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Speaker 1: It's Friday, the thirtieth of August twenty twenty four. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Fast five Business News by Fear and Greed,

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Speaker 1: where we give you the top five business stories you

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Speaker 1: need to know in us five minutes. A'm Michael Thompson

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Speaker 1: and good morning Adam Lane.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Michael.

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Speaker 1: Adam Five stories in five minutes. Let's go Story number one.

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Speaker 1: The boss of Australia's biggest homelender has warned politicians that

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Speaker 1: its customers have experienced extreme shocks in recent times following

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Speaker 1: pandemic lockdowns and rapid interest rate rises, and there's concerns

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Speaker 1: that many Commonwealth Bank customers are really struggling with the

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Speaker 1: cost of living.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Michael. Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Common was in Cambery yesterday.

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Speaker 2: He was appearing at the House of Representatives Economics Committee.

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Speaker 2: He said that customers age thirty five to forty four

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Speaker 2: have the largest share of mortgage balances and are exposed

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Speaker 2: to higher interest rates. He also added that customers in

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Speaker 2: general are spending much more on essentials and far less

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Speaker 2: on discretionary items, and savings are quickly being to played.

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Speaker 2: He also called for tax reform focusing more on wealth taxes.

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Speaker 2: Than income taxes to improve productivity and prosperity.

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Speaker 1: And Westpac CEO Peter King was fronting the committee as well.

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Speaker 1: Did he have similar reflection. I'm assuming yeah he did.

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Speaker 2: Michael King also supported tax reforms, saying there was too

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Speaker 2: much reliance on income taxes and insufficient focus on consumption

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Speaker 2: and perhaps even wealth taxes. But he said good luck

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Speaker 2: to Parliament in terms of trying to tackle it. One

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Speaker 2: of the themes that both bank bosses raised over the

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Speaker 2: day was concerns over scams. They are investing heavily in

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Speaker 2: scam detection, but they're seeing a big problem with nefarious

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Speaker 2: social media players ripping off Australians and they want a

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Speaker 2: whole of ecosystem approach that includes the tech giants and

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Speaker 2: telecommunication companies. Aan Z and National Australian Bank CEOs are

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Speaker 2: in Canberra for more hearings later today.

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Speaker 1: Excellent, everybody get to go all right. Story number two.

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Speaker 1: Quantas reported two point zero eight billion dollars in earnings

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Speaker 1: for the twenty twenty three to twenty four financial year.

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Speaker 1: While it was down eighteen percent over the year, there

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Speaker 1: was a bit of news that will excite plenty of shareholders.

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Speaker 1: The airline is due to resume paying dividends in the

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Speaker 1: second half of the year for the first time since

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, when they were dropped as the pandemic sent

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Speaker 1: airlines globally into turmoil.

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Speaker 2: Michael, margins were a miss on local and offshore operations.

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Speaker 2: But we all know Quantus has had some heavy lifting

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Speaker 2: recently after a turbulent period that left its brand in tatters,

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Speaker 2: and that includes spending big on adding new planes to

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Speaker 2: the portfolio to help improve capacity and other customer service initiatives.

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Speaker 2: The end result was a net profit of one point

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Speaker 2: two to five billion, down from last year's record profit

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Speaker 2: of one point seven to four billion. Jetstar had its

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Speaker 2: best results yet due to budget conscious travelers looking for

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Speaker 2: lower cost flight options.

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Speaker 1: Storry number three how many Australians we'll be driving an

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Speaker 1: electric car in ten years time. It's the big puzzle

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Speaker 1: that the Energy market regulator is trying to work out,

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Speaker 1: and it now thinks it's not electric cars but hybrid

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Speaker 1: vehicles that Australians are more likely to flock to. Over

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Speaker 1: the next deck yas.

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Speaker 2: Here, Michael, this is a dynamic assessment. The Australian Energy

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Speaker 2: Market Operator has slashed its forecast to four million evs

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Speaker 2: by twenty thirty four, and that was down from seven

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Speaker 2: million it previously estimated. It's keeping a really close eye

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Speaker 2: on this shifting consumer behavior because that affects how much

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Speaker 2: pressure we put the grid under. Increasingly the signals that

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Speaker 2: we favor petrol electric hybrids here, but a range of

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Speaker 2: experts who spoke to the Financial Review warns that this

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Speaker 2: could turn quickly. The dynamic could change if cheaper Chinese

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Speaker 2: EV models catch on or fuel standards. Titan and the

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Speaker 2: Energy Regulator is alive to that challenge and has a

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Speaker 2: bunch of other forecasts in mind should this most likely

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Speaker 2: situation not pan out, and that includes EV's going to

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Speaker 2: six million over the next decade.

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Speaker 1: Story number four. China's commercial buildings are going through a makeover.

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Speaker 1: One of the challenges they're experiencing is a very high

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Speaker 1: commercial real estate vacancy rates as work from home really

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Speaker 1: kicks off and sets in post pandemic, and it's the

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Speaker 1: famous Hilton brand leading the push.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Michael and Hilton has found an opportunity here. According

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Speaker 2: to Bloomberg, it is converting these empty and unused office

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Speaker 2: buildings into hotels and taking advantage of a boom in

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Speaker 2: tourism activity. It is just marked its seven hundredth property

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Speaker 2: and Greater China and is continuing to expand, with plans

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Speaker 2: to add an extra one hundred to its portfolio in

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Speaker 2: the region over the next few years and about a

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Speaker 2: quarter of those to come online in the next eighteen months.

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Speaker 2: As for the future of the office sector, it's wait

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Speaker 2: and see. Right now, office vacancy rates in China are

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Speaker 2: around fifteen percent.

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Speaker 1: And finally, story number five, it's a very happy birthday

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Speaker 1: today to legendary investor Warren Buffett, who is turning ninety

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Speaker 1: four and just in time for the celebrations as news

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Speaker 1: that Berkshire hathaway his company is now worth more than

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Speaker 1: one trillion US dollars, joining the likes of Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta,

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Speaker 1: Microsoft and Nvidia to surpass the valuation.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Michael, the Oracle of Omaha is earning his title

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Speaker 2: yet again. Berkshire saw its cash and equivalent such as

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Speaker 2: US Treasury bills searched to US two hundred and seventy

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Speaker 2: six point nine billion on June thirty. There has been

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Speaker 2: a big stock sale focus, with Buffett selling down more

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Speaker 2: than half of its Apple shares this year. He is

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Speaker 2: the sixth wealthiest person in the world right now, and

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Speaker 2: this is the first time that a US company that

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Speaker 2: isn't in the tech sector has reached the thirteen figure milestone.

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Speaker 2: Happy birthday, Warren Buffett.

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Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, there we go the top five business stories

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Speaker 1: in five minutes.

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Speaker 2: Thank you Adam, Thank you Michael.

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Speaker 1: It is Friday, the thirtieth of August twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 1: Remember to hit follow on the podcast, and if five

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Speaker 1: don't forget to check out the new episode of our

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Speaker 1: sister podcast, How Do They afford that? It comes out

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Speaker 1: every Wednesday. This week's episode is all about popular money myths.

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Speaker 1: We bust ten popular money myths. It is well worth

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Speaker 1: a listener put a link in today's show notes. I'm

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Speaker 1: Michael Thompson and that was the past five business news

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Speaker 1: by Fear and Grade. Have a great day, m