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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Fear and Green Business News Afternoon Report

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Speaker 1: for Friday, the twenty first of February twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: I'm Sean Almer. Every afternoon, we've got the five stories

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Speaker 1: that happened today that you need to know about. Story

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Speaker 1: number one, Reserve Bank Governor Michelle Bullet was in front

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Speaker 1: of Parliament this morning saying that the Central Bank is

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Speaker 1: unsure about what happens next to interest rates. It all

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Speaker 1: depends on the economic data. The comments came as the

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Speaker 1: local equity market closed the day down zero point three

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Speaker 1: percent to finish just under eighty three hundred points. It

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Speaker 1: finished down three percent for the week. The biggest loses

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Speaker 1: over the five sessions definitely the banks, with the Banking

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Speaker 1: index down more than nine percent since Monday morning. Story

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Speaker 1: number two, American real estate giant Costar has made a

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Speaker 1: four dollar twenty a share bid for Domain, a thirty

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Speaker 1: five percent premium to its most recent close. That value

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Speaker 1: is a bid at two point seven billion dollars. Domains

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Speaker 1: Board said it is considering the offer. The US group

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Speaker 1: has already built a significant stake in the local company,

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Speaker 1: which has struggled over the past year or so. Its

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Speaker 1: market value has dropped by about four percent over the year,

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Speaker 1: compared to competitor Aria, which is up forty percent now.

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Speaker 1: This is all before the news of the bid this morning. Today,

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Speaker 1: Domain share price jumped forty percent, Aria fell eleven percent.

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Speaker 1: Key to the outcome will be controlling shareholders Nine Entertainment,

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Speaker 1: which holds sixty percent of Domain. It said it's considering

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Speaker 1: the proposal. Its share price jump to twenty percent today

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Speaker 1: on the news co Star is listed on NASDAK and

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Speaker 1: says it is the world's largest real estate information company. Recently,

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Speaker 1: it purchased a British group on the market for about

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Speaker 1: two hundred million dollars. Storying number three. QBE has posted

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Speaker 1: a higher net profit and lifted its dividend after the

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Speaker 1: insurer said it was paying out fewer claims for natural

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Speaker 1: catastrophes over the past year. For the full year ending

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Speaker 1: December twenty twenty four, the group made two point eight

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Speaker 1: billion dollars. It expects premium growth in the mid single

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Speaker 1: digits this year. QBA, which has extensive operations in the US,

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Speaker 1: said it expects its exposure from the LA wildfires. Last month,

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Speaker 1: the tail around two hundred million dollars. Its share price

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Speaker 1: closed up three percent today Stray number four. Commercial pilots

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Speaker 1: have been warned of mid air hazards related to Chinese

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Speaker 1: warships off Australia after claims emerged that commercial flights were

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Speaker 1: harassed by a live fire exercise. Pilots were warned via

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Speaker 1: radio by Air Services Australia, prompting some commercial flights to

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Speaker 1: divert course to avoid the area. The IFI is reporting

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Speaker 1: that a Quantus seven eighty seven flight from Brisbane to

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Speaker 1: Auckland was potentially at risk by the Chinese exercise, which

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Speaker 1: took place in international waters six hundred and forty klomebers

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Speaker 1: off the New South Wales coast. There was believed to

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Speaker 1: be a separate altercation when a Chinese ship told a

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Speaker 1: New Zealand military aircraft to stay away. The aircraft responded

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Speaker 1: that it was in international waters conducting lawful operations. The

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Speaker 1: Chinese ship responded that the aircraft would be endangered if

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Speaker 1: it came to within nineteen nautical miles of the ship.

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Speaker 1: This is according to the fin Review. I'm sure we're

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Speaker 1: going to hear plenty more about that one and story

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Speaker 1: number five. The world's biggest retailer, Walmart, has forecast a

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Speaker 1: lower than expected profit for the full year, sending its

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Speaker 1: share price down six percent overnight. The Arkansas based company

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Speaker 1: has been a boom investment over the past years, with

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Speaker 1: its share price up sixty five percent. The group, realizing

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Speaker 1: its footprint across the USA is enormous and close to

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Speaker 1: its customers, used that advantage to implement very fast online

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Speaker 1: sales delivery that re energized the business and sales, but

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Speaker 1: now it fears uncertainties around consumer behavior and global and

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Speaker 1: economic issues will hurt revenue. The group, which imports products

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Speaker 1: from China and Mexico, said it was unsure about the

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Speaker 1: impact of potential tariffs on those countries goods. That's it

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Speaker 1: for the afternoon report for Friday, the twenty first of

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Speaker 1: February twenty twenty five. Make sure you hit follow on

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Speaker 1: the podcast. We'll be back tomorrow morning with a weekend

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Speaker 1: edition of the Fear and Greed Business News. I'm sure

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Speaker 1: my Alma enjoy your reading.