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Speaker 1: It's Monday, the seventh of July twenty twenty five. Welcome

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

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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 just five minutes. Are Michael Thompson

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Speaker 1: and Good morning, Adam Lang.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Michael, Adam.

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Speaker 1: Five stories, five minutes. Let's get cracking. Story number one.

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Speaker 1: It is a very big week for the economy, with

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Speaker 1: the Reserve Bank Board meeting being held over two days

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Speaker 1: starting today and a rate cut likely to be announced

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Speaker 1: tomorrow afternoon. The deliberations follow a surprisingly low inflation print

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Speaker 1: out for May, as well as very weak retail sales

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Speaker 1: and building approvals data. That data comes as the economy

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Speaker 1: itself is running at a week one and a half

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Speaker 1: percent pace. The big bank economists, perhaps unsurprisingly, all now

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Speaker 1: expect to cut tomorrow and it may be the first

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Speaker 1: of a couple more this year.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Michael, it is good news for people with a

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Speaker 2: mortgage with minimum repayment levels set to drop. The Reserve

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Speaker 2: Bank of Australia cash rate now sits at three point

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Speaker 2: eighty five percent and is likely to come down. That

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Speaker 2: would mean the standard variable home loan rate will probably

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Speaker 2: end the year under six percent and possibly as low

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Speaker 2: as five point five percent. Remember they started twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: five closer to seven percent. The challenge for the Reserve

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Speaker 2: Bank is to ensure the economy is not slowing too much,

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Speaker 2: which is a very different picture from just six months ago.

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Speaker 2: Back then it was all about containing inflation.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and clearly the outlook for interest rates seems to

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Speaker 1: be helping the local housing market. The preliminary clearance rate

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Speaker 1: across the capital cities as worth a mention. It came

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Speaker 1: in at seventy three point one percent across the weekend Adam.

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Speaker 1: This is according to Cotality and a special shout out

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Speaker 1: to Melbourne continues to rebound preliminary auction clearance rate of

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Speaker 1: seventy five point five percent. That is ten straight weeks

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Speaker 1: above seventy percent and above seventy five percent for the

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Speaker 1: past three There is a lot happening in the housing

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Speaker 1: market at the moment, Adam. Story number two from all

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Speaker 1: that positivity to a slightly less positive story. Australia has

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Speaker 1: just recorded its worst year for corporate insolvencies, with fourteen thousand,

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Speaker 1: one hundred and five businesses going under in FI twenty five.

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Speaker 1: As companies faced rising costs, weaker demand and a tougher

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Speaker 1: stance from the Australian Taxation Office. The ACI was resumed

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Speaker 1: that aggressive debt collection post pandemic, including seizing funds. While

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Speaker 1: the headline number is alarming when you see that fourteen

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Speaker 1: thy one hundred and five figure, it is thought that

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Speaker 1: the surge partly reflects a catch up from years of

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Speaker 1: unusually low insolvency rates that was due to COVID eir

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Speaker 1: leniency and a lot of government support throughout the pandemic.

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Speaker 2: Yes Michael Essic data shows that the construction industry was

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Speaker 2: the hardest hit in the last twelve months, accounting for

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Speaker 2: nearly a quarter of those fourteen one hundred and five insolvencies,

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Speaker 2: followed by the hospitality and food services sectors. At the

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Speaker 2: state level, New South Wales recorded the highest number of insolvencies,

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Speaker 2: while Victoria experienced the largest year on year increase. The

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory had a one hundred and two two percent

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Speaker 2: jump in insolvencies, more than doubling compared to the previous year.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: Meanwhile, a new report from glaw firm Clayton Newtes predicts

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Speaker 2: insolvency rates will continue to rise this year, with signs

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Speaker 2: of deeper and more long term stress emerging in sectors

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Speaker 2: due to geopolitical instability globally sluggish growth rates here at home.

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Speaker 2: Although there is a little good news. The report suggests

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Speaker 2: lower interest rates and inflation may actually ease the pressures

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Speaker 2: being felt in some sectors through to this year's end.

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Speaker 1: Okay. Story number three. Prime Minister Anthony Alberanezi has signaled

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Speaker 1: a more independent Australian foreign policy in a major speech

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Speaker 1: that might not go down too well in Washington. On

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Speaker 1: Saturday night, he delivered the John Curtin Oration, declaring that

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Speaker 1: our fate will be decided in our region. In outlining

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Speaker 1: what he called the Australian Way, he highlighted stronger ties

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Speaker 1: with regional neighbors, a rules based international order, and a

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Speaker 1: rejection of great power. Piece likely directed squarely at China,

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Speaker 1: but curiously he didn't mention the orchest Pact of Security

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Speaker 1: deal with the US and the UK, which is currently

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Speaker 1: being reviewed by the White House.

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Speaker 2: Yes Michael, the Australian newspaper reports that the speech hasn't

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Speaker 2: been well received in Washington, with insiders apparently saying it's

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Speaker 2: detached from reality and that true independence from the US

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Speaker 2: would require Australia to substantially lift its defense spending. This

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Speaker 2: is a sticking point between the US and Australia, and

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Speaker 2: between the US and most other nations. Actually, with President

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Speaker 2: Donald Trump succeeding in pushing European allies in NATO to

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Speaker 2: boost their military spending recently, it's certainly an interesting time

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Speaker 2: for the Prime Minister to visit China. He's due to

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Speaker 2: head to Beijing at the end of this week, sorry

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Speaker 2: before duel cab utes adam continue to dominate Australia's new

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Speaker 2: vehicle sales, and it's not looking good for the Humble,

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Speaker 2: Saedan and Hatchback. The top ten vehicles sold last month

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Speaker 2: according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, where a

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Speaker 2: mix of utes and SUVs, with not a single light

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Speaker 2: passenger vehicle making the list. Sales of Hatchbacks and Sedan's

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Speaker 2: have fallen nearly twenty eight eight percent compared to the

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Speaker 2: same time last year and now make up just twelve

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Speaker 2: point four percent of the market. It's an incredible change, Michael.

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Speaker 2: It is a very resilient market. More than one hundred

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Speaker 2: and twenty two thousand new vehicles were sold last month,

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Speaker 2: and that's actually a two point four percent increase on

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Speaker 2: June last year. The Ford Ranger came out on top,

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Speaker 2: followed by the Toyota Highluks, the Asuzu D Max and

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Speaker 2: the BYD Shark. Six electric vehicles saw stronger sales in June,

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Speaker 2: led by BYD, but year to date figures shows their

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Speaker 2: overall market chair slipping slightly to seven point seven down

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Speaker 2: from eight percent in twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 1: Story number five, I've got to have a tennis story.

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Speaker 1: The coverage of Wimbledon, Adam has been fantastic this season.

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Speaker 1: It is indeed this story from Bloomberg as a ripper.

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Speaker 1: De Bencher seats at the tournament have become something of

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Speaker 1: a hot ticket financial asset. It basically works like this.

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Speaker 1: The All England Lawn Tennis Club, which runs Wimbledon, sells

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Speaker 1: de Benches a guaranteed seat on center Court or Number

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Speaker 1: one court for a five stretch. Lots of sporting clubs

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Speaker 1: actually do it as it helps raise funds long term

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Speaker 1: for maintenance and for construction, and Wimbledon's actually been doing

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Speaker 1: it for more than a century.

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Speaker 2: Michael, believe it or not. Even at these very large prices,

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Speaker 2: demand is soaring and the price is climbing. Prime Center

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Speaker 2: Court spots have sailed past two hundred thousand pounds that's

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Speaker 2: over four hundred and fifteen thousand Australian dollars, and this

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Speaker 2: is for the twenty twenty six to twenty thirty period.

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Speaker 2: They originally went on sale last year for one hundred

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Speaker 2: and sixteen thousand pounds and some are now changing hands

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Speaker 2: again before the five year period has even started. The

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Speaker 2: other benefit is the ability to sell individual tickets on

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Speaker 2: the days a holder can't actually attend, and that's the

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Speaker 2: only exchangeable tickets for Wimbledon. There were apparently concerns about

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Speaker 2: future demand for the de benchers following the retirement of

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Speaker 2: stars like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, but

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Speaker 2: these prices suggest the All England Lawn Tennis Club had

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Speaker 2: absolutely nothing to worry about.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, there we go, the top five business stories in

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Speaker 1: five minutes. Thank you Adam, thank you Michael. It is Monday,

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Speaker 1: the seventh of July twenty twenty five. Remember to hit

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Speaker 1: follow on the podcast, and if five minutes isn't enough,

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Speaker 1: you can find our longer daily show called Fear and

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Speaker 1: Greed wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Michael Thompson and

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Speaker 1: that was the Fast five Business news by fear and greed.

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Speaker 2: Have a great day.