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Speaker 1: Welcome to Fear and Greed business news you can use today.

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Speaker 1: Real wages in Australia went backwards last year, challenging the

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Speaker 1: view that the cost of living crisis is lessening. NAB

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Speaker 1: share price saw as after a bumper quarterly profit and

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Speaker 1: another bigger bid for blue Scope Steel, plus Santos to

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Speaker 1: cut ten percent of its workforce, and the countries where

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Speaker 1: bank branches remain popular. It's Thursday, the nineteenth of February

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. Oh, Michael Thompson and good morning, Sean Aylmer.

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Michael Sewan. The main story this morning, Real

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Speaker 1: wages in Australia went backwards last year as rising inflation

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Speaker 1: really ate in to take home pay packets. The erosion

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Speaker 1: challenges the claim that the federal government's been making that

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Speaker 1: it is addressing the cost of living crisis and RBA

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Speaker 1: commentary as well that said people are finding things are

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Speaker 1: a bit easier now. Nominal wages rose by three point

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Speaker 1: four percent last year according to the ABS, but critically

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Speaker 1: inflation was three point eight percent, so real wages what

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Speaker 1: your pay can actually buy?

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Speaker 2: Clearly fell Michael, you're sounding like an economist. I have

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Speaker 2: been a wages nominal wages. Stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: Six years of doing this show with you, Sean, and

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Speaker 1: you have molded me in your image.

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Speaker 2: Oh wow, fantastic. And your growth in public sector wages

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Speaker 2: came in at four percent that outpaced growth in private

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Speaker 2: sector wages at three point four percent. That's four quarters

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Speaker 2: in a row. Now, that's due to new state public

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Speaker 2: sector agreements. Big pay rises for some groups, aged care workers,

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Speaker 2: they got a good pay rise about October last year.

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Speaker 2: Also interesting yesterday was that the share of jobs recording

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Speaker 2: an annual wage change of more than four percent was

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Speaker 2: its lowest in three and a half years. So, in

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Speaker 2: other words, people just aren't actually getting big pay hikes

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Speaker 2: in economic terms. Probably doesn't move the dial that much

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Speaker 2: in terms of interest rates, wages growth is about what

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Speaker 2: the Reserve Bank expected, I think.

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Speaker 1: But Sean, politically right, this is good news, you'd have

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Speaker 1: to say for the somewhat reinvigorated opposition. Yesterday we had

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Speaker 1: Deputy Liberal Leader Jane Hume blaming the government for the

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Speaker 1: drop in real wages, saying it has ignored productivity, has

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Speaker 1: no plan to tame inflation and strengthen the economy. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Treasurer of Jim Chalmers said that one of the best

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Speaker 1: ways to help people with the cost of living was

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Speaker 1: to boost wages, and the government has done that, though

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Speaker 1: he conceded that nominal wages had risen but not real wages,

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Speaker 1: So it kind of feels like he's trying to have

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Speaker 1: it both ways there, right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you wonder whether there's much relief in terms of

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Speaker 2: the cost of living. We had the Reserve Bank in

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Speaker 2: the last couple of months a couple of times the

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Speaker 2: governor and I think the chief economists also talked about

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Speaker 2: the fact that the worst of the cost of living

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Speaker 2: was over. These figures just make you wonder whether that's true.

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Speaker 1: Can I get your thoughts on this next Wednesday, Sean,

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Speaker 1: There was a decent spat You've got to say between

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Speaker 1: former Reserve Bank Governor feel low and Treasurer Jim Chalmers yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Lowe reckons that government spending and handouts like energy rebates

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Speaker 1: are making the Central Bank's job harder. The measures prop

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Speaker 1: up demand and that keeps rates higher for longer.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think he's just saying what is sensible.

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Speaker 2: I mean, of course that's the case. I don't think

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Speaker 2: Michelle Bullock can say it, but of course it adds

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Speaker 2: to agurget demand is how Michelle Bullet would say it.

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Speaker 2: He was commenting in the AFR really kind of irritated Charmers,

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Speaker 2: he hit back. He suggested the comments reflected the fact

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Speaker 2: that Law's tenure as Reserve Bank governor was not extended

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Speaker 2: by him. By Charmers, I mean maybe lays somewhat disgruntled

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Speaker 2: a bit in that, But to actually suggest the government

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Speaker 2: spending doesn't actually put pressure on interest rates means you

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Speaker 2: don't understand the economy anyway.

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Speaker 1: Now, And it struck me as odd. It didn't feel

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Speaker 1: like a very proper way to deal.

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Speaker 2: With overly personal attack on it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, for Jim Chalmers basically to say that he's actually

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Speaker 1: just bitter because he didn't get reappointed. He wanted to

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Speaker 1: be reappointed, he didn't, and now he's having a crack

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Speaker 1: at us, it feels like it's almost undermining the former

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Speaker 1: governor's economic credibility, which I don't think you can really do, right,

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Speaker 1: I don't think so, don't think okay, no, all right.

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Speaker 1: National Australia Bank SEAN net profit jumped thirty percent to

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Speaker 1: two point two billion dollars in the December quarter, a

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Speaker 1: record result that sent its share price up more than

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Speaker 1: four percent. Yesterday, Australia's largest business bank said home loans

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Speaker 1: and business lending had jumped, as had operating expenses.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that was sort of the bad news. Business banking

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Speaker 2: is NAB's heartland. But like comment playing in, Westpac are

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Speaker 2: actually gaining market share, so as that Stan NABS has

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Speaker 2: about twenty two percent of the market, CBA is about

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Speaker 2: nine eight percent, Westpac's about sixteen and a half percent,

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Speaker 2: as is back at about twelve percent. Or a sudden

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Speaker 2: about business banking, it's just become more profitable in re

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Speaker 2: in years. Higher interest phrase could hinder that progress, but

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Speaker 2: they're all like the idea of becoming business bankers. What

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Speaker 2: National Australia Banks result yesterday, which was a good result,

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Speaker 2: and it adds to the fact that Common Bank had

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Speaker 2: a half year, west Pac, Ain's ed National Australia Bank

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Speaker 2: all had quarterlies. Those four since profit season began, they've

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Speaker 2: added seventy two billion dollars in value. Not bad.

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Speaker 1: That's extraordinary and this kind of race for business banking

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Speaker 1: is really interesting.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it fascinating.

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Speaker 1: Is it possible to be everything to everyone, to be

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Speaker 1: a really big, strong business bank and dominate the home

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Speaker 1: loan market as well. Or is it the case that

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Speaker 1: in a market like Australia you got to kind of

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Speaker 1: pick one or the other to make that really your

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Speaker 1: core strength.

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Speaker 2: I mean, traditionally komof Bank's been the biggest homeland of

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Speaker 2: Westpac's been, you know, the second biggest homelander national Australia.

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Speaker 2: Bank's always been about business landing and Z's about business lending,

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Speaker 2: but also offshore lending. And I think that they've having

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Speaker 2: all sorts of problems here with my light, Michael, I

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Speaker 2: might have to turn that one off.

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Speaker 1: It's a strobe effective.

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Speaker 2: I don't know what that's about.

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Speaker 1: A disco version of fear and greed gone.

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Speaker 2: I'd like to see that. But I mean my point

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Speaker 2: is that kam Off Bank, NAB Westpac probably aim to

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Speaker 2: a lesser extent. They do do a pretty good job

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Speaker 2: of being in one stop shop for many organizations.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, local markets, where do we wrap up? Yesterday?

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Speaker 2: Well, the S and PA SX two hundred closed up

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Speaker 2: half a percent to just over nine thousand points. Tech

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Speaker 2: stocks led the way, followed by property stocks worse than

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Speaker 2: the day. The only sub index to go backwards, in fact,

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Speaker 2: was materials that's a lot of the mining companies. Not

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Speaker 2: a huge amount of movements along the large the large caps,

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Speaker 2: or at least the large caps that didn't report yesterday.

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Speaker 2: Banks and miners were mixed. So to retailers.

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Speaker 1: Okay, plenty still to come. We'll be back in a

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Speaker 1: moment with the rest of the day's business news. Sean,

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Speaker 1: the Stokes family controlled SGH Limited and Nasdaq listed Steel

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Speaker 1: Dynamics have launched an improved fourteen point two billion dollar

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Speaker 1: bid for blue Scope. It is the fifth attempt by

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Speaker 1: the American company to purchase blue Scope, and the buyers

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Speaker 1: said it was their best and final offer. The previous

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Speaker 1: bid was worth thirteen point two billions, so the new offer,

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Speaker 1: which includes the one dollar per share special dividend sixty

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Speaker 1: five cent interim dividend already announced by blue Scope, it's

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Speaker 1: about eight percent higher.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, only you sound like an economist. Nowadays

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Speaker 2: you're sounding like an investment analyst.

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Speaker 1: The compliments in the studio. And the thing is. The

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Speaker 1: thing is, Sean, if you were to quiz me now

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Speaker 1: on that, I reckon I pretty much used up all

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Speaker 1: of my expertise on that.

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Speaker 2: Done.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I read that, you see, I then hand over

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Speaker 1: to you to add a little bit more depth to it.

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Speaker 1: I've kind of said everything I can on this one,

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Speaker 1: and I'll say no more, thank you.

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Speaker 2: Right Well, if successful, le SGH will keep Bluescope Australian division.

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Speaker 2: Still Dynamics will own the North American operations, including a

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Speaker 2: flagship mill in Ohio. The Blue Scope Board said it

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Speaker 2: is evaluating the off as share price jumped only three

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Speaker 2: percent yesterday, so that suggests a bit of skepticism among

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Speaker 2: investors about whether it will get approval from the board.

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Speaker 1: How about this one? Corporate regulator ASSEK is undertaking a

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Speaker 1: review of advisors worried that superannuation funds are using lead

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Speaker 1: generation companies to inappropriately convince customers to change funds.

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Speaker 2: So superannuation is everyone's nestig for retirement. Being sensible, paramount,

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Speaker 2: Michael paramount, even if you're only a young forty year old,

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Speaker 2: be sensible about it. ACIK has gone and listed a

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Speaker 2: bunch of companies involved in lead generation who act as

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Speaker 2: referral partners to super funds. Now, not all super funds

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Speaker 2: are regulated in the same way. The big ones are

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Speaker 2: different to the little ones. Important that people realize that

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Speaker 2: assecs concerned that certain practices associated with some lead generation

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Speaker 2: services make space consumers to a risk of significant losses.

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Speaker 2: Moral of this story, Michael, don't just switch your super

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Speaker 2: if someone gives you ring, says Michael, why don't you

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Speaker 2: switch your super. I've got a good way to make

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Speaker 2: more money. It's your money. Why don't we do it?

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Speaker 2: All right? Just sort of red flag that one.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that does have a few red flags attached

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Speaker 1: to it. Sean oil and gas giants Santos full cut

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Speaker 1: ten percent of jobs and has placed it's oil and

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Speaker 1: gas business in Australia under review after reporting a thirty

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Speaker 1: five percent drop in full year profit on the back

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Speaker 1: of weak oil and gas prices. Remember we talked, we

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Speaker 1: talked a lot about Santos lately. It was the target

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Speaker 1: of an abandoned thirty six billion dollar takeover bid led

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Speaker 1: by Abu Dhabi State Oil Company last year. The group

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Speaker 1: abandoned the bid, and after Santos's two percent share price

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Speaker 1: dropped yesterday, the group's now worth twenty one just to

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Speaker 1: touch over twenty one billion dollars. So that's a far

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Speaker 1: cry from that thirty six billion dollar figure that was

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Speaker 1: being banded about.

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Speaker 2: The bottom line was hit by softer prices and an

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Speaker 2: increase in some costs. Notwithstanding a weaker than expected results,

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Speaker 2: Santos did up its dividend. Chief executive Kevin Gallagher was

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Speaker 2: awarded ninety percent of he's twenty twenty one growth bonus,

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Speaker 2: so it was a six million dollar growth bonus. He

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Speaker 2: got ninety percent of that. Very controversial at the time,

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Speaker 2: He said that the four hundred job cuts would right

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Speaker 2: size the business.

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Speaker 1: A couple of big property groups reported yesterday. Developer and

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Speaker 1: investor Mervak announced to twelve percent rise in profit and

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Speaker 1: up to its dividend, share price jumped six percent.

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Speaker 2: Yes Mervac's had a twenty two percent rise in home

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Speaker 2: settlements across projects in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney drove the result.

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Speaker 2: The group group also sold half a stake in a

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Speaker 2: Sydney Harveyside development for two point three billion dollars.

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Speaker 1: And Dexas, which owns and invests in office, industrial and

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Speaker 1: retail property and infrastructure, as well, announced a small rise

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Speaker 1: in profit.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Dexas has really struggled to get investors

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Speaker 2: in thus yesterday announced to buy a back of ten

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Speaker 2: percent of its security. It's got a net tangible asset

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Speaker 2: backing or NTA of eight dollars ninety five per security.

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Speaker 2: So we should have said in Mervac Dexas, we're talking

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Speaker 2: about securities because their trusts are not proprietary limited so

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Speaker 2: their trust so we call them securities in property. So

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Speaker 2: a net tangible asset backing eight dollars ninety five persecurity,

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Speaker 2: it's trading at six dollars thirty one persecurity. So theoretically,

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Speaker 2: if you sold everything, you get eight ninety five persecurity.

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Speaker 2: Only at six thirty one. That's a massive thirty percent discount.

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Speaker 2: Suggests basically that investors aren't excited about DEXes, although the

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Speaker 2: share buy back help push up its share price by

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Speaker 2: security price by seven percent yesterday.

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Speaker 1: And sure, Sean, I'm looking at the clock. We are

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Speaker 1: running out of time, so let's do these briefs very

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Speaker 1: very quickly. The Lottery Corporation row seven percent, even though

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Speaker 1: profit fell slightly. The December half was the least favorable

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Speaker 1: for Jackpots since it's the merger from TAB Corp. In

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty.

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Speaker 2: Two, Aneral Insurre Sun Corp fell four percent after its

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Speaker 2: half year profit fell short of consensus, hit by its

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Speaker 2: slow growth in premiums.

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Speaker 1: And NBN resiler and wholesale broadband group Superloop announced rises

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Speaker 1: in customers and revenue earnings pretty much everywhere, really upgraded

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Speaker 1: guidance at share price jumped eighteen percent. Safe to say

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Speaker 1: investors like that one. Turning to international news now sean

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Speaker 1: they fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein revelations, capturing not just

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Speaker 1: politicians but business leaders in a big way. This week,

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Speaker 1: the executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels globally, Tom Pritzker, said

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Speaker 1: he will retire, citing his Epstein tires.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean where this guy was present is amazing.

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Speaker 2: So Goldman sucks, except the resignation of its top lawyer,

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Speaker 2: Katherine Rumler, who corresponded with Epstein extensively in the late

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Speaker 2: twenty tens, thanking him for luxury gifts, addressing him as

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Speaker 2: uncle Jeffrey Ouch. According to Morning Brew, Hollywood talent agent

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Speaker 2: and twenty twenty eight LA Olympics chair Casey us a

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Speaker 2: Man is selling his agency after several celebrity clients like

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Speaker 2: Chapel Rohan, defected over a relations he exchanged flirty emails

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Speaker 2: with Epstein's convicted accomplice Glaine Maxwell and Brad Carp the

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Speaker 2: chairman of White Shoe law firm Paul weis one of

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Speaker 2: the big ones of the US. He left for that role,

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Speaker 2: though he is with the company after emails with Epstein

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Speaker 2: emerged suggesting the two were closer than previously known.

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Speaker 1: And finally shown. JP Morgan Chase aims to open over

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Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty branches in more than thirty states

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Speaker 1: across the US this year, part of a multi billion

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Speaker 1: dollar investment into its bricks and morton network that reflects

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Speaker 1: a broader bet by US banks on Americans enduring fondness

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Speaker 1: for good old fashioned in person banking. So, yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: a great way to put it. This is old school,

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Speaker 1: isn't it. The largest US bank by assets is planning

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Speaker 1: a major expansion in states including North and South Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Massachusetts, Tennessee.

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Speaker 1: It's part of a commitment in twenty twenty four to

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Speaker 1: open more than five hundred branches within three years.

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Speaker 2: That is big, right, Yeah, it's expanding as part of

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Speaker 2: a goal to hold fifteen percent of the country's retail deposits.

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Speaker 2: According to the FT. The report has this great chart

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Speaker 2: on bank branches per thousand adults in countries where the

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Speaker 2: vast majority actually use digital payments. So Australia actually has

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Speaker 2: a relatively high number of bank branches, way more than

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Speaker 2: countries like Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, UK. Even New Zealand has

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Speaker 2: fewer bank branches on this measure though, places like Spain,

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Speaker 2: where there were huge amounts of branches in Spain, but

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Speaker 2: they have cut back drastically in recent years. Switzerland has

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Speaker 2: plenty of branches. Italy, France the US big branch banking countries.

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Speaker 1: It's a tongue twisted to finish on today Sean. Up

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Speaker 1: next is Fear and Greed Q and a our guest.

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Speaker 1: Today's tim Lawless from Totality, all about regional property and

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Speaker 1: how it stacks up compared to the capital cities and

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Speaker 1: why prices have been so strong where they are expected

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Speaker 1: to continue to be particularly strong. It's up next to

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Speaker 1: the Fear and Greed playlist on your podcast platform or

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Speaker 1: at Fearangreed dot com dot au. Thanks Sean, Thanks Michael.

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Speaker 1: It's Thursday, the nineteenth of February twenty twenty six. Make

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Speaker 1: sure you're following the podcast and join us online on

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Speaker 1: LinkedIn and Instagram. I'm Michael Thompson. That was fear and greed.

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Speaker 1: Have a great day,