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

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Speaker 1: for Thursday, the nineteenth of March 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: go with story number one. It was a wild day

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Speaker 1: on the ASX, with the benchmark SMPASX two hundred closing

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Speaker 1: down one point six five percent to eighty four hundred

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Speaker 1: and ninety eight points. The market tumbled on opening and

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Speaker 1: basically stayed there pretty much all day. It began after

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Speaker 1: the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold. More

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Speaker 1: on that one in a moment. Then local labor force

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Speaker 1: figures were released showing the unemployment rate had risen to

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Speaker 1: four point three percent in February, up from four point

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Speaker 1: one percent a month earlier. Overall, forty nine thousand jobs

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Speaker 1: were added to the economy, but the number of people

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Speaker 1: looking for work surged. By the close at four PM,

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Speaker 1: the energy index was the only one to show major gains,

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Speaker 1: with the oil bill and gas and coal companies rising.

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Speaker 1: The material sector was sold off, led by the gold companies.

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Speaker 1: Tech stocks and property companies also ended lower. Among the

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Speaker 1: large caps outside the energy sector. The stable stocks did best, Woolies,

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Speaker 1: Telstra QB all outperformed. The big four banks did better

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Speaker 1: than the market, but all closed lower. On to story

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Speaker 1: number two, Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi has suggested the US

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Speaker 1: and Israel may have already achieved their objectives in Iran,

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Speaker 1: calling for a de escalation of the conflict. The PM

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Speaker 1: said Iran's nuclear ambitions have been curtailed and its capacity

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Speaker 1: to launch at tax weakened, raising questions about the need

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Speaker 1: for further military action. He pointed to signs that the

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Speaker 1: conflict could be nearing an end, while acknowledging uncertainty over

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Speaker 1: how long it may actually continue. He made the comments

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Speaker 1: after a national Cabinet meeting where a National Fuel Task

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Speaker 1: Force was set up to help manage fuel supplies amid

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Speaker 1: the Middle East crisis. We'll have a lot more on

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Speaker 1: this one tomorrow morning under story number three. Now and

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Speaker 1: I mentioned the US Fed well. The Federal Reserve has

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Speaker 1: kept interest rates on hold in what might be the

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Speaker 1: end of the rate cutting cycle due to the ambiguity

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Speaker 1: over the impact of the Middle East war. Rates in

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Speaker 1: the world's biggest economy remain in the three point five

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Speaker 1: to three point seven five percent range, with the Central

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Speaker 1: Bank signaling that it is too early to determine how

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Speaker 1: the war will affect the economic outlook. While most officials

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Speaker 1: there still expect at least one rate cut this year,

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Speaker 1: markets are pushing back expectations as inflation risks rise. FED

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Speaker 1: Board members now expect inflation to end the year at

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Speaker 1: two point seven percent, up from the two point four

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Speaker 1: percent that they are predicting in December. Story number four

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Speaker 1: back Home Again now and the Kyle and Jackie O

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Speaker 1: Show has ended its run on radio with declining audience

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Speaker 1: numbers as the fallout from the duo's on air dispute continues.

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Speaker 1: The first official radio ratings of the year were published

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Speaker 1: today and in Sydney the show lost listeners and finished

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Speaker 1: well behind market leader Ben Fordham in Breakfast on two GB,

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Speaker 1: while in Melbourne the Kyle and Jackie Oh Show remained

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Speaker 1: in eighth place despite a slight lift in share. The

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Speaker 1: results come just as Arn Terminator both hosts contracts following

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Speaker 1: a breakdown in their working relationship. We've talked a lot

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Speaker 1: about that over the last couple of weeks. Elsewhere in

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Speaker 1: the radio ratings today, Smooth FM was number one in

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Speaker 1: Sydney talk radio, Juggernaut three aw topped Melbourne and Triple

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Speaker 1: M dominated in Brisbane, and finally, story number five are

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Speaker 1: curious but perhaps concerning story out of the US, officials

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Speaker 1: have detected unidentified drones flying over a military base in Washington,

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Speaker 1: where senior officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and

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Speaker 1: Defense Secretary Pete Hegsath live now. According to the Washington Post,

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Speaker 1: authorities have not determined where the drones originated from, but

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Speaker 1: the incident has heightened security concerns a mid the ongoing

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Speaker 1: Iran conflicts. Officials considered relocating the senior figures but ultimately

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Speaker 1: decided against it, while monitoring of potential threats has been

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Speaker 1: stepped up. And that's it for the afternoon Report for Thursday,

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Speaker 1: the nineteenth of March. Make sure you're following the podcast,

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Speaker 1: and please head along to Fearangreed dot com dot au

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Speaker 1: to sign up for our free daily newsletter. I'm Michael Thompson.

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Speaker 1: Enjoy your evening,