Afternoon Report | Joyce quits Nats

This is the Fear and Greed Afternoon Report - everything you need to know about what happened in the markets, economy and world of business today, in just a few minutes.

1. ASX higher, business investment jumps

2. Barnaby Joyce quits National Party

3. Labor to miss emissions target

4. Dozens killed in Hong Kong fire

5. National Guard solders shot in ‘act of terror’

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report
for Thursday, the twenty seventh of November. I'm Michael Thompson,
and every afternoon we have the five stories that happened
today that you need to know about. Let's go with
story number one is all about markets. The S and
p ASX two hundred closed up just a touch today,
zero point one percent to eighty six hundred and seventeen points,
after a pretty steady session. The market did have a

(00:26):
strong lead in from Wall Street investors. There are still
optimistic of a rate cut from the Fed next month.
That then helped the tech stocks here Zero was up
two percent, tracking app Life three sixty almost three percent.
Wieset Global climbed six percent, though that was also after
a new Bord appointment. Not all the tech stocks, though,
had a good one. Drone Shield was the exception the

(00:48):
worst performer on the ASEX two hundred today after it
fell more than nine percent. The gold price climbed and
the gold miners had a good day. It feels like
I've said that plenty of times now. The energy stocks
did and do too well. The price of oil dipped
ahead of an OPEC plus meeting this weekend that hit
wood side in Santos, where Tinto and Fordescue were also

(01:09):
among the worst performers of the large caps. A very
quick mention of the biggest piece of economic news today,
Business investment, which is a key underpinning of economic growth,
has recorded its biggest jump in four years, adding more
evidence that the economy is picking up pace. We will
have more on this one tomorrow morning. Onto story number two.

(01:29):
It is the last sitting day for Parliament in Canberra
for the year and i'd say it's over delivered in
terms of last day drama. We'll start with former Nationals
leader Barnaby Joyce, who announced today that he is leaving
the party. He's been talking about it all week, a
couple of weeks. Really. He's going to sit on the
cross bench in the lower House. He hasn't decided on

(01:50):
his next move, saying he's still weighing up all opportunities,
including business, although I quote he is strongly considering running
for the Senate under the One Nation banner. He has
been with the National Party now for a twenty year
parliamentary career. It is certainly the end of an era
at former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was in town for

(02:11):
the unveiling of his official portrait, had a few choice
words for current Liberal leader Susan Lee, Suffice to say
he was not very sympathetic to her plight. Trying to
hold the coalition and her party together, and Prime Minister
Anthony Albernezi secured a deal with the Greens to pass
an overhaul of environmental laws. He said the reforms will
provide better environmental protections while at the same time speeding

(02:34):
up approvals for key projects including housing, critical minerals and energy.
Story number three Staying with the environment, Labour is on
track to miss its twenty thirty five emissions reduction target,
a new report showing it is on track to reach
a forty eight percent reduction rather than its sixty two
percent goal. Documents released by the Climate Change Department reveal

(02:57):
significantly more action is required should the target be met.
In a speech handed down alongside the document, climate Change
Minister Chris Bowen said the country was broadly on track
to reach its twenty thirty target, but conceded that the
twenty thirty five target was ambitious and not yet being achieved.
Plenty of work still to do there. Story number four

(03:18):
at least forty four people have been killed in a
major fire at a residential tower complex in Hong Kong.
The death toll is expected to climb significantly, with sixty
two people still in hospital and about two hundred and
eighty still missing. The fires are continuing to burn at
the thirty two story complex. Of the eight apartment buildings

(03:39):
in the complex, the blazer are still uncontained in three
of the buildings. Almost twenty four hours after the fires began.
The buildings that caught a light were undergoing renovation, and
Hong Kong police have arrested three people from an engineering
firm on suspicion of manslaughter. Although investigators are still determining
the cause, They are looking at whether bamboo scaffolding and

(04:00):
green construction mesh that were wrapped around parts of the
buildings might have helped the flames spread. And finally, story
number five. Two National Guard soldiers have been shot in Washington,
DC in what's been described as a targeted ambush and
an act of terror. The New York Times reports officials
have identified the shooter as a twenty nine year old

(04:20):
Afghan national who came to the US in twenty twenty
one on a special visa program for Afghans who helped
the US during the war there and were at risk
of reprisals from the Taliban. The two soldiers were part
of a high visibility patrol when they were attacked at
around two pm local time a few blocks from the
White House. Both remain in a critical condition in hospital.

(04:42):
The shooter was also wounded in a shootout with other
National Guard soldiers. President Donald Trump has released a video
calling the alleged shooter a monster and saying we must
now re examine every single alien who has entered our
country from Afghanistan. The US has suspended immigration locations from
the country. That's it for the Afternoon Report for Thursday,

(05:03):
the twenty seventh of November. Make sure you're following the podcast,
and please head along to Fearangreed dot com dot au
to sign up for our free daily newsletter, or the
link in the show notes as well. I'm Michael Thompson.
Have a good evening.