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

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Speaker 1: for Monday, the thirtieth 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 story number one. The S and PA SX two

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Speaker 1: hundred fell sharply today. It was down almost one point

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Speaker 1: six percent at one point, before recovering somewhat to close

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Speaker 1: zero point seven percent lower at eighty four hundred and

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Speaker 1: sixty one points. The benchmark index is now down eight

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Speaker 1: percent for the month, putting it on track for its

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Speaker 1: worst performance since the early days of the pandemic. Fears

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Speaker 1: that Hooti militants could target red sea shipping lanes, escalating

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Speaker 1: the Middle East conflict that really sent oil prices higher,

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Speaker 1: trading above one hundred and fifteen US dollars a barrel

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Speaker 1: that triggered a sell off locally in banks and technology stocks.

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Speaker 1: The bank stocks really led the declines. Westpac was down

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Speaker 1: more than four percent today, Comwealth Bank off nearly three percent.

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Speaker 1: NAB and A and Z also weaker. Macquarie fell one percent.

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Speaker 1: I mentioned the tech stocks, they also dropped zero wise

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Speaker 1: tech technology one, we're all lower amid concerns that higher

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Speaker 1: interest rates and that familiar story of AI disruption that

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Speaker 1: that is going to weigh on the sector. Energy stocks

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Speaker 1: bucked the trend, perhaps unsurprisingly. Santos Beach Energy were both higher.

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Speaker 1: Woodside gained after resuming LNG shipments following disruptions from cyclone.

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Speaker 1: Narrel off the wa Coast. Coalstocks surged, while Whitehaven was

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Speaker 1: probably the best there that jumped well that's six percent today.

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Speaker 1: Mining stocks also rallied on higher aluminium prices. There were

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Speaker 1: some strong gains for South thirty two, Rio Tinto and

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Speaker 1: Alcoa Honda Story number two well away from markets this one.

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Speaker 1: Accused cop killer Desi Freeman has been shot dead by

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Speaker 1: police in regional Victoria, ending a seven month manhunt that

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Speaker 1: became one of the state's largest ever operations. Police stormed

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Speaker 1: a rural property near the log Along on the New

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Speaker 1: New South Wales border early this morning, where Freeman had

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Speaker 1: been hiding in a makeshift structure resembling a shipping container

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Speaker 1: in Caravan.

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Speaker 2: Victoria. Police said that officers attempted to negotiate a peaceful surrender,

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Speaker 2: but Freeman, who was allegedly armed with a stolen police

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Speaker 2: weapon did not comply. He was shot during the confrontation,

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Speaker 2: with authority saying the use of force was justified. You

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Speaker 2: will be familiar with the story. Freeman had been on

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Speaker 2: the run since August last year after allegedly killing two

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Speaker 2: police officers near Paul Punker, triggering a massive cross border

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Speaker 2: search involving agencies across Australia and even into New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: Police say the focus will now shift to identifying anyone

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Speaker 2: who may have helped him evade capture, with charges likely

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Speaker 2: for those found to be complicit. Story number three. Support

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Speaker 2: for Anthony Alberanesi's Labour government has fallen sharply, with the

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Speaker 2: latest News poll showing the primary vote dropping to thirty

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Speaker 2: one percent. That is the lowest level since the last election.

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Speaker 2: The poll in the Australian newspaper reportedly reflects growing voter

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Speaker 2: concern about cost of living pressures, rising interest rates and

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Speaker 2: the economic fallout from the Middle East conflict. Albanese's personal

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Speaker 2: approval rating has also deteriorated, with more voters dissatisfied than satisfied,

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Speaker 2: although he does still lead opposition leader Angus Taylor as

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Speaker 2: preferred prime minister. Meanwhile, the PM has today convened a

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Speaker 2: national Cabinet meeting to determine a response to the growing

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Speaker 2: fuel crisis, announcing this afternoon that the government will have

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Speaker 2: the fuel excis for the next three months, lowering the

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Speaker 2: levee placed on petrol by twenty six point three cents eleter.

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Speaker 2: Story number four. US President Donald Trump says a ceasefire

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Speaker 2: with Iran could be reached fairly quickly as indirect negotiations

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Speaker 2: continue via intermediaries. Trump told the FT that talks were

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Speaker 2: progressing well, while also suggesting the conflicts had already achieved

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Speaker 2: a form of regime change following the deaths of senior

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Speaker 2: Iranian leaders. Despite that somewhat optimistic tone, the president then

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Speaker 2: also said, I quote, we've got about three thousand targets left.

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Speaker 2: We've bombed thirteen thousand targets and another couple of thousand

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Speaker 2: targets to go. He also said there's uncertainty around the

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Speaker 2: condition of Iran's new supreme leader, saying he's either dead

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Speaker 2: or in extremely bad shape. And finally, storry number five

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Speaker 2: a bit of a change of pace. US department store

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Speaker 2: Macy's says users of its new AI chatbot spend about

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Speaker 2: four hundred percent more online than those who don't use

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Speaker 2: the chatbot. In an interview with Bloomberg, a Macy's executive

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Speaker 2: said the new AI powered shopping assistant is significantly boosting

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Speaker 2: online spending as retailer's race to integrate AI into the

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Speaker 2: customer experience. The Ask Macy's chatbot, which is powered by

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Speaker 2: Google's Gemini platform, offers personalized recommendations, styling suggestions, virtual try ons,

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Speaker 2: essentially aiming to replicate the instore experience. Online retail are

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Speaker 2: increasingly investing in AI assistance to compete with platforms like

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Speaker 2: chat GPT, which are changing how consumers search and shop.

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Speaker 2: And that's it for the afternoon Report for Monday, the

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Speaker 2: thirtieth of March.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you're following the podcast, and please head on

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Speaker 1: to Fear and Greed dot com dot au to sign

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Speaker 1: up for our free daily newsletter.

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Speaker 2: I'm Michael Thompson. Enjoy your evening,