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Speaker 1: It's Friday, the seventeenth of October twenty twenty five. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Fast five Business News by Fear and Greed,

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Speaker 1: where we give you the top five business stories you

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Speaker 1: need to know in just five minutes. I'm Michael Thompson

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Speaker 1: and good morning, Sean Aylmer.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Michael, Sean.

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Speaker 3: Story number one, let's get going.

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Speaker 1: Australia's unemployment rate has jumped to four point five percent,

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Speaker 1: a level last scene during COVID lockdowns, with jobs growth

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Speaker 1: in September of just fifteen thousand positions.

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Speaker 2: The surprise reading from the Bureau Statistics triggered an immediate

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Speaker 2: surge on equity markets, pushed the dollar below sixty five

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Speaker 2: US cents, and bondi eealth fell by their most in

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Speaker 2: one session. In fact, the Ossie the ASX jumped to

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Speaker 2: an all time high on the back of it. The

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Speaker 2: unemployment rate was higher than expected and came after just

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Speaker 2: nine thousand full time in six thousand part time jobs

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Speaker 2: were added. It sort of extends the streak of underwhelming

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Speaker 2: employment games we've seen this year. Employments growing at about

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Speaker 2: one point three percent this year, We've got population growth

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Speaker 2: two percent. Therefore, you're going to get a higher unemployment rate. Fortunately,

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Speaker 2: participation rate remains pretty good at sixty seven percent. What

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Speaker 2: yesterday's report confirms is that the employment market is decelerating.

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Speaker 2: In the unemployment rate is no longer in the low force,

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Speaker 2: but in the mid falls, which is at or slightly

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Speaker 2: above where the Reserve Bank expects it to get. Since

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Speaker 2: late twenty twenty two, non market sectors think health care,

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Speaker 2: social assistance, education they ever counted for nearly two thirds

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Speaker 2: of all jobs growth. The economy's shifting from the public

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Speaker 2: to the private sector. We're just not going to get

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Speaker 2: that job's growth like we've had previously.

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Speaker 1: What does it mean for interest rates, though, Sean, I

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Speaker 1: think that's what we really need to know out of this.

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Speaker 2: The Reserve Bank Board seems we've got a little cool

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Speaker 2: on rate cuts, in large part because, as Governor Michelle

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Speaker 2: Bullock put it, labor market seems a little tight. She

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Speaker 2: won't be saying that anymore after yesterday's figure. Is the

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Speaker 2: upcoming September quarter infation reading on twenty nine October is

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Speaker 2: all important markets have now priced in a seventy percent

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Speaker 2: chance of a rate cut.

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Speaker 1: Story number two Sean somewhat linked almost yesterday. Reserve Bank

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Speaker 1: Governor Michelle Bullock had some reasonably candid advice for the

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Speaker 1: federal government.

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Speaker 2: Yes She effectively said the government needs to do a

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Speaker 2: better job reducing the budget deficit. Speaking in Washington, she

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Speaker 2: said Australia should strive to deliver stronger fiscal results while

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Speaker 2: the economy is performing reasonably well and I quote, if

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Speaker 2: we can't make the budget stronger during this period while

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Speaker 2: the economy is doing quite well and there's lots of

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Speaker 2: people employed, then what happens in the next downturn? Bullock

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Speaker 2: suggested the government should make hay while the sun shines.

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Speaker 2: According to report in the finn Review, treasure Jim Charmin's

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Speaker 2: has delivered two budget surplus as and a relatively small

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Speaker 2: deficit of ten billion dollars in his first three years.

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Speaker 2: I reckon Michelle Bullock wants him to do better.

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Speaker 3: Storing number three Macquarie Group has sold a network of

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Speaker 3: fifty data centres across North and South America to a

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Speaker 3: consortium including black Rock and Video and Microsoft for forty

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Speaker 3: billion US dollars or about sixty billion Aussie.

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Speaker 2: The largest deal in the asset class ever sent Macquarie's

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Speaker 2: share price up five percent yesterday. It follows mcquarie's deal

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Speaker 2: to sell air Trunk to black Stayed twelve months ago

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Speaker 2: for twenty three and a half billion dollars. It really

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Speaker 2: does highlight the company's deal making ability in one of

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Speaker 2: the hottest markets in the world at moment. Data centers

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Speaker 2: infrastructure funds managed by mcquari's asset Management have another investments

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Speaker 2: or have investments in another five data center companies across China,

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Speaker 2: the UK and the US, not as big as this one,

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Speaker 2: but still something that they'll want to hold on to.

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Speaker 2: Yesterday's deal to sell Aligned Data Centers includes about twenty

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Speaker 2: one billion dollars of equity, meaning mcquarie still has plenty

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Speaker 2: of skin in the game. Aligned has grown from two

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Speaker 2: locations when mcquarie first invested in twenty eighteen to over

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Speaker 2: fifty campuses that house more than five gigawats of operational

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Speaker 2: and planned capacity storing.

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Speaker 1: Number four Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says he's planning

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Speaker 1: to introduce legislation that will allow the money laundering regulator

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Speaker 1: OSTRAK to crack down on cryptocurrency ATMs.

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Speaker 2: Burke said the proliferation of the cash machines was making

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Speaker 2: it easier for criminals to laund the gains. He described

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Speaker 2: them as an easy point of entry for some of

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Speaker 2: the worst elements in our country to be able to

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Speaker 2: transfer cash into currency in a way that it's harder

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Speaker 2: for us to be able to find. He was speaking

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Speaker 2: at the National Press Club and said the different threats

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Speaker 2: facing Australia's security environment have converged. He said separate conversations

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Speaker 2: about terrorism, foreign interference, espionage and other types of international

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Speaker 2: crime have basically all begun to overlap.

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Speaker 1: Last one story number five. Some good news for chocolate

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Speaker 1: lovers Shawn Cocoa prices have tumbled to a twenty month low,

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Speaker 1: bringing to an end a two year rally that had

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Speaker 1: pushed cocoa prices to record highs and really put pressure

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Speaker 1: on chocolate prices.

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Speaker 2: New York coco is trading at under six thousand US

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Speaker 2: dollars a ton, more than half the level of December

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, and londonware prices it almost tripled, the

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Speaker 2: down about sixty percent. The drop reflects the fall and

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Speaker 2: consumer danned as a result of all the higher prices.

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Speaker 2: We stopped buying chocolate. Consumer payour right there, Michael. Speculators

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Speaker 2: who had previously been riding the rally have more recently

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Speaker 2: dumped their positions and they're now betting on falling prices. Also,

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Speaker 2: we had really poor crops in West Africa, so Ivory

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Speaker 2: Coast and Ghana together used about sixty percent of the

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Speaker 2: world's cocoa. That's improved, more rain, bitter crops, people not

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Speaker 2: buying expensive chocolate. We're going pushing the price of cocoa

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Speaker 2: down as a result, hopefully chocolate prices should fall.

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Speaker 1: That would be good news. Indeed, there we go, the

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Speaker 1: top five business stories in five minutes. Thank you Sean,

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Speaker 1: Thank you Michael. It's Friday, the seventeenth of October twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty five. Remember to hit follow on the podcast, and

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Speaker 1: if five minutes isn't enough, you can find our longer

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Speaker 1: daily show called Fear and Greed wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Speaker 3: I'm Michael Thompson and that was the fast five business

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Speaker 3: news by Fear and Greed. Have a great day.