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Speaker 1: Carmala Harris attracts some very big name supporters as the

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Speaker 1: fight for US president officially kicks off. The boss of

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Speaker 1: the ABC quits just fourteen months into a new contract,

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Speaker 1: and Ford dumps its big plans for electric vehicles. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to Fear and Greed. Daily business news for people who

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Speaker 1: make their own decisions. It is Friday, the twenty third

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Speaker 1: of August twenty twenty four. Are Michael Thompson and Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: Sean Aylmer. Good Morning, Michael, Sean the main story this morning.

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Speaker 1: Later today Krmala Harris will officially accept the Democratic nomination

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Speaker 1: to run for president against Donald Trump and what will

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Speaker 1: be a fight between ideologies and ages, as well as

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Speaker 1: conservatives and liberals.

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Speaker 2: Day four of the convention is already underway, and the

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Speaker 2: Democrats have been able to rely on some major star

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Speaker 2: power over the past couple of days, with Oprah Winfrey

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Speaker 2: addressing delegates yesterday in her own hometown of Chicago, along

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Speaker 2: with Bill Clinton and Vice presidential nominee Tim Walls. Earlier

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Speaker 2: in the convention, speakers included Brack and Michelle Obama. Oprah,

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Speaker 2: I'd say out shon Bill Clinton yesterday, She quoted the

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Speaker 2: late Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis saying, no

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Speaker 2: matter what ship our ancestors arrived on, we're all in

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Speaker 2: the same boat. Now. Oprah matters because she is a

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Speaker 2: registered independent. Her appeal straddles parties. One of the best

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Speaker 2: Bill Clinton lines was, and I quote, Carmla Harris is

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Speaker 2: the only candidate in this race who has the visioned,

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Speaker 2: the experience, the temperament, the will and yes, the she

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Speaker 2: joy to get something done. The one person who hasn't

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Speaker 2: yet come out and endorsed Krmla Harris who the Democrats

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Speaker 2: want more than anyone else, is Taylor Swift. Really not

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Speaker 2: some famous politician Taylor Swift. She hasn't endorsed Donald Trump either.

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Speaker 2: She is the influencer to end all in influencers. Previously,

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Speaker 2: her forays into politics have been about getting people to vote,

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Speaker 2: and she did a great job doing that. Anyway, We'll

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Speaker 2: wait and see. Maybe she won't come and endorse anyone,

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Speaker 2: but there just seems to be a bit of a

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Speaker 2: feel at the moment. Well, certainly the Democrats want her

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Speaker 2: to endorse Carmla Harris because she would probably be the

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Speaker 2: best possible thing that could happen to the Democrats.

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Speaker 1: And it's interesting, isn't it, Because in a country where

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Speaker 1: there is non compulsory voting, the encouraging people to vote,

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Speaker 1: and particularly getting an influencer like Taylor Swift to actually

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Speaker 1: endorse someone would be hugely influential, wouldn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So Forbes recently had the most influential people in America,

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Speaker 2: most influential women. I just can't quite remember who the

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Speaker 2: first time was. I know Taylor Swift was number five.

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Speaker 2: Carmla Harris was number three. But Taylor Swift is in

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Speaker 2: this league of influential people, and I would say in

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Speaker 2: her demographic she'd be the most influential person.

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Speaker 1: So, Sean, now that the nominees have been endorsed by

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Speaker 1: their parties, what will the election kind of be fought

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Speaker 1: over now? And I suppose does it matter to Australia.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Turning to policy, Harris and Trump are a long

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Speaker 2: way apart. In economics. Trump is talking about lurering the

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Speaker 2: corporate tax rate while Harris wants to lift it. Trump's

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Speaker 2: talking about pushing up tariffs across the board. That wouldn't

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Speaker 2: be good for Australia. The Biden administration has been against

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Speaker 2: across the board increases in tariffs, though it has targeted

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Speaker 2: China in some sectors still. For example, the general view

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Speaker 2: in financial markets is that Trump would be better for

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Speaker 2: shares that would impact the AX Here. Harris is pushing

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Speaker 2: for more government handouts and is likely to run a

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Speaker 2: much more sympathetic social policy, including around housing. Harris wants

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Speaker 2: to up support for education. Trump doesn't. Immigration is a

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Speaker 2: difficult issue for both sides, but Trump seems to be

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Speaker 2: in front on that one. He continues to take a

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Speaker 2: very hard line. He isn't a fan of organizations like

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Speaker 2: NATO and other alliances the Biden administration is Arguably that

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Speaker 2: would be worse for Australia if Trump is against alliances,

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Speaker 2: although I think our relationship with US is pretty strong.

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Speaker 2: The current administration has put climate change front and center,

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Speaker 2: whereas Trump wants to relax environmental regulations. There's also big

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Speaker 2: differences around areas like abortion and crime.

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Speaker 1: All right back home again, now show on local markets?

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Speaker 1: How do they perform?

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Speaker 2: Yesterday's and PA six two hundred gain zero point two

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Speaker 2: percent to eighty twenty seven points, marking two weeks of

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Speaker 2: positive closes. Been quite the run. The huge jump in

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Speaker 2: weis Tech Globals share price on Wednesday after its earnings announcement.

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Speaker 2: Continued yesterday with Weisstech up another eight percent. Found that

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Speaker 2: Richard White's bank balance is up well over two billion

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Speaker 2: dollars in the past couple of days. That's on the

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Speaker 2: back of the fact that he owns thirty nine percent

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Speaker 2: of wis Tech Global. The Weiss Tech surge helped the

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Speaker 2: Tech Index, which was the best of the eleven indicies

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Speaker 2: on the Ax yesterday. Brambles was another strong performer. Some

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Speaker 2: of the profit results yesterday there were many, I'll just

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Speaker 2: give a few highlights. Tech player Megaport tumbled twenty percent

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Speaker 2: after its result missed expectations. KFC and owner Colin's Foods

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Speaker 2: plunged thirteen percent after it warned its profit margins will

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Speaker 2: fall this financial year due to rising labor, energy, in

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Speaker 2: store costs, childcare Group G eight Education. It grew profits

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Speaker 2: and earnings in the first half of twenty twenty four,

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Speaker 2: but flagged difficult times ahead. Gold explorer Northern Star doubled

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Speaker 2: its underlying full year net profit, declared an increase in

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Speaker 2: dividend that, of course, is on the back of higher

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Speaker 2: gold prices. Discan't retailer The Reject Shop blamed soaring costs

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Speaker 2: for a thirty six percent drop in net profit. Retailer

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Speaker 2: Beacon Lightning post an eleven percent fall of net profit,

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Speaker 2: in part due to higher costs, which the group blamed

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Speaker 2: on inflation. Very very mixed bunch of results yesterday.

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Speaker 1: And Sean, while we're on results, immediately after the show,

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Speaker 1: stick around for a chat with Center Group CEO Elliott

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Speaker 1: russenow It spoke to our friends at Osby's about the

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Speaker 1: Westfield owners results, about repurposing mall space previously used by

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Speaker 1: David Jones, and of course about the lasting impacts of

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Speaker 1: the Westfield Bondi stabbing attacks.

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Speaker 2: It is.

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Speaker 1: It's actually a very wide ranging interview, so stick around

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Speaker 1: for that one. It's coming up a little bit later on.

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Speaker 1: And now, thanks to blue Chip Communication, the experts helping

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Speaker 1: financial services companies market communicate and Grove is a blue

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Speaker 1: chip communication dot com dot au international market. Sean, what

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Speaker 1: is going on?

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Speaker 2: Oh? I forgot we had international markets this week. We've

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Speaker 2: been so focused on the AX. However, yesterday we got

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Speaker 2: the minutes from the Fed Reserve Board meeting of a

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Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago. Several US Federal Reserve officials acknowledged

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Speaker 2: there was a plausible case for cutting interest rates at

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Speaker 2: their last meeting, before the Central Banks Policy Committee voted

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Speaker 2: unanimously to keep them steady. If the data continues to

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Speaker 2: come in about as expected, it's likely to be appropriate

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Speaker 2: to ease policy at the next meeting. According to the Minutes, now,

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Speaker 2: futures markets in the US are pricing in about one

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Speaker 2: hundred bases points. That's one percentage point of easing this year.

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Speaker 2: The Fed chair is scheduled to speak on the economic

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Speaker 2: outlook tonight. Australian time will have all that on Monday morning,

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Speaker 2: of course. Otherwise, Brent krude is trending lower, while gold

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Speaker 2: is hovering around the twenty five hundred US dollars announce level.

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Speaker 2: Uranium price has fallen into eighty US dollars a pound

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Speaker 2: at that's its lowest level since November last year, and

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Speaker 2: the Aussie dollar is by just under sixty seven and

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Speaker 2: a half US since.

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Speaker 1: All right, still a bit to get through. We'll be

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Speaker 1: back in a moment with the rest of the day's

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Speaker 1: business news. Sean, the boss of the ABC, has quit

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Speaker 1: the job just fourteen months into his second five year term.

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Speaker 2: David Anderson yesterday emailed staff that he had quit as

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Speaker 2: managing director of the national broadcaster and will leave when

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Speaker 2: new management is found. It comes less than six months

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Speaker 2: since the former News Corp and Foxtail boss Kim Williams

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Speaker 2: took over from Ida Butterro's as chair of the ABC.

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Speaker 2: In an email, mister Anderson told staff, I'm grateful to

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Speaker 2: Kim Williams and the board for their support in their

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Speaker 2: efforts to persuade me to stay on for my full

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Speaker 2: second term. I'm confident the timing is right for both

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Speaker 2: me and the ABC. Certainly a surprise for everyone yesterday,

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Speaker 2: but good luck to him. I think that would be

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Speaker 2: one of the hardest jobs in media.

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Speaker 1: Oh, you would not be able to satisfy anybody, would you?

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Speaker 2: No, politicians, competitors, staff, really tough job.

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Speaker 1: Sean's Super Retail Group, owner of Rebel Sport and of

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Speaker 1: course Super t Borto, posted record sales of three point

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Speaker 1: nine billion dollars last financial year, with the automotive category

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Speaker 1: being the standout.

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Speaker 2: Yes Super Retail's BCF and outdoor where brand Macpack reported

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Speaker 2: improved trading, but Rebels turnover fell one percent in the

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Speaker 2: year to the end of June twenty nine. Earnings fell

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Speaker 2: nine percent. Overall, reflecting higher operating costs, but the group

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Speaker 2: and now special dividend of fifty cents a share more

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Speaker 2: promising was it In the first seven weeks of this

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Speaker 2: financial year, all brands achieved sales growth, with Macpack surging

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Speaker 2: fifteen percent. Rebel was better as well. Chief executive Anthony

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Speaker 2: Herety said the consumer remains uncertain that Super Retail's proposition,

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Speaker 2: brands and its loyalty based positioned well against a backdrop

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Speaker 2: where shoppers are carefully managing their spending. Super Retails share

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Speaker 2: price rose more than six percent yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Bank of Queensland SEAN will sack four hundred staff and

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Speaker 1: acquire one hundred and fourteen franchised branches in a major

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Speaker 1: overhaul of Australia's sixth largest bank.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Bank of queens had has always been very interesting

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Speaker 2: because it's had this franchise model for about a decade

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Speaker 2: now and effectively it's dumping it. Chief Executive Patrick Alloway

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Speaker 2: said the changes aimed to simplify the bank and will

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Speaker 2: cost up to one hundred and twenty five million dollars

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Speaker 2: to implement in an effort to make the lender profitable

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Speaker 2: or at least more profitable. Mister Alloway said that the

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Speaker 2: days of rivers of gold for banks are over, and

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Speaker 2: analyst said this is particularly the case for the regional banks.

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Speaker 2: Profit margins are being crunched as customers shift to digital channels.

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Speaker 2: Having a legacy retail banking operation and all those branches

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Speaker 2: isn't something seos want anymore. At least they want them less.

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Speaker 2: Thank of Queensland's share price fell more than six percent yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Developer Stockland built more houses than at forecast last year,

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Speaker 1: settling five thousand, six hundred and thirty seven lots and

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Speaker 1: predicting increased settlements over the medium term.

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Speaker 2: Some good news for the housing sector. Michael hasn't been

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Speaker 2: much of that recently, so I think I should shout

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Speaker 2: about this one. Yeah. The country's largest diversified developer said

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Speaker 2: conditions had improved in the second half of the year,

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Speaker 2: in part due to a more stable interst rate environment.

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Speaker 2: Chief executive Taron Gupta said Stockland launched fifteen new master

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Speaker 2: planned communities and land less communities last financial year, hopes

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Speaker 2: to launch another eight new communities this Financially, revenue fell

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Speaker 2: six percent to three billion dollars from operations, which is

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Speaker 2: an industry measure of profit. That was down seven percent.

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Speaker 2: The actual net profit was off more than thirty percent,

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Speaker 2: reflecting an increase in property devaluations. Stockland's share price rose

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Speaker 2: four percent.

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Speaker 1: Japanese giant Nippon Steel says the Queensland government's coal royalties

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Speaker 1: grab influenced its decision to spend one billion dollars buying

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Speaker 1: a stake in Whitehaven's Blackwater coking coal mine amid rising

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Speaker 1: concerns over the security of supply.

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Speaker 2: Interesting story this mone Nippon Steel and Japanese company JFE

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Speaker 2: Steel collectively bought thirty percent of Blackwater, giving owner white

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Speaker 2: Haven Coal a one point one billion US dollar cash injection.

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Speaker 2: According to report in the AFR, Nippon Steel doesn't speak

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Speaker 2: publicly very often. It came out and he said the

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Speaker 2: Queensland Government's decision to raise coal royalty rates in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty two would certainly decrease the supply of cocing coal

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Speaker 2: long term by disincentivizing investment in new minds. The steelmakers

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Speaker 2: said fears of a future supply shortage had given it

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Speaker 2: a strong sense of urgency to own more of the

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Speaker 2: coal mines that feed its mills. What's interesting is that

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Speaker 2: Nippon Steele is basically saying, because of government policy in Queensland,

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Speaker 2: we think we need to own more because there's not

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Speaker 2: a lot of new minds coming on board. Or that

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Speaker 2: came as white Haven reported a seventy two percent drop

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Speaker 2: in underlying profit due to lower coal prices, but the

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Speaker 2: news about Nippon Steel sent its share price up seven percent.

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Speaker 1: All right, that is really interesting that a political decision

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Speaker 1: is forcing them basically to shore up their own supply chain.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's fascinating. I agree. Now.

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Speaker 1: Australia's biggest private health insurance Medibank's earnings helped by strong

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Speaker 1: growth in the number of foreign students taking out private

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Speaker 1: health insurance.

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Speaker 2: But fewer permanent residents signed up for policies last year

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Speaker 2: due to strong competition. Chief executive David Coskar said industry

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Speaker 2: growth would moderate this year after reporting a fourteen percent

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Speaker 2: increase in underlying net profit last financial lium, there were

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Speaker 2: fourteen four hundred net new resident policy holders and sixty

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Speaker 2: nine thousand net non resident policy holders. That of course

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Speaker 2: reflects all the interests from students. The health insurance market

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Speaker 2: remains competitive, with some insurance chasing volume rather than margins.

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Speaker 2: That's according to Investment analysts. Medibanks share price fell two

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Speaker 2: percent yesterday.

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Speaker 1: All Right, turning to international news now, and PwC China

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Speaker 1: has told clients it expects Chinese authorities to hit it

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Speaker 1: with a six month business ban that will start as

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Speaker 1: early as September as part of punishment over its audit

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Speaker 1: of collapsed property developer Evergrand.

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Speaker 2: The action against PwC comes after China's securities regulator in

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Speaker 2: March said Evergrand had inflated its mainland revenues by almost

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Speaker 2: eighty billion US dollars in the two years before the

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Speaker 2: developer defaulted on its debts in twenty twenty one. Despite

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Speaker 2: pws he's China unit giving the accounts a clean bill

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Speaker 2: of health. The business band, potentially accompanied by a large fine,

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Speaker 2: would be the toughest ever action by Chinese regulators against

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Speaker 2: a Big four firm, according to The Financial Times. It

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Speaker 2: comes as Beijing steps up scrutiny over the role played

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Speaker 2: by auditors in financial scandals, in this case in the

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Speaker 2: crisis hit property sector, which once contributed about one quarter

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Speaker 2: of the country's gross domestic product.

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Speaker 1: And I mentioned this one at the top of the show.

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Speaker 1: Sean Ford Motor is downsizing its electric vehicle plans canceling

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Speaker 1: a large electric sport utility vehicle, saying it'll take a

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Speaker 1: one point nine billion US dollar hit in writing down

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Speaker 1: the EV business.

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Speaker 2: So Ford is dumping plans for a three row EV

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Speaker 2: SUV I like the electric Vehicle Sports utility vehicle three

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Speaker 2: seats three rows, citing tough pricing pressure as automakers resort

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Speaker 2: to aggressive discounts to move the evs they've already manufactured.

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Speaker 2: Ford instead will offer hybrid gas electric versions of future

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Speaker 2: large SUVs, which is a very popular vehicle category, not

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Speaker 2: just in the US but in Australia as well, if

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Speaker 2: you think the Explorer and the Expedition nameplates are all

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Speaker 2: part of that now. According to Dow Jones, the company's

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Speaker 2: moves are the latest example of automakers unwinding EV investment

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Speaker 2: plans they made years ago. General Motors last month pushed

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Speaker 2: back the timeline on the opening of a suburban Detroit factory.

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Speaker 2: Ford has said it's EV business is on pace to

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Speaker 2: lose about five billion dollars this year US. In the

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Speaker 2: three month period ended in June, the auto maker lost

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Speaker 2: about forty four thousand US dollars on every electric vehicle

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Speaker 2: that it's sold.

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Speaker 1: That is extraordinary.

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Speaker 2: Incredible numbers.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, massive numbers. All right. Up next is the Fear

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Speaker 1: and Greed Daily Interview with a chat with Center Group

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Speaker 1: CEO Elliott russenow.

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Speaker 2: Yep, all about the Center result from a couple of

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Speaker 2: days ago, how the company's performing post the tragedy in

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Speaker 2: Bondo Junction of course, and what they're doing with the

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Speaker 2: David Jones stores that are closing down.

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Speaker 1: And that is thanks to our friends at opiz, Australia's

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Speaker 1: leading provider of live and on demand video of the

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Speaker 1: latest news in Australian business markets, economy and startup. Sign

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Speaker 1: up at osbiz dot com dot au. It is free

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Speaker 1: and you know what else is free? Sean?

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Speaker 2: What else? Michael?

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Speaker 1: The Fear and Greed weekly newsletter which comes out every Wednesday.

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Speaker 1: I know it's a Friday, but there has never been

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Speaker 1: a better time than right now to head along to

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Speaker 1: Fearangreed dot com dot Au and pop your email address

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Speaker 1: onto the list, because it means then next Wednesday, mid

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Speaker 1: morning you will get the newsletter and you will just

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Speaker 1: be inundated in your inbox with Sean's opinions on all

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Speaker 1: kinds of different business stories and it is proving against

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Speaker 1: all the odds to be very popular.

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Speaker 2: Sean, I guesst all the odds. I think that's probably

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Speaker 2: being a bit harsh.

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Speaker 1: Just thought i'd slip that in to see if you're

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Speaker 1: still listening.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I was. I was. It was about me,

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Speaker 2: of course I was listening.

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Speaker 1: Oh good, Thank you Sean, Thank you, Michael. It's Friday,

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Speaker 1: the twenty third of August twenty twenty four. Make sure

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Speaker 1: you're following the podcast and please join us online on LinkedIn, Instagram,

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Speaker 1: x TikTok and Facebook. I'm Michael Thompson. That was Fear

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Speaker 1: and Greed. Have a great day.