make sure you're following the podcast and head along to fearangreet.com.au

5:14to sign up for our free daily newsletter, Michael Thompson. Enjoy your evening.