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Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, the fourteenth of January twenty twenty five. 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 just five minutes. Are Michael Thompson

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Speaker 1: and Good morning, Sean.

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Speaker 2: Aylmer, Good morning, Michael Sewan.

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Speaker 1: Five stories to race through in five minutes. Let's go

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Speaker 1: a story number one. The federal government we'll spend another

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Speaker 1: three billion dollars on the NBN rollout, money it claims

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Speaker 1: will extend fiber optic connections to the doors of most

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Speaker 1: homes and businesses.

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Speaker 2: That's right. The government will spend three billion dollars. The

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Speaker 2: NBN will throw in eight hundred million dollars. The idea

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Speaker 2: is that fiber optic will get to the doors of

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Speaker 2: most places across the country. That money will reach six

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Speaker 2: hundred and twenty two thousand new addresses at about six

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars of pop be completed by twenty thirty. The

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Speaker 2: NBN was started back in twenty ten initial budget of

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Speaker 2: thirty billion, it probably costs about twice that, of which

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Speaker 2: the federal government's ponied up about thirty five billion dollars.

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Speaker 2: The value if sold according to the Productivity Commission, is

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Speaker 2: probably about nine and a half billion dollars, well less

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Speaker 2: than that sixty billion dollars. In the government's accounts, it

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Speaker 2: sits at about thirty billion dollars. Originally the idea was

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Speaker 2: that its fiber optic cable to the home. Coalition made

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Speaker 2: it fiber to the node. Now we're going back to

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Speaker 2: fiber to the home. Very likely that this one will

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Speaker 2: be an election issue.

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Speaker 1: Shawing on to story number two. Now, there's a major

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Speaker 1: selloff in bank stocks yesterday, with the share price of

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Speaker 1: all of the big four Commonwealth Bank, National, Australia Bank,

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Speaker 1: Westpac and A and Z dropping two percent or more.

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Speaker 2: In fact, you can throw in a few other financials

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Speaker 2: from a Quarry Group QB, sun Corp. They are all

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Speaker 2: down more than two percent as well. The story here

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Speaker 2: is that fears of reinflation in the US and fewer

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Speaker 2: rate cuts in that economy also fewer rate cuts here

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Speaker 2: are hitting the stocks. If rates start falling, banks might

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Speaker 2: be able to hold onto a bit of profit margin

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Speaker 2: and not actually passed through that rate reduction immediately. That's

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Speaker 2: one of the theories running around. So therefore freight's on

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Speaker 2: full as much the banks might be able to hold

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Speaker 2: onto that margin. Probably more important bank stocks last year

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Speaker 2: did incredibly well. Westpac led the way, Comwealth Bankman west

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Speaker 2: Pack was up forty percent or so. Comwealth Bank was

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Speaker 2: more than thirty percent. Their priced to perfection. If things

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Speaker 2: don't go their way, then investors are looking to sell

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Speaker 2: them off and I think there's a bit of that

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Speaker 2: going on at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, ordinary day for banks yesterday. A tough day as

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Speaker 1: well on the floor for Meyer, which is story number

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Speaker 1: three today sean Its share price yesterday tumbled more than

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Speaker 1: fifteen percent after it said the Christmas selling season was tough,

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Speaker 1: with sales slightly lower than they were the previous year.

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Speaker 2: It is in the middle of a big Fortnite shareholders

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Speaker 2: vote next week on whether or not to buy premier

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Speaker 2: investments women's wear and casual brands. They came out yesterday.

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Speaker 2: Mike came out yesterday and said tough trading conditions, store closures,

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Speaker 2: higher costs all hit profit in sales. In fact, in

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Speaker 2: the twenty two weeks to just after Christmas, sales were down,

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Speaker 2: so too was gross profit. Chief executive officer Olivia Worth

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Speaker 2: said Black Friday sales were pretty good, but since then

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Speaker 2: consumers have been very cautious. Also, there were poor sales

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Speaker 2: figures from premier investments brands. This is the group that

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Speaker 2: Maya is going to buy. It's share price film more

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Speaker 2: than fifteen percent yesterday. In a week's time, the shareholders

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Speaker 2: vote on that deal would be very interesting to see

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Speaker 2: how it goes.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Indeed, staring number four, the year's first bidding war

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Speaker 1: for a company is broken out, with private equity group

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Speaker 1: Baaning Capital upping its offer for ASX listed wealth company

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Speaker 1: Insignia Financial to two point nine billion dollars.

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Speaker 2: That's right, they went from four dollars a share to

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Speaker 2: four dollars thirty a share that matches CC Capitals. CC

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Speaker 2: Capital is also bidding for Insignia. Insignia is a company

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Speaker 2: full of financial planners and wealth managers. It's done well

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Speaker 2: over the last six months, even before the latest bids,

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Speaker 2: four thousand employees, three hundred and twenty billion dollars in

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Speaker 2: funds under management. Bain said shareholders might be able to

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Speaker 2: retain some equity under private equity ownership. That had been

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Speaker 2: an interesting structure. If that was the case, it closed

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Speaker 2: yesterday at four dollars twenty three, So clearly most investors

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Speaker 2: think a deal of some sort will be done.

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Speaker 1: Last one sewn story number five. Millions have arrived to

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Speaker 1: attend the Hindu festival of Kumbela, which is described as

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Speaker 1: humanity's biggest gathering in northern India.

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Speaker 2: This is huge. Yes, it's held once every twelve years.

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Speaker 2: Started yesterday and over the next six weeks that about

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Speaker 2: will bathe at Sangam, the confluence of India's most sacred

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Speaker 2: Ganges River and the Yamuna River and the mythical Saraswati.

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Speaker 2: According to a BBC report, hindu Is believed that taking

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Speaker 2: a dip in the sacred river will cleanse them of sins,

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Speaker 2: purify their soul and liberate them from the cycle of

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Speaker 2: birth and death, as the ultimate goal of Hindu Wism

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Speaker 2: is salvation. About four hundred million pilgrims are expected to

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Speaker 2: attend the forty five day spectacle, which is so large

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Speaker 2: it could be seen from space. Five to eight million

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Speaker 2: worshippers were expected to bathe yesterday. Big day to day,

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Speaker 2: twenty million people are expected to bathe, starting with ash

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Speaker 2: smeared naked Hindu holy men with matted dreadlocks known as

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Speaker 2: nagas taking a dip at Dawn.

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Speaker 1: All right, there we go the top five business stories

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Speaker 1: in five minutes. Thank you Sean, Thanks Michael. It is Tuesday,

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Speaker 1: the fourteenth of January 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 1: Have a great day.