1
00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:06,320
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report

2
00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,960
Speaker 1: for Monday, the eighth of December. I'm Michael Thompson, and

3
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,360
Speaker 1: every afternoon we've got the five stories that happen today

4
00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:13,319
Speaker 1: that you need to know about. Let's go with story

5
00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:16,520
Speaker 1: number one. The S and p ASX two hundred closed

6
00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,079
Speaker 1: just a touch lower today, down zero point one percent

7
00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,119
Speaker 1: to eighty six hundred and twenty four points. Nine of

8
00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:27,319
Speaker 1: the eleven sectors lost ground, with utilities and miners the

9
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,360
Speaker 1: worst the best, with the telcos Telstra jump to one

10
00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:32,720
Speaker 1: and a half percent today. Broadly, it seems to investors

11
00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:35,239
Speaker 1: are perhaps waiting a little to see what happens tomorrow

12
00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,159
Speaker 1: when the Reserve Bank Board meets. It's less about the

13
00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,400
Speaker 1: cash rate decision. The RBA is widely tipped to keep

14
00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,880
Speaker 1: rates on hold, and more about what Governor Michelle Bullock

15
00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,760
Speaker 1: says afterwards about the outlook and inflation. We've also got

16
00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,680
Speaker 1: the US Federal Reserve expected to cut rates later in

17
00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,040
Speaker 1: the week. Two. I mentioned the miners having a bit

18
00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,560
Speaker 1: of an ordinary day. The gold miners were off today.

19
00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,480
Speaker 1: Numont was down two point one percent, Northern Star off

20
00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:01,800
Speaker 1: one point five four percent, But the lithium miners had

21
00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:06,679
Speaker 1: a cracker, still enjoying last week's optimism after UBS upgraded

22
00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,400
Speaker 1: the outlook for the sector. Liontown was up nearly fifteen

23
00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,360
Speaker 1: percent today, Pilborough Minerals up more than six percent and

24
00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,160
Speaker 1: it's quickly worth a mention. The Australian dollar hit a

25
00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,360
Speaker 1: three month high this morning, just under sixty six and

26
00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,800
Speaker 1: a half US sense story number two. Now, it's been

27
00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:26,240
Speaker 1: a busy day in Canberra or in this case, I

28
00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,640
Speaker 1: suppose Tamworth really where Barnaby Joyce is confirmed he is

29
00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:33,920
Speaker 1: joining One Nation. On a local radio station alongside Pauline Hanson.

30
00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:36,800
Speaker 1: Joyce said he will stay on as the Member for

31
00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,080
Speaker 1: New England for now before trying to move back into

32
00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,520
Speaker 1: the Senate by twenty twenty eight, which is when the

33
00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:45,880
Speaker 1: next selection is expected. Pauline Hanson said that she is

34
00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,800
Speaker 1: emotional about the move and believes Joyce brings serious economic

35
00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,280
Speaker 1: and rural experience, calling him a front row forward, not

36
00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,720
Speaker 1: a bench player. National's leader David little Proud has slammed

37
00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,880
Speaker 1: the decision as you would expect, accusing Joyce of turning

38
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,640
Speaker 1: his back on the party that backed him and I

39
00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,840
Speaker 1: quote through his darkest moments elsewhere in federal politics, they

40
00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:10,760
Speaker 1: storm over travel entitlements claimed by Communications Minister Anika Wells

41
00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:14,000
Speaker 1: is continuing to build with reports she build tax payers

42
00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:16,639
Speaker 1: almost nine thousand dollars for flights so that her husband

43
00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,760
Speaker 1: could attend three consecutive AFL Grand Finals, and Treasurer Jim

44
00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,119
Speaker 1: Chalmers has announced the government's three hundred dollar power bill

45
00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:26,000
Speaker 1: subsidy will be scrapped at the end of the year.

46
00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,919
Speaker 1: We'll have more on all of these stories tomorrow morning

47
00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:31,920
Speaker 1: under story number three. Now and Arnot's the maker of

48
00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:35,120
Speaker 1: tim tams and shapes and Scotch fingers and SAOs and

49
00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,440
Speaker 1: saladas and more. I can keep listening them. Really, it's

50
00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,239
Speaker 1: getting a forty five million dollar injection from the federal

51
00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,520
Speaker 1: government's National Reconstruction Fund. The money is part of a

52
00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:47,160
Speaker 1: one point seventy five billion dollar refinancing deal as the

53
00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:51,280
Speaker 1: heavily indebted company, owned by US private equity giant KKR,

54
00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:55,320
Speaker 1: rolls over loans that were due next year. Arnot's sales

55
00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:57,959
Speaker 1: climbed to one point seventy six billion dollars last year,

56
00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,040
Speaker 1: helping it to scrape back into the black with a

57
00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,880
Speaker 1: small profit after a sizable loss the previous year. The

58
00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:08,120
Speaker 1: National Reconstruction Fund says the funding will help upgrade production lines,

59
00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,040
Speaker 1: support advanced manufacturing, and back on it's push to sell

60
00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,360
Speaker 1: more timtams offshore, but the opposition has labeled it a

61
00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:19,840
Speaker 1: taxpayer bailout. Onto story number four, the former chair of

62
00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:23,480
Speaker 1: the Future Fund, Peter Costello, personally intervened to stop a

63
00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:27,359
Speaker 1: planned international business class trip for the CEO's executive assistant.

64
00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,440
Speaker 1: The Financial Review reports that the trip, if it had

65
00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:34,359
Speaker 1: gone ahead, would have been the EA's third such trip.

66
00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,080
Speaker 1: We talked a fair bit about the first two last week.

67
00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:39,600
Speaker 1: It comes after the two hundred and sixty one billion

68
00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:42,680
Speaker 1: dollar Future Fund has already admitted spending about twenty thousand

69
00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:46,680
Speaker 1: dollars sending the EA overseas to inspect hotels and negotiate

70
00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,800
Speaker 1: room rates, plus a second business class trip to assist

71
00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:54,120
Speaker 1: the board. CEO Raphael Aren't has defended the costs, saying

72
00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:58,120
Speaker 1: the project delivered larger savings on accommodation. The government says

73
00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,080
Speaker 1: the travel of the sovereign wealth fund owned by taxpayers

74
00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,640
Speaker 1: does meet official guidelines, but critics suggest that it shows

75
00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,760
Speaker 1: accountability as slipping. And finally, story number five, Australia and

76
00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,240
Speaker 1: Japan have jointly condemned an incident where a Chinese fighter

77
00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:18,280
Speaker 1: jet repeatedly locked its fire control radar onto Japanese aircraft

78
00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:22,279
Speaker 1: near japan Dokinawa Islands over the weekend. That kind of

79
00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:26,000
Speaker 1: lock on is treated potentially as a lead in to

80
00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,920
Speaker 1: an attack, forcing jets to take evasive action the Japanese

81
00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,200
Speaker 1: military aircraft for tracking a Chinese carrier at the time.

82
00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:37,560
Speaker 1: Japan's Defense minister has called it a dangerous and extremely

83
00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:42,000
Speaker 1: regrettable incident and lodged a strong protest with Beijing. China

84
00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,520
Speaker 1: has rejected the claims as completely inconsistent with the facts

85
00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:48,839
Speaker 1: and accused Japan of smearing it As tensions rise between

86
00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,960
Speaker 1: the two countries. Defense Minister Richard Marles, who was in

87
00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,600
Speaker 1: Tokyo to inspect shipyards after a major warship deal, says

88
00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,480
Speaker 1: Australia is deeply concerned by the incident. And that's it

89
00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,520
Speaker 1: for the other Noon Report for Monday, the eighth of December.

90
00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,320
Speaker 1: Make sure you're following the podcast and headlong to Fearandgreed

91
00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,520
Speaker 1: dot com dot au to sign up for our free

92
00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:10,359
Speaker 1: daily newsletter. I'm Michael Thompson. Enjoy your evening,