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Michael Thompson: Financial  markets  might  be  tumbling  and  wealth  might  be  falling, 

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Michael Thompson: but  that's  not  holding  back  retail  sales  across  the  country. 

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Michael Thompson: The  Aussie  dollar  falls  below  64  US  cents  and  Foxtel 

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Michael Thompson: gets  into  wrestling.  It's  Thursday  the  29th  of  September  2022. 

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Michael Thompson: Welcome  to  Fear  and  Greed,  Australia's  most  popular  business  podcast. 

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Michael Thompson: I'm  Michael  Thompson  and  good  morning,  Sean  Elma.

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Speaker 2: Good  morning,  Michael.  Now,  you've  been  overseas  recently,  so  you 

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Speaker 2: probably  don't  care  about  the  Australian  dollar,  but  I've  got 

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Speaker 2: a  trip  planned  in  about  four  or  five  weeks  to 

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Speaker 2: the  US.

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Michael Thompson: What  a  surprise  that  Sean's  self- interest,  Elma,  is  kind 

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Michael Thompson: of  concerned  about  his  own  hip  pocket.  Actually,  you  should 

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Michael Thompson: be.  I  mean,  that  is  troubling  for  you,  especially  if 

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Michael Thompson: you  are  hitting  overseas.  But  you  are  right.  I'm  not 

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Michael Thompson: too  worried.

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Speaker 2: Yeah,  the  look,  the  only  good  news  is  that  we 

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Speaker 2: had  booked  places  to  stay  about  six  months  ago.  One 

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Speaker 2: of  the  hotels  we'd  booked  actually  canceled  and  said, " We're 

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Speaker 2: closing  for  innovation.  We're  going  to  have  to  refund  you 

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Speaker 2: the  money."  We  paid  in  US  dollars,  we're  actually  getting 

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Speaker 2: back  more  money  than  we  paid.

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Michael Thompson: That  was  a  good  investment.

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Speaker 2: It  was a very good investment.

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Michael Thompson: But  you've  never  actually  considered  that  as  an  investment  class.

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Speaker 2: Never.  Never  paying  hotel  bills  and  hoping  the  currency  goes 

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Speaker 2: the  right  way.  No,  that's  right.

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Michael Thompson: It's  quite  niche,  that  one  really,  isn't  it?

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Speaker 2: Yeah,  I  wouldn't  put  your  super  into  it.

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Michael Thompson: No,  probably  not.  Look  after  the  show,  something  a  little 

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Michael Thompson: bit  different  today.  You're  speaking  today  with  Renee  Thornton  from 

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Michael Thompson: a  company  called  Rehab  Management.

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Speaker 2: Yes.  Their  business  is  about  attacking  the  62  billion  problem 

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Speaker 2: of  getting  people  back  to  work,  sort  of  back  to 

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Speaker 2: work  plans,  that  type  of  thing.  It  is  a  bigger 

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Speaker 2: issue  than  ever  before.  COVID  has  highlighted  what  a  big 

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Speaker 2: issue  it  is,  and  it's  not  just  physical  health,  it's 

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Speaker 2: mental  health  as  well.  A  really  interesting  chat  with  Renee 

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Speaker 2: about  what  companies  are  doing  to  help  people  get  back 

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Speaker 2: to  work.

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Michael Thompson: Yeah,  it's  coming  up  a  little  bit  later  on,  but 

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Michael Thompson: the  main  story  this  morning,  Sean,  amid  all  of  the 

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Michael Thompson: financial  market  craziness  and  tens  of  billions  of  dollars  being 

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Michael Thompson: wiped  off  equity  markets  and  from  bond  portfolios,  it  seems 

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Michael Thompson: that  retail  therapy  is  calming  the  nerves  a  little.

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Speaker 2: I  mean,  that's  fair  enough,  is  it  not?  Maybe  not 

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Speaker 2: for  you  actually.  You  are  not  a  shopper.  You're  an 

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Speaker 2: online  shopper.  I  like  going  to  the  mall  and  wandering 

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Speaker 2: around  and-

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Michael Thompson: No,  I  like  it for about the first  30  seconds  when  you  walk  in. 

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Michael Thompson: I'm  like, " Oh,  I  actually  really  like  it  here."  30 

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Michael Thompson: seconds  is  all  about,  and  then  I  get  lost.  Horrendously  lost.

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Speaker 2: You  are  in  the  minority  because  consumers  keep  on  spending 

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Speaker 2: in  the  shopping  centers  around  the  country.  Retail  sales  across 

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Speaker 2: Australia  raised  a  healthy  0. 6%  last  month,  nearly  20% 

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Speaker 2: higher  last  month  than  the  year  earlier.  Pretty  incredible.  Now, 

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Speaker 2: of  course,  12  months  ago,  COVID  restrictions  were  in  full 

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Speaker 2: flight.  It's  been  eight  months  in  a  row  of  rises 

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Speaker 2: for  retail  sales  and  the  August  numbers  beat  market  expectations. 

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Speaker 2: Department  stores  are  doing  particularly  well.  There's  been  a  run 

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Speaker 2: of  good  numbers  for  department  stores.  Consumers  are  buying  household 

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Speaker 2: goods  in  large  numbers.  There's  more  food  and  eating  out, 

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Speaker 2: whether  that  be  at  cafes  and  restaurants  or  by  taking 

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Speaker 2: away  meals.  However,  there  has  been  a  fall  in  sales 

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Speaker 2: of  clothing,  footwear,  and  personal  accessories.

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Michael Thompson: All  right.  You  might  have  to  explain  this  kind  of 

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Michael Thompson: what  seems  to  be  a  little  bit  of  an  inconsistency 

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Michael Thompson: here.  When  all  the  finance  news  seems  to  be  so 

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Michael Thompson: bad,  why  are  people  still  spending  money?

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Speaker 2: It's  a  very  good  question.  People  have  jobs  or  can 

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Speaker 2: get  a  job,  so  that  supports  spending.  Also,  it  seems 

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Speaker 2: that  they're  drawing  down  the  massive  savings  buffer  they  built 

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Speaker 2: up  during  COVID.  And  while  interest  rates  have  been  rising, 

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Speaker 2: many  people  haven't  yet  experienced  the  full  effect,  particularly  if 

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Speaker 2: they  took  out  a  fixed  rate  loan  last  year,  so 

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Speaker 2: they're  still  feeling  fairly  wealthy.  They've  got  money  in  the 

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Speaker 2: bank  and  they're  happy  to  spend  it.  Now,  it  can't 

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Speaker 2: go  on  though.  Higher  interest  rates  will  have  to  start 

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Speaker 2: hurting  eventually.

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Michael Thompson: So  if  people  are  still  spending  then  and  obviously  then 

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Michael Thompson: putting  pressure  on  prices,  this  would  give  the  Reserve  Bank 

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Michael Thompson: another  reason  to  lift  interest  rates  by  50  basis  points 

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Michael Thompson: when  they  meet  next  week.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.  You're  sounding  like  an  economist?

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Michael Thompson: I've  studied.  I  have  listened  to  you  so  carefully  now 

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Michael Thompson: for  the  last  two  years.  I  reckon  I  could  fake 

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Michael Thompson: it  in  most  conversations.

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Speaker 2: No  doubt  you  could.  Now  look,  the  jury  is  still 

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Speaker 2: out  on  what  the  bank  will  do.  The  central  bank 

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Speaker 2: will  do.  While  most  economists  expect  rates  to  rise,  there's 

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Speaker 2: fierce  debate  about  whether  it'll  be  by  25  basis  points 

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Speaker 2: or  by  50  basis  points.  The  Reserve  Bank  had  hinted 

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Speaker 2: on  taking  a  breather,  but  so  much  has  happened  in 

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Speaker 2: the  past  couple  of  weeks,  particularly  overseas,  that  most  economists 

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Speaker 2: now  think  it  will  do  something  next  week,  next  Tuesday 

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Speaker 2: when  it  meets,  and  it'll  probably  be  another  50  basis  points.

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Michael Thompson: Okay.  How  did  local  markets  perform  yesterday?

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Speaker 2: The  day  started,  okay  for  equities,  but  then  the  ASX 

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Speaker 2: fell  and  was  one  time  trading  about  three  quarters  of 

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Speaker 2: a  percent  below  where  it  started.  It  then  recovered  somewhat 

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Speaker 2: to  close  down  half  a  percent  to  6, 462  points. 

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Speaker 2: It  wasn't  particularly  pretty.  Macquarie  Group  and  Fortescue  Metals  were 

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Speaker 2: both  down  nearly  3%.  WiseTech  Global  and  QBE  fell  more 

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Speaker 2: than  2%.  Westfarms  was  off  about  the  same  amount.  Goodman 

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Speaker 2: Group  tumbled  1. 5%,  Commonwealth  Bank  dropped  1. 2%.  That's 

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Speaker 2: what  I'd  call  broad  based.  Now  Telstra  was  sustained  out 

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Speaker 2: up  2. 7%.  No  doubt  it's  being  helped  along  by 

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Speaker 2: what's  happening  at  Optus,  its  main  competitor.  Once  again,  yesterday 

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Speaker 2: was  the  commodities  names  that  did  well  Coronado  Gold,  Whitehaven 

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Speaker 2: Coal,  New  Hope,  Silver  Lake  Resources,  Golde, Ramelius  Resources.  They  all 

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Speaker 2: did  very  well.  Worse  on  the  boards  was  Telix  Pharmaceuticals. 

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Speaker 2: After  the  oncology  company  announced  a  major  marketing  setback  in 

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Speaker 2: Europe,  its  share  price  fell  15%.  Bonds.  Michael,  I  know 

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Speaker 2: you  love  bonds.

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Michael Thompson: Oh,  I  certainly  do.  Just  don't  ask  me  to  explain 

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Michael Thompson: it,  but  I  do  love  them.  Go  on.

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Speaker 2: Right.  So  treasury  10  year  bond  yields  pushed  above  4% 

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Speaker 2: yesterday,  for  the  first  time  since  2010.  Through  September,  yields 

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Speaker 2: have  risen  the  most  in  20  years  on  the  back 

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Speaker 2: of  central  bank's  tightening  monetary  policy.  That,  Michael,  is  what 

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Speaker 2: you  call  a  bond  selloff.  Let  me  explain  this  to 

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Speaker 2: you.  Treasuries  have  lost  14%  in  value  this  year.  So 

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Speaker 2: if  your  Superfund  invested  a  hundred  dollars  in  a  bond 

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Speaker 2: fund,  that  would  now  be  worth $ 86,  and  given  many 

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Speaker 2: investors  have  about  40%  of  their  savings  in  fixed  interest, 

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Speaker 2: that  is  a  lot  of  money.

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Michael Thompson: Sean,  when  you  say  my  name  in  the  middle  of 

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Michael Thompson: kind  of  talking  about  something,  there's  this  moment  of  fear 

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Michael Thompson: and  I  think  it  goes  back  to  kind  of  high 

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Michael Thompson: school  of  getting  called  on  to  answer  a  question  that 

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Michael Thompson: you  don't  really  know  anything  about,  and  I'm  just  going, 

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Michael Thompson: Oh,  please  don't  ask  me,  Sean,  please  don't  ask  me, 

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Michael Thompson: but  you  didn't,  so  I'm  happy  you  can  reference  me 

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Michael Thompson: as  much  as  you  want  while  you're  talking.  Just  when 

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Michael Thompson: it  comes  to  bonds,  I  will  just  be  a  dedicated 

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Michael Thompson: listener.  International  markets.  What's  going  on?

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Speaker 2: Well,  the  Aussie  dollar  is  back  below  64  US  cents. 

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Speaker 2: As  I  said,  who'd  want  to  be  going  to  the 

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Speaker 2: US  in  five  and  a  half  weeks.  Now,  as  with 

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Speaker 2: every  other  day,  it's  less  about  the  Aussie  dollar,  it's 

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Speaker 2: more  about  the  strength  in  the  green  back.  It  is 

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Speaker 2: powering  ahead.  Currencies  like  the  Euro  heading  towards  parity  with 

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Speaker 2: the  US,  which  has  never  happened.  Many,  many  economists are  now 

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Speaker 2: saying  that  the  Aussie  dollar  has  further  to  fall  and 

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Speaker 2: the  greenback  has  further  to  rise.  Crypto  currencies  had  had 

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Speaker 2: a  better  run  in  recent  sessions,  but  Bitcoin and Ethereum  both  fell 

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Speaker 2: back  yesterday.  Bitcoin's  trading  back  around 19, 000  US  dollars  a 

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Speaker 2: unit.  Oil  prices  have  also  been  falling  with  Brent  Crew 

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Speaker 2: trading  around  85  US  dollars  a  barrel,  that's  down  to 

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Speaker 2: January  levels  gold.  Is  headed  towards  1600  US  dollars  an  ounce.

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Michael Thompson: Okay,  we'll  be  back  in  a  moment  with  the  rest 

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Michael Thompson: of  the  day's  business  news.  Sean,  staying  in  the  world 

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Michael Thompson: of  Economics,  treasurer,  Jim  Charmers  yesterday  gave  more  details  on 

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Michael Thompson: the  upcoming  budget.

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Speaker 2: Yes,  there's  a  steady  drip  feed  of  information  coming  out 

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Speaker 2: about  the  budget.  Dr.  Charmers  said  last  year's  budget  deficit 

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Speaker 2: will  come  in  at $ 32  billion.  That's  about  48  billion 

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Speaker 2: better  than  expected  thanks  to  higher  commodity  prices  and  high 

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Speaker 2: employment  rates.  There  was  also  lower  than  expected  usage  of 

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Speaker 2: COVID-19  business  support  packages  that  help  the  budget  bottom  line. 

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Speaker 2: Over  the  next  few  years  though,  the  budget  will  remain 

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Speaker 2: in  deficit,  Dr.  Charmers  said  a  rebound  in  the  global 

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Speaker 2: economy  is  important  to  a  rebound  in  the  Australian  budget 

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Speaker 2: position.  The  good  news  for  many  households  is  that  the 

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Speaker 2: treasurer  said,  removing  the  stage  three  tax  cuts  won't  improve 

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Speaker 2: the  inflationary  environment.  That  means  they're  likely  to  stay.  The 

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Speaker 2: cuts  will  create  a  flat  tax  rate  of  30  cents 

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Speaker 2: in  the  dollar  for  anyone  earning  between $40,000 and $ 200, 000.

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Michael Thompson: And  Sean,  the  treasurer,  had  a  bit  to  say  yesterday 

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Michael Thompson: on  the $ 5  note  and  also  on  petrol  prices.

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Speaker 2: Yes,  Dr.  Charmers  said  he's  had  a  conversation  with  Reserve 

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Speaker 2: Bank  Governor  Philip  Lowe  on  the  status  of  the $ 5 

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Speaker 2: note.  He  said, " There's  no  rush  to  decide  whose  picture 

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Speaker 2: will  replace  the  queen.  Certainly  she'll  be  on  new  notes 

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Speaker 2: for  the  foreseeable  future."  And  Dr.  Charmer's  also  conceded  that 

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Speaker 2: the  end  of  the  petrol  excise  discount,  which  will  add 

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Speaker 2: 22.5  cents  a  liter  to  the  cost  of  fuel,  will 

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Speaker 2: be  difficult  for  many  Australians.  But  he  warned  petrol  suppliers 

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Speaker 2: not  to  push  up  prices  unnecessarily.  Saying  the  Australian  Competition 

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Speaker 2: and  Consumer  Commission  was  on  the  lookout.  In  fact,  yesterday 

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Speaker 2: the  Australasian  Convenience  and  Petroleum  Marketers  Association  came  out  and 

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Speaker 2: said  prices  shouldn't  rise  for  another  five  to  seven  days. 

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Speaker 2: That's  because  all  those  petrol  stations  out  there  have  plenty 

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Speaker 2: of  fuel  in  the  tanks  underground.  It'll  just  be  interesting 

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Speaker 2: to  see  if  that's  what  eventuates.

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Michael Thompson: All right. We will  be  keeping  a  very  close  eye  on  it.  Because 

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Michael Thompson: obviously  fear and greed and the  ACCC  together  as  an unstoppable thought. Sean  ASX  Limited,  which  is 

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Michael Thompson: the  company  that  runs  the  exchange,  was  hit  with  its 

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Michael Thompson: first  shareholder  strike  on  management  pay  yesterday.

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Speaker 2: That's  right.  At  ASX's  annual  general  meeting,  30%  of  votes 

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Speaker 2: cast  went  against  the  2022  remuneration  report,  including  the $1.2  million 

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Speaker 2: bonus  to  form  a  chief  executive,  Dominic  Stevens.  In  total, 

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Speaker 2: Mr.  Stevens  took  home  four  and  a  half  million  dollars 

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Speaker 2: for  the  last  financial  year.  That  includes  the  bonus.  Mr. 

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Speaker 2: Stevens  ran  the  company  from  2016.  One of  the  big  challenges 

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Speaker 2: he  had  was  upgrading  its  legacy  systems.  He  started  doing 

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Speaker 2: that,  but  that  upgrade  has  been  dogged  with  delays.  It's 

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Speaker 2: now  unlikely  to  go  live  until  2024,  yet  Mr.  Stevens 

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Speaker 2: still  got  the  bonus.  The  ASX  is  also  coming  under 

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Speaker 2: pressure  from  the  Reserve  Bank  of  Australia.  Yesterday,  the  Central 

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Speaker 2: Bank  released  its  assessment  of  the  ASX's  clearing  and  settlement 

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Speaker 2: facilities,  essential  functions  for  the  economy  to  operate  smoothly.  The 

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Speaker 2: Reserve  Bank  said  the  stock  market  operator  needs  to  make 

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Speaker 2: significant  progress  in  addressing  recommendations  on  governance  and  risk  management, 

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Speaker 2: and  the  company  needs  to  be  more  proactive.  In  reserve 

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Speaker 2: bank  speech  that's  quite  a  whack  across  the  face.

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Michael Thompson: Yeah,  seems  it.  Now,  the  federal  government  released  its  National 

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Michael Thompson: Electric  Vehicle  Strategy  discussion  paper  yesterday.  And  manufacturing  EV  batteries 

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Michael Thompson: as  part  of  it.

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Speaker 2: Infrastructure  minister  Catherine  King  said, " The  discussion  paper  focuses  on 

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Speaker 2: a  range  of  incentives  and  barriers  to  try  and  encourage 

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Speaker 2: the  uptake  of  electric  vehicles  in  Australia."  Adding  that  there's 

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Speaker 2: an  opportunity  to  manufacture  EV  batteries  domestically  rather  than  mine 

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Speaker 2: lithium  and  send  it  offshore.  She  said  the  government  was 

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Speaker 2: prepared  to  support  companies  that  want  to  manufacture  EVs  locally. 

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Speaker 2: Energy  minister  Chris  Bow  said,  The  Albanese  government  wants  Australia 

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Speaker 2: to  become  the  largest  provider  of  lithium  globally.

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Michael Thompson: And  also  in  Canberra,  Sean,  the  federal  opposition  said  it 

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Michael Thompson: will  support  the  introduction  of  a  corruption  commission.

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Speaker 2: Yes,  though  it  warned  that  serious  care  must  be  taken 

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Speaker 2: in  giving  extraordinary  powers  to  the  National  Anti- Corruption  Commission. 

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Speaker 2: What  is  important  here  is  that  it  really  benches  the 

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Speaker 2: cross  benches  in  this  particular  fight.

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Michael Thompson: Oh,  benches.  The  cross  benches.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.  Pretty  proud  of  that.

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Michael Thompson: Oh,  very  nice.  Now,  how  about  this  one?  Queensland  will 

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Michael Thompson: stop  using  Coalfire  Power  generation  by  2035,  10  years  earlier 

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Michael Thompson: than  planned  as  part  of  its  new  energy  plan.

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Speaker 2: Ironically,  the  state  is  one  of  the  largest  producers  of 

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Speaker 2: coal,  particularly  black  coal  in  the  country.  Under  the  plan 

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Speaker 2: pumped  hydro  and  the  creation  of  super  grids  to  connect 

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Speaker 2: new  renewable  projects  are  part  of  the  plan  launched  by 

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Speaker 2: Premier Annastacia  Palaszczuk  yesterday.  It  means  they're  bringing  forward  the  closure 

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Speaker 2: of  state  run  coal  fired  power  stations.  Previously,  they  were 

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Speaker 2: scheduled  to  close  in  the  mid  2040s.  Queensland  had  previously 

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Speaker 2: committed  to  a  50%  renewable  target  by  2030,  that's  actually 

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Speaker 2: gone  to  70% and  80%  by  2035.  Renewable  energy  currently  accounts 

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Speaker 2: for  around  20%  of  energy  in  the  states.  The  Queensland 

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Speaker 2: jobs  and  energy  plan  includes  62 billion of  investment  in  the  energy 

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Speaker 2: network  by  2035.  Certainly  an  ambitious  plan.

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Michael Thompson: Yeah,  it  is.  Now,  you  mentioned  Optus  earlier,  Sean,  what's 

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Michael Thompson: the  latest  on  the  cyber  breach?

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Speaker 2: Well,  it's  really  becoming  a  political  football  with  opposition  leader 

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Speaker 2: Peter  Dutton  saying,  Home  affairs  minister  Clare  O'Neil  has  been 

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Speaker 2: missing  in  action.  The  government  had  talks  are  underway  for 

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Speaker 2: the  banks  to  step  up  monitoring  of  accounts  of  customers 

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Speaker 2: whose  personal  identification  data  was  stolen  in  the  cyber  attack. 

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Speaker 2: Health  minister  Mark  Butler  said  he  was  in  the  middle 

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Speaker 2: of  considering  whether  to  roll  out  new  Medicare  numbers  to 

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Speaker 2: people  involved.  Several  state  governments  have  allowed  victims  of  the 

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Speaker 2: attack  to  immediately  replace  drivers'  licenses  with  Optus  footing  the 

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Speaker 2: bill  on  that  one.  And  Prime  Minister  Anthony  Albanese  said 

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Speaker 2: he  expects  Optus  to  do  everything  within  its  means  to 

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Speaker 2: support  affected  customers,  including  paying  for  replacement  passports.  Of  course, 

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Speaker 2: more  than  10  million  current  or  former  customers  have  been 

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Speaker 2: affected.  What  is  going  to  happen  with  that  data  is 

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Speaker 2: still  unknown,  not  withstanding,  the  alleged  hacker,  said  that they  wouldn't 

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Speaker 2: use  the  data.  The  upshot  of  all  this  is  that 

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Speaker 2: class  action  law  firms  are  circling.  Slater  and  Gordon  did 

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Speaker 2: it  on  Monday  saying  it  was  investigating  a  legal  claim. 

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Speaker 2: Yesterday,  Morris  Blackburn  said  the  same  thing.

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Michael Thompson: Sean,  BUBS  Australia,  which  is  a  company  that  we've  talked 

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Michael Thompson: quite  a  bit  about,  is  setting  up  a  joint  venture 

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Michael Thompson: with  a  Chinese  group  with  factories  in  far  northeastern  China 

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Michael Thompson: to  make  Chinese  labeled  infant  formula.

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Speaker 2: And  that  will  allow  BUBS  to  tap  into  the  80% 

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Speaker 2: of  the  40  billion  China  market  in  which  it  currently 

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Speaker 2: is  unable  to  compete.  Chief  Executive,  Kristy  Carr  said  the 

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Speaker 2: first  Chinese  label  product  (inaudible)   Formula  is  expected  to 

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Speaker 2: hit  the  shelves  in  China  in  three  to  six  months  time.

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Michael Thompson: Sean,  we  mentioned  this  one  at  the  top  of  the 

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Michael Thompson: show.  Foxtel  has  expanded  its  portfolio  signing  a  multi- year 

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Michael Thompson: deal  with  WWE,  the  American  Professional  Wrestling  franchise.  You  would 

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Michael Thompson: be  a  wrestling  fan,  wouldn't  you?

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Speaker 2: Oh,  absolutely.  I  mean,  what's  even  more  exciting  is  Foxtel 

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Speaker 2: will  launch  a  standalone  24/7  WWE  channel  from  December.  It'll 

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Speaker 2: include  things  like  the  Royal  Rumble  and  WrestleMania,  which  I 

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Speaker 2: had  to  Google  to  work  out  what  they  were.  Still 

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Speaker 2: a  lot  of  fans  out  there.

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Michael Thompson: Sure  you did. Sure you  did.

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Speaker 2: Yeah,  yeah.  According  to  the  Australian  professional  wrestling  has  enjoyed 

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Speaker 2: a  resurgence  in  recent  years  with  a  new  generation  of 

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Speaker 2: stars  such  as  Roman  Reigns  and The Usos.  I  have  no  idea. 

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Speaker 2: I  mean,  I  loved  Hulk  Hogan,  Andre  the  Giant  in 

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Speaker 2: the  day.  I  might  have  to  chase  up  these  new 

285
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Speaker 2: ones.  Foxtel's  four  and  a  half  million  subscribers  will  have 

286
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Speaker 2: access  to  WWE's  live  events.  Previously,  they  were  pay  per 

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Speaker 2: view.  Quite  a  win  for  wrestling  fans  here  in  Australia.

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Michael Thompson: Gosh,  Sean,  you  make  yourself  sound  so  old  when  you 

289
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Michael Thompson: say  things  like  that.  I  expect  you  to  say  things 

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Michael Thompson: were  better  back  in  my  day.

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Speaker 2: Ah,  I  had  the  Hulk  Hogan  doll.

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Michael Thompson: Did  you?

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Michael Thompson: If  you  still  had  it,  I  reckon  that  would  be 

295
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Michael Thompson: worth  some  money  now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you're  probably  right.  All  right.  Moving  on  to  overseas  news 

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Speaker 2: and  Hurricane  Ian  has  caused  chaos  in  the  Caribbean  and 

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Speaker 2: Southern  us  with  the  electricity  grid  across  all  of  Cuba, 

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Speaker 2: collapsing.
 The  entire  country  lost  power  and  the  massive  storm 

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Speaker 2: was  expected  to  hit  the  Florida  coastline,  the  west  coast 

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Speaker 2: of  Florida  in  the  US  overnight,  nearly  two  and  a 

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Speaker 2: half  million  Florida  residents  have  been  ordered  to  evacuate.  Winds 

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Speaker 2: were  expected  to  reach  more  than  200  kilometers  an  hour, 

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Speaker 2: but  as  it  was  heading  through  the  Gulf,  it  was 

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Speaker 2: picking  up  speed.  Very  worrying.

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Michael Thompson: Yeah,  sure  is.  Apple  is  backing  off  plans  to  increase 

307
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Michael Thompson: production  of  its  new  iPhones  after  an  anticipated  surge  in 

308
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Michael Thompson: demand  kind  of  failed  to  materialize.

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Speaker 2: That's  right.  Apple  has  told  suppliers  to  pull  back  from 

310
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Speaker 2: efforts  to  increase  assembly  of  the  iPhone  14  product  family 

311
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Speaker 2: by  as  many  as  6  million  units  in  the  second 

312
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Speaker 2: half  of  this  year.  That's  according  to  Bloomberg.  Instead,  the 

313
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Speaker 2: company  will  aim  to  produce  90  million  handsets  for  the 

314
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Speaker 2: period  roughly  the  same  level  as  last  year.  90  million 

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Speaker 2: handsets.  I  still  find  that  number  incredible,  to  think  that 

316
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Speaker 2: there  are  90  million  phones  going  out  there.  Demand  for 

317
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Speaker 2: the  higher  priced  iPhone  14  pro  models  is  stronger  than 

318
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Speaker 2: for  the  entry  level  versions,  and  an  Apple  supplier  said 

319
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Speaker 2: that  they  were  shifting  production  capacity  from  those  lower  priced 

320
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Speaker 2: iPhones  to  the  premium  models  as  a  result.

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Michael Thompson: And  last  one,  Sean,  the  US  Securities  and  Exchange  Commission 

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Michael Thompson: has  fined  16  financial  firms,  and  it's  quite  a  list, 

323
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Michael Thompson: including  Barclays,  Bank  of  America,  Citigroup,  Credit  Suisse,  Goldman  Sachs, 

324
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Michael Thompson: Morgan  Stanley,  UBS,  a  combined  1.1  billion  US  dollars  over 

325
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Michael Thompson: failing  to  maintain  and  preserve  electronic  communications.

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Speaker 2: Yes,  This  story  will  send  shatters  through  a  few  financial 

327
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Speaker 2: service  firms  locally  as  well.  According  to  Reuters,  from  January 

328
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Speaker 2: 2018  through  September  2021,  the  bank's  employees  routinely  communicated  about 

329
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Speaker 2: business  matters  using  applications  such  as  text  messages  and  WhatsApp 

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Speaker 2: on  their  own  devices,  on  their  personal  devices.  The  institutions 

331
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Speaker 2: didn't  preserve  the  majority  of  these  communications,  which  violated  the 

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Speaker 2: rules.  Does  that  sound  a  little  too  familiar?  The  sweepy 

333
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Speaker 2: industry  probe  is  considered  a  landmark  case  for  the  SEC.

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Michael Thompson: All  right.  Coming  up  next  is  the  Fear  and  Greed 

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Michael Thompson: Daily  interview,  and  your  guest  today,  Sean,  is  Renee  Thornton 

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Michael Thompson: from  Rehab  Management.

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Speaker 2: That's  right.  All  about  getting  people  back  to  work,  people 

338
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Speaker 2: with  health  issues.  Fascinating  because  it's  become  a  much,  much 

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Speaker 2: bigger  problem.  A $ 62  billion  problem  for  the  local  economy.

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Michael Thompson: It's  coming  up  next  in  the  Fear  and  Greed  Playlist 

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Michael Thompson: on  your  podcast  platform  or  at  fearandgreed. com. au.  Thank 

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Michael Thompson: you,  Sean.

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Speaker 2: Thank  you,  Michael.

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Michael Thompson: It's  Thursday  the  29th  of  September  2022.  Make  sure  you're 

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Michael Thompson: following  the  podcast  and  join  us  online  on  LinkedIn,  Twitter, 

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Michael Thompson: and  Facebook.  I'm  Michael  Thompson  and  that  was  Fear  and 

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Michael Thompson: Greed.  Have  a  great  day.