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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report

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Speaker 1: for Tuesday, the seventh of April twenty twenty six. I'm

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Speaker 1: Michael Thompson, and every afternoon we've got the five stories

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Speaker 1: that happened today that you need to know about. Let's

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Speaker 1: get going with story number one. The S and P

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Speaker 1: ASX two hundred closed today four week high today, climbing

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Speaker 1: one point seven percent to eighty seven hundred and twenty

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Speaker 1: nine points, even as investors braced for a potential escalation

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Speaker 1: in the Iran conflict. It was even higher than that

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Speaker 1: point earlier in the day, with the index touching eighty

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Speaker 1: eight hundred and four points before fading as US futures

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Speaker 1: slipped and Asian market's lost a bit of momentum ahead

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Speaker 1: of President Donald Trump's deadline for Iran to strike a deal.

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Speaker 1: Trump has warned that if Tehran does not agree to

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Speaker 1: reopen the Strait of Muz by ten am tomorrow, the

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Speaker 1: US will launch a new round of strikes. Energy stocks

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Speaker 1: rose today alongside oil. Brent crude. The price of oil

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Speaker 1: was up nearly two percent to one hundred and eleven

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Speaker 1: US dollars a barrel. Woodside gained two point six percent,

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Speaker 1: Korn Energy almost three percent, while Santos edged higher as well,

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Speaker 1: but it was Textocs really that led the local market today.

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Speaker 1: Next DC jump nearly twelve percent after announcing a one

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Speaker 1: billion dollar capital deal. Weistech and Zero also posted some

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Speaker 1: solid gains. BHP had a cracker up three point three

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Speaker 1: percent today on stronger copper prices. The banks also jumped.

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Speaker 1: Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac were all up around two

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Speaker 1: and a half percent, and one more definitely worth a mentioned.

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Speaker 1: Mexican food chain Guzmani Gomez, surged eighteen point six percent

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Speaker 1: today after it's posted stronger than expected third quarter sales

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Speaker 1: growth that is its best one day results since its

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Speaker 1: IPO last year. Story number two former SAS soldier Ben

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Speaker 1: Roberts Smith has been arrested and is expected to be

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Speaker 1: charged with multiple counts of war crime murder in what

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Speaker 1: could become the most significant prosecution of its kind in

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Speaker 1: Australian history. Authorities alleged the victims were unarmed Afghan civilians

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Speaker 1: and prisoners who were under the control of Australian forces

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Speaker 1: at the time that they were allegedly killed between two

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Speaker 1: thousand and six and twenty twelve. The charges follow a

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Speaker 1: five year investigation involving the Office of the Special Investigator

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Speaker 1: and the Australian Federal Police, with key testimony expected from

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Speaker 1: former SAS personnel Ben Roberts. Smith, who is one of

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Speaker 1: Australia's most decorated soldiers, was arrested at Sydney Airport this

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Speaker 1: morning after arriving from Brisbane. The maximum sentence for the

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Speaker 1: charge of war crime murder is life in jail. Story

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Speaker 1: number three. Concerts, musicals, air travel and accommodation pushed household

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Speaker 1: spending higher in February, ahead of the onset of the

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Speaker 1: war in the Middle East and greater inflationary pressures. Annually,

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Speaker 1: household spending was up four point six percent, which doesn't

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Speaker 1: suggest there were huge price pressures in the economy. It's

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Speaker 1: an interesting number, of course, but like everything in the

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Speaker 1: economy that happened before March, it's been pretty much super

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Speaker 1: seated by the Middle East conflicts. Now household budgets are

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Speaker 1: under pressure thanks to higher interest rates, inflation and rising

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Speaker 1: petrol prices. Consumer sentiment, as measured by the A and

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Speaker 1: Z Roy morganpol is at a record low, so spending

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Speaker 1: isn't likely to rise too much going forward. The good

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Speaker 1: news in all of this is that the unemployment rate

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Speaker 1: is relatively low, people have jobs, and the bottom line

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Speaker 1: at the end, economists think that there are more interest

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Speaker 1: rate hikes on the way to offset the surge in

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Speaker 1: oil prices, so unfortunately, things aren't likely to improve for

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Speaker 1: households anytime soon. Story number four. US President Donald Trump

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Speaker 1: has again criticized Australia for refusing to support military action

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Speaker 1: in Iran, accusing allies of failing to back the United States.

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Speaker 1: Speaking at the White House, Trump singled out Australia alongside

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Speaker 1: Japan and South Korea, saying they didn't help as tensions

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Speaker 1: in the Middle East escalated. The comments come as Australia

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Speaker 1: maintains it has not been asked to participate in A

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Speaker 1: five operations, with the government instead focusing on protecting Australian

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Speaker 1: citizens and supporting regional stability. Canberra has deployed military assets

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Speaker 1: to the Middle East, including a surveillance aircraft to the UAE,

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Speaker 1: but insists its role is defensive, not combat related. And finally,

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Speaker 1: story number five, Regional Australia has passed a major milestone

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Speaker 1: with more than ten million people now living outside the

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Speaker 1: capital cities as population growth continues to shift beyond the

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Speaker 1: big metro centers. New data suggests regional and rural populations

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Speaker 1: grew one point one percent over the past year to

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Speaker 1: ten point zero two million people, with Western Australia leading

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Speaker 1: the charge and several areas growing faster than the cities.

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Speaker 1: In an analysis of Australian Bureau Statistics data, the Regional

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Speaker 1: Australia Institute said the strongest growth is happening in so

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Speaker 1: called connected lifestyle regions, which are areas really within reach

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Speaker 1: of major cities where affordability and lifestyle are drawing people

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Speaker 1: out of the metropolitan centers. Places like the Gold Coast,

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Speaker 1: Sunshine Coast and Greater Geelong are seeing the biggest absolute increases.

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Speaker 1: Our smaller regions near Perth are among the fastest growing

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Speaker 1: five percentage. And that is it for the Afternoon Report

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Speaker 1: for Tuesday, the seventh of April. Make sure you're following

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Speaker 1: the podcast and please head along to Fear and Greed

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Speaker 1: dot com dot au to sign up for our free

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Speaker 1: daily newsletter. I'm Michael Thompson. Enjoy your Eve