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

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Speaker 1: for Friday, the thirteenth of December twenty twenty four. I'm

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Speaker 1: sure a elma every afternoon. We've got the five stories

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Speaker 1: that happened today that you need to know about. Straightham on On.

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Speaker 1: The local share market fell to a four week low

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Speaker 1: this morning after a week leading from Wall Street, before

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Speaker 1: making up some ground to close down nearly half a

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Speaker 1: percent to eighty two hundred and ninety six points. For

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Speaker 1: the week, the market was off about two percent. The

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Speaker 1: big miners led the way lower today, with Fordyesque Metals Group,

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Speaker 1: Rio Tinto and BHP all down sharply. The banks were mixed,

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Speaker 1: while the Energy index outperformed. A bit of corporate news around.

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Speaker 1: Westpac held its annual general meeting, the last Route going

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Speaker 1: CEO Peter King. At the meeting, Peter King said the

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Speaker 1: bank is well positioned and knows that more needs to

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Speaker 1: be done to tackle climate change. South thirty two, the

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Speaker 1: minor fell more than one percent despite receiving the backing

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Speaker 1: of Western Australia's Environment Minister to extend the life of

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Speaker 1: its Worsley Alumina pro project. GPT fell after it said

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Speaker 1: it had acquired a fifty percent stake in the parent group.

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Speaker 1: We're talking real estate investment trusts here for just under

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Speaker 1: five hundred million dollars. And Peter Hollahan, the CEO of

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Speaker 1: Resolute Mining, who was held hostage in Mali, is taking

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Speaker 1: a leave of absence to the end of January. He

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Speaker 1: certainly deserves it. We hope he's okay. Story number two.

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Speaker 1: The Coalition claims its nuclear power plan will cost up

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Speaker 1: to two hundred and sixty three billion dollars less than

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Speaker 1: Labour's renewable plans over the next twenty five years, meaning

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Speaker 1: cheaper power in the long run. Today Opposition later, Peter

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Speaker 1: Dutton released costings on his nuclear power option, which includes

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Speaker 1: seven reactors. It was done by Frontier Economics and it

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Speaker 1: estimates that the coalition's policy will deliver net zero emissions

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Speaker 1: electricity by twenty fifty at a cost of three hundred

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Speaker 1: and thirty one billion dollars. Under the coalition's model, renewable

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Speaker 1: energy will still be the dominant source of power by

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Speaker 1: twenty fifty, responsible for fifty four percent of generation and

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Speaker 1: the national electoral tricity market, but nuclear power will provide

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Speaker 1: thirty eight percent the remainder will come from storage such

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Speaker 1: as batteries and gas. According to a report in the

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Speaker 1: Financial Review, under the government's policy, about ninety four percent

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Speaker 1: of generation by twenty fifty would be renewable energy, with

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Speaker 1: the rest to come from gas and storage. Labour's plans

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Speaker 1: predict ninety percent of coal fired power will have exited

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Speaker 1: the system by twenty thirty four. While coal will play

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Speaker 1: no long term role on the coalition's plan either, it

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Speaker 1: will need to stay operational for a few years beyond

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Speaker 1: twenty thirty four, and to nuclear reactors are running to

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Speaker 1: keep the electricity grid working. However, the coalition's plan will

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Speaker 1: use less gas than Labour's policy a lot in that

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Speaker 1: one storry number three. Hundreds of Quantus engineers walked off

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Speaker 1: the job this morning during one of the busiest times

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Speaker 1: of the year after long running wage negotiations between unions

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Speaker 1: and the airline stalled. More than five hundred engineers across

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Speaker 1: major Australian airports began walking out from three thirty am

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Speaker 1: this morning, according to AAP, and they're set to strike

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Speaker 1: until tomorrow morning. The union once a twenty five percent

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Speaker 1: pay rise over three years. Qantas said the strike action

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Speaker 1: has had little effect on Christmas flights, but did urge

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Speaker 1: customers to give themselves extra time because of the crowds.

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Speaker 1: Quantus said it's offering a competitive package including pay rises,

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Speaker 1: upskilling and career progression. The strike comes after a six

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Speaker 1: week pause in industrial action, during which the parties resolved

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Speaker 1: to continue negotiations over a new enterprise agreement. Storry number

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Speaker 1: four AMP has invested twenty seven million dollars in bitcoin,

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Speaker 1: the first time a major superannuation fund has purchased the

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Speaker 1: asset class. It isn't a huge portion of the group's

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Speaker 1: fifty seven billion dollars in funds under management, but it

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Speaker 1: certainly has been a lucrative investment, with the purchase occurring

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Speaker 1: when the cryptocurrency was around sixty five thousand US dollars

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Speaker 1: a unit. Today it's closer to one hundred thousand US

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Speaker 1: dollars a unit. Amp's chief investment officer and Shelley is

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Speaker 1: quoted in the media as saying it's part of the

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Speaker 1: group's diversification strategy. Some small self managed super funds hold cryptocurrencies,

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Speaker 1: but not the big ones. Thus far, no other major

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Speaker 1: supergroups come out saying they're about to enter that market,

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Speaker 1: and story number five financial services group. Insignia Financial today

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Speaker 1: received a two point seven billion dollar takeover bid from

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Speaker 1: private equity group Bane Capital that sent its share price

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Speaker 1: up eight percent. Used to be known as IF Holdings,

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Speaker 1: has a bunch of financial partners office superannuation products about

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Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty eight billion dollars worth of funds

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Speaker 1: under management. The bid is a thirty percent premium to

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Speaker 1: the closing price on Wednesday, which was ahead of media

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Speaker 1: reports of the bid. As IF the afternoon report for

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Speaker 1: Friday thirteenth of December twenty twenty four. Make sure you

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Speaker 1: hit follow on the podcast. We'll be back tomorrow morning

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Speaker 1: with a weekend edition of the Fast five Business Years

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Speaker 1: by Fear and Greed. I'm sure I Alma, enjoy your

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Speaker 1: evening