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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 SMPA SX two hundred fell

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Speaker 1: sharply today. It was down almost one point six percent

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

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Speaker 1: seven percent lower at eighty four hundred and sixty one points.

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Speaker 1: The benchmark index is now down eight percent for the month,

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Speaker 1: putting it on track for its worst performance since the

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Speaker 1: early days of the pandemic. Fears that Hooti militants could

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Speaker 1: target red sea shipping lanes, escalating the Middle East conflict

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Speaker 1: that really sent oil prices higher, trading above one hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifteen US dollars a barrel. That triggered a sell

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Speaker 1: off locally in banks and technology stocks. The bank stocks

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Speaker 1: really led the declines. Westpac was down more than four

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Speaker 1: percent today, Commwealth Bank off nearly three percent. NAB and

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: hiding in a makeshift structure resembling a shipping container 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 authorities 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 Albanesi's Labor 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 is in the Australian newspaper, reportedly reflects growing

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

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

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

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Speaker 2: than satisfied, although he does still lead opposition leader Angus

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Speaker 2: Taylor as preferred prime minister. Meanwhile, the PM has today

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Speaker 2: convened a national cabinet meeting to determine a response to

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

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Speaker 2: will have the fuel excis for the next three months,

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Speaker 2: lowering the levee placed on petrol by twenty six point

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Speaker 2: three cents eleter. Story Number four. US President Donald Trump

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Speaker 2: says a ceasefire with Iran could be reached fairly quickly

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Speaker 2: as indirect negotiations continue via intermediaries. Trump told the FT

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Speaker 2: that talks were progressing well, while also suggesting the conflicts

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Speaker 2: had already achieved a form of regime change following the

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Speaker 2: deaths of senior Iranian leaders. Despite that somewhat optimistic tone,

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Speaker 2: the president then also said, I quote, we've got about

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Speaker 2: three thousand targets left. We've bombed thirteen thousand targets and

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Speaker 2: another couple of thousand targets to go. He also said

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Speaker 2: there's uncertainty around the condition of Iran's new supreme leader,

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Speaker 2: saying he's either dead or in extremely bad shape. And finally, sorry,

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Speaker 2: Number five a bit of a change of pace. US

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Speaker 2: department store Macy's says users of its new AI chatbot

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Speaker 2: spend about four hundred percent more online than those who

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Speaker 2: don't use the chatbot. In an interview with Bloomberg, a

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Speaker 2: Macy's executive said the new AI powered shopping assistant is

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Speaker 2: significantly boosting online spending as retailer's race to integrate AI

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Speaker 2: into the customer experience. The Ask Macy's chatbot, which is

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Speaker 2: powered by Google's Gemini platform, offers personalized recommendations, styling suggestions,

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Speaker 2: virtual try ons, essentially aiming to replicate the instore experience.

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Speaker 2: Online retailers are increased singly investing in AI assistance to

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Speaker 2: compete with platforms like chat GPT, which are changing how

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Speaker 2: consumers search and shop. And that's it for the afternoon

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Speaker 2: report for Monday, the thirtieth of March. Make sure you're

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Speaker 2: following the podcast and please head on to Fear and

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Speaker 2: Greed dot com dot A you to sign up for

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Speaker 2: our free daily newsletter.

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Speaker 1: I'm Michael Thompson.

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Speaker 2: Enjoy your evening,