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

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Speaker 1: for Wednesday, the eighteenth of December twenty twenty four, Ah

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Speaker 1: Michael Thompson. Every afternoon, we've got the five stories that

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Speaker 1: happen today that you need to know about. So let's

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Speaker 1: get going with story number one. The Federal Treasurer Jim

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Speaker 1: Chalmers today handed down the Midyear Economic and Fiscal Outlook MYIFO.

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Speaker 1: It's called, and it shows a smaller deficit this financial year,

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Speaker 1: but then a jump over the next three. The combined

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Speaker 1: deficit over the next four years comes in at one

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Speaker 1: hundred and forty four billion dollars. In terms of the

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Speaker 1: economy and the various insights contained within my EFO, the

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Speaker 1: government has downgraded its growth forecast this financial year to

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Speaker 1: one point seventy five percent and then two point twenty

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Speaker 1: five percent in twenty twenty five twenty six. It is

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Speaker 1: forecasting ongoing easing of inflation and wage increases, with a

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Speaker 1: steady pickup in the unemployment rate to four point five

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Speaker 1: percent by the midde of next year. Doctor Chalmers said

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Speaker 1: the economy is on track for a soft landing. Under

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Speaker 1: story number two. Now, the local share market ended pretty

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Speaker 1: flat today, with the S and p ASX two hundred

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Speaker 1: closing down four point six points or just zero point

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Speaker 1: zero six percent to eighty three hundred and nine points.

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Speaker 1: I'd call that reasonably flat. Best performer on the burse

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Speaker 1: was by now Pay Later operator Zipco, up more than

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Speaker 1: seven percent. There was a bit of corporate activity going on.

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Speaker 1: Vulcan Energy signed a one point four billion dollar loan

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Speaker 1: commitment with Export Finance Australia and a group of seven

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Speaker 1: commercial banks for the financing of its Lion Heart project

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Speaker 1: in Germany, which is undeniably a very cool name for

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Speaker 1: a project. Mineral Resources has completed the sale of two

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Speaker 1: exploration permits to Hancock Prospecting for seven hundred and eighty

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Speaker 1: million dollars, and Insignia told shareholders today that it was

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Speaker 1: rejecting private equity giant Baine Capital's four dollars her share

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Speaker 1: bid because it quote does not adequately represent fair value

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Speaker 1: for them. Its share price ended down more than four

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Speaker 1: percent today, one of the worst performers on the BOSS.

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Speaker 1: On to story number three. Now. Foreign Minister Penny Wong

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Speaker 1: has been accused of abandoning Israel in the wake of

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Speaker 1: the October seven her Maas terror attack. During a heated

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Speaker 1: phone call with her Israeli counterpart. The Financial Review report,

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Speaker 1: Senator Wong had a quote heated verbal argument over the

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Speaker 1: phone with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sah, who apparently said

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Speaker 1: that Australia had weakened its support for Israel quote in

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Speaker 1: its most difficult year when it has fought against its

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Speaker 1: bitterest enemies. The report hasn't been confirmed by Penny Wong,

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Speaker 1: and nor is it likely to be, as most of

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Speaker 1: these types of diplomatic conversations are kept very much under

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Speaker 1: wraps and rarely ever confirmed. Tensions have been growing between

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Speaker 1: Israel and Australia after Australia voted on a series of

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Speaker 1: United Nations General Assembly resolutions about peace in the Middle East,

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Speaker 1: and Senator Wong also called for an international declaration of

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Speaker 1: a Palestinian state. Story number four one from the court's

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Speaker 1: high profile broadcaster, Alan Jones is facing eight new indecent

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Speaker 1: assault charges relating to a tenth alleged victim. The eighty

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Speaker 1: three year old faced a court in Sydney yesterday for

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Speaker 1: the first time over the allegations. He was already facing

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Speaker 1: twenty six charges relating to offenses allegedly committed between June

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Speaker 1: two thousand and one and December twenty nineteen. According to

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Speaker 1: the Cydny Morning Herald, Jones was arrested at his apartment

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Speaker 1: in Circular Key on November eighteen. He has now been

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Speaker 1: charged with eleven counts of aggravated in decent assault, nineteen

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Speaker 1: counts of assault with an active indecency, two counts of

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Speaker 1: sexually touching another person without consent, and two counts of

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Speaker 1: common assault. Yesterday, outside court, he was sworn at and

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Speaker 1: heckled by a crowd surrounding the media. Jones said he

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Speaker 1: will plead not guilty to the charges and welcomed the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to clear his name. Finally, story number five, four

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Speaker 1: Brazilian municipalities joined in litigation pursuing BHP for eighteen billion

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Speaker 1: pounds in the British courts have quit the high profile

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Speaker 1: class action. This relates to the Somaco Damn disaster back

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Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen that killed nineteen people, destroyed towns and

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Speaker 1: infrastructure in Brazil. The exit of the municipalities comes less

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Speaker 1: than eight weeks after BHP and its Somaco partners struck

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Speaker 1: an alternative deal valued at thirty one point seven billion

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Speaker 1: US dollars or about fifty billion ossie. That was a

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Speaker 1: compensation deal that was struck with the Brazilian government. According

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Speaker 1: to a report in the Financial Review, citizens, municipalities and

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Speaker 1: businesses who were affected by the disaster now essentially have

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Speaker 1: to choose whether to sign up for the compensation deal

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Speaker 1: struck between the Brazilian government BHP and its Somaco partner

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Speaker 1: of Valet, or take their chances on possible compensation through

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Speaker 1: through the British class action. That's it for the afternoon

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Speaker 1: report for Wednesday, the eighteenth of December twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you hit follow on the podcast and we'll

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Speaker 1: be back tomorrow morning with the Thursday edition of Fear

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Speaker 1: and Greed. I'm Michael Thompson. Enjoy your evening.