Viral Memes Target Budget's Capital Gains Tax Reforms

Viral memes taking aim at the budget's proposed capital gains tax (CGT) reforms have flooded social media feeds, despite the claims made by businesses in the posts oversimplifying the debate.

One tax expert has branded the campaign "rubbish" and "misleading".

The posts feature AI-generated images of business owners posing with the prime minister, or of Anthony Albanese himself, doing everything from cooking pizzas to laying concrete to working at a check-out.

The meme format involves business owners welcoming Mr Albanese as a "47 per cent silent partner". For example, one retailer's post says the prime minister "has never done a stocktake and somehow still gets 47 per cent of the business and takes zero risk."

One startup founder who helped spread viral memes about the CGT reforms says the campaign was aimed at attracting attention, rather than accuracy.

For more. here's the story by Adelaide Miller:

The ASX will follow a weak session from Wall Street, which saw the S & P 500 dropping 0.8% (the third day in a row that the benchmark US stock index has fallen).

And it's not because of the latest headlines on oil prices and the US-Israeli war against Iran this time.

On that note, Donald Trump told reporters the US might have to give Iran "another big hit" if it doesn't agree on a peace deal — and that he had been an hour away from ordering an attack before postponing it.

Those mixed signals from the US President led to the price of Brent crude futures falling 1.1% to $US100.84 per barrel, which is still very high.

US bond sell-off

What appears to have spooked the share market is a bond sell-off (of all things), which has pushed government bond yields higher.

Basically, the yield is the return that investors expect from lending money to the US government.

When a government wants to raise extra funds, it issues new debt — in the form of bonds (which are kind of like an 'IOU').

The price of a bond and its yield (return) move in opposite directions. (ie. when people sell their bonds, the interest rate goes up)

Overnight, the US 30-year Treasury yield jumped as high as 5.2%, its highest level in 19 years, while the 10-year yield rose to 4.69%, its highest since January 2025.

The 10-year yield, in particular, is used to gauge mortgage, car loans and credit card interest rates for consumers (ie. they're heading higher).

It seems US investors are now worried the war against Iran (and oil shock) will drive up inflation, which will probably curb inflation and put a dent in corporate profits — raising questions about the sky-high valuations of some key stocks (in particular, the high-flying tech giants investing heavily in AI).

Good morning, and welcome to the ABC's finance blog. I'll be guiding you through the latest market action for the next few hours.

The Australian share market is likely to open slightly lower (down by around 0.4%), according to futures trading activity.

Though lately, the market has been a bit confused about which direction it should be headed.

At the start of this week, there was a lot of negativity when the ASX 200 tumbled to a seven-week low. But that was quickly forgotten as the market rebounded sharply the next day in a 'relief rally'.

So it looks like today the market has decided it'll go back to having another 'down day'.

Anyway, grab a coffee (or tea), and I'll have more updates for you shortly!