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Michael Thompson: It's Friday, the 1st of October 2021. Welcome to the

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Michael Thompson: Fear and Greed Business Headlines, where we give you the

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Michael Thompson: top five business stories you need to know in just

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Michael Thompson: five minutes. I'm Michael Thompson and good morning, Sean Aylmer.

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Sean Aylmer: Morning,  Michael.

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Michael Thompson: All right. Five stories in five minutes. Here we go.

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Michael Thompson: Story number one, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is upbeat about the economy.

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Michael Thompson: The government gets an $ 80 billion boost. What's going on?

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Sean Aylmer: Well, the budget deficit for last financial year came in

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Sean Aylmer: at $134 billion. That's about $80 billion better than the

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Sean Aylmer: government expected and that's after the government spent $311 billion

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Sean Aylmer: in economic and health support during the financial year. In short,

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Sean Aylmer: the economy was stronger than the government expected. It meant

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Sean Aylmer: it paid out less in welfare and received more in

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Sean Aylmer: tax receipts. It really matters because it's a starting point

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Sean Aylmer: to this financial year. Now, one quarter in, if that's

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Sean Aylmer: a quarter we know we can track, that all market

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Sean Aylmer: economists and the Reserve Bank think that, things are looking okay. Mr.

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Sean Aylmer: Frydenberg yesterday said the bill for the Delta variant outbreak

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Sean Aylmer: will top about $20 billion, but some of the economic

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Sean Aylmer: indicators haven't been too bad. We found out this week

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Sean Aylmer: that retail figures fell during August due to lockdowns, but

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Sean Aylmer: they weren't a disaster. In fact, Jarden Economics thinks it's

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Sean Aylmer: about $2 billion available there to be spent. Job vacancy

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Sean Aylmer: figures aren't great, but again, they're not a disaster. And

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Sean Aylmer: yesterday Bureau of Statistics figures showed that dwelling constructions actually

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Sean Aylmer: rose during August. All in all, things don't look too bad.

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Michael Thompson: All  right.  That  story  number  one.  Onto  number  two.  Markets. 

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Michael Thompson: We  have  had  an  incredible  week.  Yesterday  was  another  volatile  day.

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Sean Aylmer: Crazy, crazy, crazy. The S&P/ASX 200 fell one and a half

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Sean Aylmer: per cent on Tuesday, and then more than 1% on Wednesday. Yesterday,

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Sean Aylmer: it jumped by almost 2%. In fact, yesterday was the

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Sean Aylmer: best day since November last year. It means that for

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Sean Aylmer: the September quarter, the index actually ended up higher. Now

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Sean Aylmer: the iron ore bounced yesterday, that helped BHP and Rio Tinto,

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Sean Aylmer: as well as Fortescue Metals. The banks did well, particularly Westpac,

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Sean Aylmer: National Australia Bank and ANZ. In fact, about 80% of

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Sean Aylmer: stocks on the top 200 rose yesterday and all of the

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Sean Aylmer: 11 sub sectors increased. And finally, the Aussie dollar is

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Sean Aylmer: trading around 72 US cents.

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Michael Thompson: Okay.  Story  number  three  today  is  all  about  COVID.  Yesterday 

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Michael Thompson: was  a  pretty  shocking  day  for  Victoria.

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Sean Aylmer: It sure was. The state recorded 1438 cases, which Premier

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Sean Aylmer: Daniel Andrews put down to noncompliance with lockdown rules around

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Sean Aylmer: the AFL Grand Final on Saturday. There's now reports that

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Sean Aylmer: dozens of supermarkets across Melbourne could close this weekend because

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Sean Aylmer: so many staff are in isolation. Coles has 3000 employees

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Sean Aylmer: in isolation across Victoria and New South Wales. Woolworths said up

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Sean Aylmer: to five of its stores may have to close. The

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Sean Aylmer: numbers in New South Wales yesterday weren't great; 941, but

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Sean Aylmer: at least they've plateaued. Some of the regional areas of

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Sean Aylmer: that state have gone back into lockdown, whilst Queensland recorded

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Sean Aylmer: six new cases and the ACT recorded 31 new COVID cases.

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Michael Thompson: Okay. Story number four today is about Foxtel. Now, Foxtel

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Michael Thompson: is far and away Australia's most successful cable channel, but

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Michael Thompson: it's never made money, and streaming seems to have overtaken it.

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Michael Thompson: I know, certainly in our household, we actually ditched Foxtel

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Michael Thompson: some time ago in favour of all the streaming services. However,

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Michael Thompson: yesterday CEO, Patrick Delany, outlined a different future.

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Sean Aylmer: He sure did. As you say, Foxtel's expensive and it

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Sean Aylmer: just seems a bit old hat relative to all the

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Sean Aylmer: new streaming services. Mr. Delaney wants to change that. He

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Sean Aylmer: said it will become a digital streaming led business. He's

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Sean Aylmer: targeting 5 million subscribers in three years time, and it

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Sean Aylmer: sounds like he wants to list on the ASX. At

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Sean Aylmer: the moment the company has about 3.9 million subscribers. Now

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Sean Aylmer: it's Kayo streaming service is doing reasonably well; that's 1.1

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Sean Aylmer: million subscribers. It's also now got Binge, Foxtel Now and

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Sean Aylmer: the just announced Flash, but it's a very competitive market.

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Sean Aylmer: As you said, you have all sorts of streaming services

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Sean Aylmer: in your house. So do I. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Stan,

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Sean Aylmer: and more. That's what Foxtel's up against.

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Michael Thompson: Yeah.  There's  plenty  of  choice.  All  right.  Onto  story  number 

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Michael Thompson: five.  An  interesting  one  today  coming  out  of  Federal  Parliament, 

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Michael Thompson: and  Coalition  MPs  wanting  to  introduce  a  new  bill  to 

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Michael Thompson: cap  the  pay  of  telco  executives.  What's  going  on?

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Sean Aylmer: That's  exactly  right,  including  Telstra  boss,  Andy  Penn.  They  want 

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Sean Aylmer: to  cap  his  pay.  The  idea  is  that  unless  service 

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Sean Aylmer: levels  improve,  then  Mr.  Penn's  pay  should  be  capped.  Obviously, 

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Sean Aylmer: these  are  rural  and  regional  MPs,  but  what  kind  of 

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Sean Aylmer: a  funny  concept,  I  think,  whereby  if  I  don't  like 

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Sean Aylmer: the  service  I  get  from  my  bank  or  I  go 

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Sean Aylmer: to  the  supermarket  and  the  queues  are  too  long,  should 

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Sean Aylmer: the  CEO's  pay  be  docked?  It's  about  the  equivalent  of  that.

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Michael Thompson: I  don't  really  have  a  problem  with  it.  I've  got 

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Michael Thompson: shocking  reception.  I'd  like  someone  to  be  held  accountable.

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Sean Aylmer: No, I don't think your MP was actually complaining about

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Sean Aylmer: it though, Michael.

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Michael Thompson: I  suspect  not.  All  right,  Sean.  There  we  go.  Five 

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Michael Thompson: stories  in  five  minutes.  Thank  you  very  much.

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Sean Aylmer: Thanks, Michael.

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Michael Thompson: It's Friday, the 1st of October 2021. Remember to hit

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Michael Thompson: follow on the podcast and if five minutes isn't enough,

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Michael Thompson: then find our longer podcast called Fear and Greed on

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Michael Thompson: your podcast platform. You can always find more in fearandgreed.com.au

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Michael Thompson: and sign up for our free daily newsletter. I'm Michael Thompson,

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Michael Thompson: and that was the Fear and Greed Business Headlines. Have

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Michael Thompson: a great day.