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Speaker 1: It's Thursday, the nineteenth of February twenty twenty six. 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, Morning Michael Shaw and five stories.

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Speaker 1: Five minutes before we do that, a remind it hit

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Speaker 1: follow on the podcast please, especially if you're listening on

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Speaker 1: Spotify through the Daily Drive playlist, which is disappearing very soon,

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Speaker 1: so please hit follow so you can keep hearing us. Sorry.

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Speaker 1: Number One, Real wages in Australia went backwards last year

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Speaker 1: as rising inflation eight into take home pay packets. The

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Speaker 1: erosion really challenges the federal government's claim that it is

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Speaker 1: addressing the cost of living crisis, as well as RBA

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Speaker 1: commentary that said that people are finding things a bit

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Speaker 1: easier than numbers. Sure, nominal wages rose by three point

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Speaker 1: four percent last year according to the Bureau of Stats.

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Speaker 1: Inflation though, was three point eight percent, So real wages

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Speaker 1: essentially what your pay can buy fell last year.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and generally you did better if you're in the

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Speaker 2: private in the public sector rather than the private sector,

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Speaker 2: so there was state public sector agreements signed some money

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Speaker 2: for aged care workers late last year as well. Also

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Speaker 2: interesting was that the share of jobs recording an annual

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Speaker 2: wage of a change of more than four percent was

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Speaker 2: its lowest in three and a half years. We're just

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Speaker 2: not seeing as many jobs paying money and people shifting around.

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Speaker 2: The wage growth is about what the Reserve Bank expected.

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Speaker 1: Politically, though, this is good news, you'd have to say

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Speaker 1: for the reinvigorated opposition. Yesterday we had Liberal leader Jane

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Speaker 1: Hume blaming the government for the drop in real wages,

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Speaker 1: saying it has ignored productivity, it's got no plan to

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Speaker 1: tame inflation and strengthen the economy.

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Speaker 2: Then treasure Jim Talma said one of the best ways

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Speaker 2: to help people with the cost of living was the

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Speaker 2: boost wages. Fair enough, government's done that, though we conceded

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Speaker 2: nominal wages had risen but not real wages. The figure

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Speaker 2: really makes you wonder whether there is much relief in

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Speaker 2: terms of cost of living.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Story number two National Australian Banks Offit jumped thirty

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Speaker 1: percent to two point two billion dollars in the December quarter.

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Speaker 1: That is a record result that sent its share price

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Speaker 1: up more than four percent. Yesterday, Australia's largest business bank

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Speaker 1: said home loans and business banking had jumped, as had

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Speaker 1: operating expenses.

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Speaker 2: Though business banking is NAB's heartland, but come off Bank

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Speaker 2: and Westpac to a lesser extent of gaining market shares.

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Speaker 2: So and NAB's got about twenty two percent of the market,

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Speaker 2: CBA nineteen percent, Westpacs about sixteen and a half percent.

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Speaker 2: Business banking is just becoming more profitable, more popular in

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Speaker 2: recent years. Higher interest rates could hurt that a bit.

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Speaker 2: All in all, we've had three quarterly reports from NAB,

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Speaker 2: Westpac and A and Z one half year from CBA.

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Speaker 2: Pretty good result for the banks. In fact, those four

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Speaker 2: have added seventy two billion dollars in value this month.

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Speaker 1: According to Global X story number three, the Stokes family

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Speaker 1: controlled SGH Limited and Nasdaq listed Steel Dynamics have launched

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Speaker 1: and improved fourteen point two billion dollar bid for blue Scope.

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Speaker 1: It is the fifth tempt by the American company to

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Speaker 1: purchase Bluescope sounds like they want on it and the

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Speaker 1: buyer said that it was their best and final off

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Speaker 1: of the previous bid was worth thirteen point two billion

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Speaker 1: dollars This one's about eight percent higher. It's a big

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Speaker 1: jump up.

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Speaker 2: Yeah sure is. If successful, SGH will keep Bluescope Australian division,

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Speaker 2: then Steel Dynamics, the nasack Mistic group that'll land the

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Speaker 2: North American operations, including a flagship mill in Ohio. The

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Speaker 2: Bluescope board said it is evaluating the offer. Its share

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Speaker 2: price jumped only three percent, suggesting this little bit of

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Speaker 2: skepticism among investors about whether it will get approval.

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Speaker 1: Story number four Oil and gas giants Santos will cut

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Speaker 1: ten percent of jobs and as placed it's oil and

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Speaker 1: gas business in Australia under review after reporting a thirty

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Speaker 1: five percent drop in full year profit on the back

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Speaker 1: of weak oil and gas prices. You might remember Santos

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Speaker 1: was the target of an abandoned thirty six billion dollar

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Speaker 1: takeover bid led by Abu Dhabi State Oil company last year.

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Speaker 1: The group abandoned the bid. Santos's share price drop two percent. Today.

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Speaker 1: The difference now is the group is worth about what

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Speaker 1: twenty one point two billion dollars. That's a long way

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Speaker 1: south of that thirty six billion dollar figure.

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Speaker 2: Yeah sure is. The bottom line was hit by softer

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Speaker 2: prices and an increase in some costs. Notwithstanding a weaker

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Speaker 2: than expected results, CentOS actually up to its dividend. Chief

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Speaker 2: executive Kevin Gallagher was awarded ninety percent of a controversial

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Speaker 2: six million dollar growth bonus granted back in twenty twenty one.

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Speaker 2: He said the four hundred job cuts would right size

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Speaker 2: the business.

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Speaker 1: Last one story number five, JP morgan Chase in the

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Speaker 1: States aims to open over one hundred and sixty branches

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Speaker 1: in more than thirty states across the US this year,

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Speaker 1: part of a multi billion dollar investment into its bricks

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Speaker 1: and mortar network. The really reflects a broader bet by

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Speaker 1: US banks on Americans enduring fondness for in person banking.

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Speaker 1: They actually want to go in and talk to somebody.

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Speaker 1: The largest US bank by assets is planning a major

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Speaker 1: expansion in states at north and South Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Massachusetts,

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Speaker 1: t See as part of a commitment made in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty four to open more than five hundred branches within

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Speaker 1: three years.

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Speaker 2: So according to the FT, JP Morgan Chase wants to

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Speaker 2: be the dominant holder of retail deposits. The report has

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Speaker 2: this great chart on bank branches per one hundred thousand

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Speaker 2: adults in countries where you know, the vast majority use

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Speaker 2: digital payments. So Australia actually has a relatively high number

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Speaker 2: of bank branches, way more than countries like Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, UK,

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Speaker 2: even more than New Zealand. Countries where bank branching stronger,

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Speaker 2: say Switzerland, s Spain, Italy, France and the US.

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Speaker 1: All right, there we go, the top five business stories

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Speaker 1: in five minutes. Thank you, Sean.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Michael.

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Speaker 1: It's Thursday, the nineteenth of February twenty twenty six. Remember

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Speaker 1: to hit follow on the podcast. Very important and five

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Speaker 1: minutes isn't enough. You can find our longer daily show

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Speaker 1: called Fear and Greed wherever you listen to. Podcasts are

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Speaker 1: Michael Thompson. And that was the fast five business news

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Speaker 1: by Fear and Greed. A great day,