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

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Speaker 1: for Thursday, the nineteenth of February twenty twenty six. I'm

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Speaker 1: Michael Thompson, and every afternoon we have 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 sturing number one. A very solid day on the

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Speaker 1: SMPA SEX two hundred. The market climbed zero point nine

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Speaker 1: percent today to nine thousand and eighty six points. That's

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Speaker 1: not far off its record closed from October last year,

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Speaker 1: but it did make it even higher earlier in the day,

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Speaker 1: setting a new intra day record of nine one hundred

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Speaker 1: and eighteen point three points. There are a lot of results,

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Speaker 1: a lot of companies reporting results today. I'll get to

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Speaker 1: a few of them in a minute. But away from results,

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Speaker 1: the energy sector was the best performer. The rise in

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Speaker 1: oil prices has a lot to do with that. Oil

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Speaker 1: prices have climbed to above seventy US dollars a barrel.

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Speaker 1: That's on the back of these rising tensions between the

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Speaker 1: US and Iran. I'll have more on that one towards

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Speaker 1: the end of the show. But Woodside Energy climbed four

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Speaker 1: and a half percent today. Santos was up five point

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Speaker 1: six percent. The financials had a great day Westpac, nab A,

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Speaker 1: and Z all of them climbed more than two percent,

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Speaker 1: and the big miners two BHP was up one point

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Speaker 1: eight percent. Rio Tinto climbed two percent. After the market closed,

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Speaker 1: it published its results, a full year net profit of

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Speaker 1: ten billion US dollars, aided largely by rising copper prices.

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Speaker 1: Just one more thing to mention before we leave markets.

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Speaker 1: Labor force data out today showed the unemployment rate held

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Speaker 1: steady at four point one percent in January, so still

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Speaker 1: very strong, and markets are pricing in and interest rate

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Speaker 1: hike another one in June story number two. As I

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Speaker 1: mentioned some very big companies reporting results today. West Farmers,

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Speaker 1: which owns Bunnings and Kmart and office Works and price

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Speaker 1: Line and a bunch of other businesses, posted a rise

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Speaker 1: in sales and profit, but warned that the heat was

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Speaker 1: coming out of consumer spending, and that sent its share

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Speaker 1: price down five and a half percent today. There's a

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Speaker 1: bit of good news though, for tell Elstra's shareholders and

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Speaker 1: a lot of them too, more than one million. A

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Speaker 1: big jump in earnings has allowed the telco to deliver

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Speaker 1: a higher half year dividend and an increase in its

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Speaker 1: share buyback scheme. Telstra share price closed up four percent today.

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Speaker 1: Australia's biggest property company, Goodman Group, announced a drop in

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Speaker 1: operating profit. Its share price went down four percent as

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Speaker 1: a result. Palette maker Brambles its share price climbed four

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Speaker 1: percent four point four percent actually after announcing a strong

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Speaker 1: half year result and by now pay later. Group Zipco

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Speaker 1: closed a whopping thirty four percent lower today after it

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Speaker 1: missed its forecast, disappointed with its guidance and said that

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Speaker 1: doubtful debts were rising. Thirty four percent is tough. It

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Speaker 1: was even worse earlier in the day. At one point,

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Speaker 1: Zip's share price was down forty percent. Ouch story number three.

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi says he has quote nothing but

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Speaker 1: contempt for Australian women who traveled to Syria to support

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Speaker 1: Islamic State and are now stranded in a refugee camp,

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Speaker 1: declaring the government will provide no assistance for their return.

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Speaker 1: The comments come as thirty four women and children linked

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Speaker 1: to former ISIS fighters have been issued Australian passports. Home

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Speaker 1: Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Australian citizens who apply are

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Speaker 1: entitled to a passport. Oppositionally to Angus, Taylor said the

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Speaker 1: government should shut the door on their return and consider

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Speaker 1: legislative changes to prevent it. The Prime Minister has said,

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Speaker 1: and I quote, we have a firm position, which is

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Speaker 1: that the mothers in this case who made this decision

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Speaker 1: to travel overseas against Australia's national interest are the responsible

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Speaker 1: ones who put their children in this position. We will

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Speaker 1: do nothing to assist these people. Coming back to Australia,

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Speaker 1: story number four, the Competition Watchdog is turning its focus

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Speaker 1: to Chinese online giants Timu and She and warning that

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Speaker 1: they must comply with Australia's consumer laws as their market

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Speaker 1: share surgers a trible C chair Gina Caskottlieb says that

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Speaker 1: the regulator is going to scrutinize whether products sold through

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Speaker 1: the platforms are safe, whether they meet basic consumer protections,

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Speaker 1: particularly as more low income families shop online for heavily

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Speaker 1: discounted goods. Tmochine and Amazon are forecast to control more

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Speaker 1: than a third of Australia's online retail market this year,

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Speaker 1: generating more than eighteen billion dollars in sales. The A

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Speaker 1: Triple C is also going to target so called ghost stores,

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Speaker 1: which are overseas retailers that pose as local businesses and

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Speaker 1: sell essentially substandard products with little recourse then for consumers. Finally,

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Speaker 1: story number five I alluded to this one earlier. The

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Speaker 1: United States has moved significant military assets into the Middle East,

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Speaker 1: giving President Donald Trump the option of launching strikes on

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Speaker 1: Iran as early as this weekend, according to US officials.

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Speaker 1: This report in The New York Times. It says that

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Speaker 1: the build up includes more than fifty additional fighter jets,

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Speaker 1: dozens of refueling tankers, advanced missile defense systems, and two

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Speaker 1: aircraft carrier strike groups, including the USS Gerald Forward and

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Speaker 1: USS Abraham Lincoln. Trump has demanded that Iran halt uranium,

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Speaker 1: Richmond and Kerbet's nuclear program. Indirect talks between Washington and

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Speaker 1: Tehran this week did make some progress, but officials say

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Speaker 1: that major gaps remain. Israel is also preparing for a

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Speaker 1: possible joint operation, with planning reportedly focused on missile sites,

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Speaker 1: nuclear facilities, and revolutionary guard targets. The White House says

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Speaker 1: that diplomacy does remain the preferred option, but military preparations

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Speaker 1: are continuing and that's it. For the Afternoon Report for Thursday,

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Speaker 1: the nineteenth of February twenty twenty six. Make sure you're

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Speaker 1: following the podcast and head along to Fear and Greed

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Speaker 1: dot com dot au to sign up for our free

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Speaker 1: daily newsletter. I'm Michael Thompson. Enjoy your evening.