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

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Speaker 1: for Wednesday, the third of December. I'm Michael Thompson, and

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Speaker 1: every afternoon we have the five big stories you need

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Speaker 1: to know about. Let's go with story number one. The

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Speaker 1: SMPA SX two hundred climbed slightly today, up zero point

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Speaker 1: two percent to eighty five hundred and ninety five points.

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Speaker 1: It was a lot higher than that earlier in the

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Speaker 1: day after third quarter GDP data showed the economy grew

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Speaker 1: by zero point four percent in the three months to September,

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Speaker 1: less than economists we're expecting, which dits bark a little

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Speaker 1: bit of hope that the RBA could in fact still

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Speaker 1: cut interest rates next year, or at least not increase them,

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Speaker 1: which saw the ASEX jump by as much as zero

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Speaker 1: point five percent before easing. Eight of the eleven sectors

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Speaker 1: gained ground today, led by the real estate companies. Stockland

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Speaker 1: was up one point four percent, Westfield Owners Center Group

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Speaker 1: climbed one percent. A mixed bag really for the banks,

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Speaker 1: A and zed, Westpac and nabral Higher Commonwealth Bank underperformed.

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Speaker 1: Same for the big miners, BHP and Rio Tinto were

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Speaker 1: both up, but Fortescu was down. The big issue for

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Speaker 1: these miners was Brazilian giant Valet, which cut its forecast

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Speaker 1: for the output of iron ore next year with lower

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Speaker 1: demand and greater supply coming out of Africa. And why

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Speaker 1: is that global? Worth a mention today up four and

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Speaker 1: a half percent after its investor day. Really bit of

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Speaker 1: an outlier in the tech sector, where there were big

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Speaker 1: losses for other companies like Block, Megaport and Life three

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Speaker 1: sixty on destory number two now and investors in the

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Speaker 1: collapsed First Guardian Master Fund are unlikely to get their

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Speaker 1: four hundred and forty six million dollars back in full,

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Speaker 1: but liquidators do expect to recover enough money to repay

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Speaker 1: its lenders. FTI Consulting has recovered just one point six

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Speaker 1: million dollars so far from the failed fund. That one

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Speaker 1: point six million includes the sale of a Lamborghini allegedly

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Speaker 1: bought with investor money, which sold for three hundred and

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Speaker 1: thirty six thousand dollars. The liquidator says the fund doesn't

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Speaker 1: even have enough money at this stage to pay their

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Speaker 1: own fees, which are expected to reach five million dollars.

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Speaker 1: They've now asked ASEK for emergency government funding normally reserved

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Speaker 1: for assetless companies. Creditors who loaned money to First Guardian

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Speaker 1: are expected to be repaid, but investors who put millions

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Speaker 1: of dollars into the fund are being warned to expect

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Speaker 1: the worst. It increases the pressure on the platforms that

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Speaker 1: hosted First Guardian products to compensate those investors. Story number three.

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Speaker 1: Bruce Lherman has lost his appeal against last year's defamation

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Speaker 1: ruling that found, on the balance of probabilities that he

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Speaker 1: raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in twenty nineteen. Lherman

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Speaker 1: had originally sued Network ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for

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Speaker 1: defamation over broadcasts in which the allegations of rape were made.

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Speaker 1: That legal bid was rejected last year by Justice Michael Lee,

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Speaker 1: and Lherman then appealed that decision, arguing there wasn't enough

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Speaker 1: evidence to justify the original finding by Justice Lee and

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Speaker 1: that he was denied procedural fairness. The full Federal Court

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Speaker 1: today dismissed that appeal and ordered him to pay legal costs,

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Speaker 1: but the ruling today went even further than the original judgment,

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Speaker 1: saying Lerman wasn't reckless about consent but instead was aware

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Speaker 1: that Higgins did not consent and proceeded anyway. Lherman maintained

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Speaker 1: that he had no sexual contact with Higgins and may

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Speaker 1: now seek a High Court review of the decision. His

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Speaker 1: criminal trial was abandoned in twenty twenty two due to

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Speaker 1: DURA misconduct, and charges were later dropped over concerns for

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Speaker 1: Higgins's mental health. Story number four, Australia's small and medium

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Speaker 1: sized businesses have had their strongest half years since twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three. Manufacturing and financial services led the way with

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Speaker 1: six percent growth, while property services rose five percent. Productivity

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Speaker 1: and profitability improved even as employment stayed flat. According to

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Speaker 1: accounting software group MIOB and its latest SME Performance Indicator,

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Speaker 1: manufacturing recorded its longest run of monthly growth since twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three, helped by renewed investment in advanced manufacturing and

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Speaker 1: lower missions technologies. SME activity is still slightly below pre

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Speaker 1: pandemic levels, but NOOB says the gap is narrowing and

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Speaker 1: confidence is stabilizing. And finally, story number five, the search

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Speaker 1: for flight MH three P seventy is set to resume

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Speaker 1: later this month, more than a decade after the Malaysian

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Speaker 1: Airlines Boeing Triple seven disappeared. The aircraft was carrying two

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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty seven passengers, including seven Australian citizens and residents,

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Speaker 1: and twelve crew when it went missing en route from

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Speaker 1: Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in twenty fourteen. Malaysia's Transport Ministry

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Speaker 1: says a marine robotics company will recommence a seabed search

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Speaker 1: in the Southern Indian Ocean on December thirty. That search

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Speaker 1: had been suspended back in April this year because of

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Speaker 1: poor weather. Dozens of pieces of debris have washed up

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Speaker 1: on shores in the Indian Ocean over the last decade,

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Speaker 1: but exactly what happened to the aircraft and where it

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Speaker 1: ended up still remain a mystery. That's it for the

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Speaker 1: Afternoon Report for Wednesday, the third of December. Make sure

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Speaker 1: you're following the podcast and please head along to Fearangreed

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Speaker 1: dot com dot au to sign up for our free

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Speaker 1: daily news Thatt. I'll put a link in today show

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Speaker 1: notes as well. I'm Michael Thompson. Have a good evening,