December 16, 2025 • 16 mins
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the massacre at Bondi Beach on Sunday was inspired by terrorist group ISIS.
- Consumer confidence takes a tumble.
- Google considers becoming an online property seller.
- A precedent setting WFH case is overturned.
- The Nasdaq wants to trade 23 hours a day.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Fear and Greed business news you can use today.
Prime Minister Anthony Aberzi says the massacre at Bondi Beach
on Sunday was inspired by terrorist group ISIS. Consumer confidence
takes a tumble, and Google considers becoming an online property seller.
Plus a precedent setting work from home case is overturned,
and the Nasdaq wants to trade twenty three hours a day.
(00:29):
It is Wednesday, the seventeenth of December twenty twenty five.
I'm Michael Thompson and good morning, Sean Aylmer.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Good morning, Michael, Sean.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
The main story this morning, the attack on Bondi Beach
on Sunday, appears to have been inspired by terrorist group
Islamic State. According to Prime Minister Anthony Alberanesi.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The two gunmen travel to the Philippines, known as a
home to extremist groups, a month before they staged the
Bondai massacre. In their vehicle on Sunday, police found two
homemade ISIS flags and ied. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Chrissy
Barrett said an AFP investigation had found the massacre was
the and quote alleged actions of those who align themselves
(01:09):
with a terrorist organization, not a religion end quote. She
said there was no third gunman and it appears that
the alleged killers were only interested in a death tally
Like October seven to twenty three.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
The Federal government is under a lot of pressure now,
both at home and from abroad, to do more than
introduced tougher gun laws. There are widespread calls to crack
down on antisemitism, and there is a flood of criticism
of Anthony Alberezi, with claims that he hasn't done enough.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
The federal government's own anti Semitism envoy, Gillian Siegel, has
urged the government to deal with the underlying cause of antisemitism,
calling for action rather than just saying let's come together.
She said the Alberanzi government could have acted further and
faster to prevent anti Semitism. Former Prime Minister John Howard
visited Bondai yesterday and said the government's antagonistic behavior towards
(02:04):
the Jewish community had led to the spread of anti Semitism.
He said it was the first responsibility of a prime
minister to protect Australian's domestically. There were more extreme views
on migration and the performance of Alberanesi pushed by more
rebel mp so Bob Catter was one One Nation's Pauline Hansen,
(02:25):
current National Party member soon to be One Nation member
Barnaby Joyce. He was with Pauline Hanson yesterday and they
were very critical of Anthony Alberanzi.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Now six people remain in critical condition, while another twenty
five are in hospital. The death toll remains at fifteen
plus the shooter, serjd Akram. But amid the grief, Sean,
there have been some very human stories really, some incredible
bravery and some touching acts of kindness as well.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yes, so Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who fought and
darmed one gunman, remained in hospital. He has been speaking though,
and let's hope that he does recover as well as
he can.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I suppose he's had a string of visitors as well.
I know that the new South Wales Premier visited him,
the Prime Minister visited him yesterday, The Governor General was
there yesterday yesterday afternoon. So everyone has been visiting him
to thank him in person.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
The poor fellow probably just needs a good sleep. I
don't he go fund me page for him Michael, you
were telling me, was it two million dollars?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
A yek, Yeah, yeah, it had sailed. Last time I
checked was yesterday afternoon and it was well past the
two million dollar mark, which is just an incredible response
from just ordinary people right around the world.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
The person I've wondered about the man and the footage
will hurled an object at the gunman after he was
de armed. His name was Ruven Morrison, a sixty two
year old. He died in the attack, which is very
sad but incredible bravery from mister Morrison. There's footage of
two unidentified bystanders wrestling with Sajid Akram, the father, as
(04:04):
he got out of his car before the shooting began.
The pair were shown this wrestle. It seems that they
probably died moments later on the footpath. They were probably
the first two people to die in the massacre. Incredible
work from Bondi lifeguards, from medical staff, from police. Chris
Min's The State premieres that I stood up for police
(04:26):
after questioning about them and since he attacked record blood donations.
According to Australian Red Cross, life by the insurance industry
is kind of doing the right thing. Some of the
councils in the area I noticed providing money for small business.
I noticed one of the flower shops down at BONDI
just put out flowers out the front on the street,
(04:47):
so that anyone that wanted could just take a bunch
of flowers and place them down at the site without
actually charging anyone, which I thought was incredibly touching.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Really, yeah, the the acts of kindness, those really kind
of human stories that emerge after a tragedy like this.
It is really quite something, isn't it, Sean Really is okay?
Moving to the local market, now, let's take a look
at the AX. How did it go yesterday?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
There's some PAX two hundred closed down almost half percent
to just under eighty six hundred points. Tech stocks and
energy companies led the market lower, while the industrial's index
was the best of the sub indices. Among the large caps,
only three of the top fifteen stocks, Macquarie, Rio and Transurban,
ended the day in the black. The rest, led by
Forteskew Metals and Woodside, ended lower. The fact that twelve
(05:34):
with the fifteen ended lower but the market was only
down zero point four percent, suggests that there's not a
huge amount going on in corporate news, Aurica said the
twenty twenty six financially has started strongly with ongoing demand
for commercial explosives and blasting products.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
What about global markets, What's going on elsewhere in the world.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
All prices are lower, with Brent back down to sixty
US dollars a barrel. That's the lowest since May. We
should feel that in the petrol bowser soon and I'm
sure Diesel will be the same. Michael. Maybe maybe Gold's
training at just under forty three hundred US dollars announced
the Ausie dollars buying sixty six point three US sins.
Cryptocurrencies have fallen back there, bit coins now below eighty
five thousand US dollars a unit. I'd sort of taken
(06:13):
my eye off it, and when I saw it last night,
I thought, wow, that has really fallen back. The market
leads now down thirty percent from its record high a
few months back of one hundred and twenty six thousand
US dollars a unit. So quite the comedown for bitcoin.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Indeed, all right, plenty is still to come. We'll be
back in a moment with the rest of the day's
business news. Seawan a surge in consumer confidence has proven
somewhat short lived, with sentiment tumbling as expect as the
expectations really of rate cuts that we all shared for
(06:50):
a while. There they've receded now.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
The west Pac Melbourne Institute reading jumped last month. Now
it's back to ninety four point five points. That means
there are more pessimous than optimists, although the number is
higher than twelve months ago. If consumers a confident, they
tend to spend more money, which is a beneficial effect
on overall economic growth. That's why we like to see
consumer confidence higher than what it is that a kin
this month reflects a more subdued outlook for the economy.
(07:15):
It also suggests the cost of living crisis isn't over yet,
with positive responses to the highly watched is now a
good time to buy a major household item falling much lower.
There was also a drop in people saying now is
a good time to buy a house or a dwelling,
presumably reflecting interest rates.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers is expected to release the federal
government's media budget update today Sean.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It's expected to show higher revenue thanks to strong commodity prices,
high and higher capital gains tax, but also higher spending.
The budget deficit this financial is tipped came in around
thirty three billion US dollars. Would be interesting to see
what their economic forecasts say. National Australia Banking Commonwealth Bank
yesterday both forecast and interest hike as soon as February,
(08:02):
which pretty interesting. NAB chief economist Sally Old said the
combination of stronger growth outcomes and the evidence of capacity
constraints would force a rate hike in February and one
in May. Come Off Banks forecasts just one increase next year.
A Zed reckons things will be on hold. Westpac is
still forecasting a rate cut now.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
This next one's really interesting, Sean. Google is testing home
for sale ads at the top of search results, effectively
becoming pretty much an online real estate agency, and that
decision has sent the share price of online property groups lower.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
That's right, So US online estate agent share prices tumble
as well as some of the local guys. So Aria
dot com is a big one now now that domains
been taken over by co Star. The RAA dot com
tumbled three percent in the US. At least, Google's real
estate listings include all sorts of things like the number
of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, the year a home was built,
(08:57):
available parking, all that sort of stuff. Each list also
features the option to directly reach out to a real
estate agent. Users can also schedule a call with the
agent directly on a Google's listing. Google's got a similar
feature for restaurants that allow uses the book of reservation
on the search results page. It just shows how, particularly
using AI for some of these functionality, Google can really
(09:20):
kind of it's gonna say, infiltrate that's probably being a
bit mean, but be part of your everyday life. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And so is it just through the main kind of
Google search home page or is it through say Google
Maps and things, because maps is obviously such a big
resource for them, and you could see those that data
being overlaid with the map data quite quite easily.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Very true. I mean, at the moment it's actually just
search pages. I suggest that to Google. NICKI T has
got a great idea. How about this, Just.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Drop them the note Sean, it's been a roller coaster
ride from defense technology company Drone Shield. We've been talking
about this for a while that it just keeps on going. Right.
It's share price surged twenty three percent yesterday after it
announced a new fifty million dollar contract to provide its
counter drone equipment to a European customer.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So It's share price tumbled early last month after the
chair CEO and another directors sold down their holdings, and
one day it's share price felt thirty percent. Since it's
low less than four weeks ago, it's now up sixty
percent for twenty twenty five, all up almost three hundred percent.
The Sydney based company's top product, I love this. It's
the drone gun which fires radio waves at drones to
(10:35):
bring them down. Pretty cool. Its shares have rocketed over
the past two years as it announced their string of
new deals with foreign governments.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Businesses in capital cities are finding it tougher than the regions,
with high commercial rents combining with soft consumer demand to
push up failure rates in the cities.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
The latest Credit to watch at Business Risk Index shares
Sydney and Brisbane share the highest business failure rates among
the capitals, followed by Melbourne. By contrast, regional failure rates
sit much lower, with businesses shielded by cheaper operating environments,
less competition, stable anchor industries like mining, agriculture, health. Overall
business failures remain elevated. I think you know, high commercials,
(11:16):
insurance bills, wage and energy price hikes, cost of living pressures,
all hurting smme's cash flow. But there are winners like
perths three percent growth powered by mining, investment, migration and
infrastructures helping that very much. Is in contrast to states
like New South Wales and Queensland. Adelaide's construction boom is
an area where things are doing pretty well, Hobart's retail
(11:36):
and tourism revival and Melbourne's post COVID bounce in health
and professional services.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
And you're actually speaking today after the show fearing greed
Q and a Ivan Calhoun, who is the chief economist
for Creditor Watch.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
That's right. We talk about which sectors are doing okay,
what the outlook for insolvencies is for the next twelve months.
And so Ivan and I many many years ago work
together at the Reserve Bank.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Great fellow, Yeah, both veterans of the industry.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Sean you like that word veteran data.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Oh God, every chance I get, I will drop it
into every conversation from now until eternity. A ruling Sean
granting workers compensation to an employee who hurt herself by
tripping over a pet fence while working from home has
been overturned in a judgment significantly narrowing employer's liability for
(12:24):
remote work accidents. There'll be plenty of people watching this one.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah so. Back in September twenty twenty two, while working
from home and looking after a colleague's puppy in the
city of Charles Sturt, worker Lauren Vercom tripped over a
temporary pet fence she'd set up, injuring her shoulder and
knee during a coffee break. Now, the South Australian Employment
Tribunal found that a home was her workplace, the injury
(12:48):
occurred during an authorized break, and the fence was a
physical workplace hazard, meaning her injuries arose out of her employment.
Quite controversial at the time, Now the full bench of
the Essay Employment Tribunal have overturned that decision, saying the
private purpose of the fence called into the question called
into question the accident's connection to her employment. Now the
(13:11):
ruling is the highest authority. Yes, in a mostly uncharted
legal world of work from home accidents, it could exclude
employers from liability relating to private hazards in remote workers' home,
so very very relevant. I still can't believe she actually
won the case to begin with, but anyway.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I love the fence was ruled a physical workplace hazard,
one that she set up herself.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
A temporary one after a dog. Ah.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
There's a lot in that, but we don't have time
to go any further. It might make an appearance in
our weekend. It is Suan shaking your head at me
in international news. Ford expects to take a nineteen point
five billion US dollar hit as it scraps its flagship
F one P fifty all electric pickup truck, as well
(14:00):
as other large evs to focus more on profitable hybrids
and combustion engine models.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
The averhaul in the US car maker strategy follows the
recent cancelation of tax credit for EV purchases that was
under President Donald Trump's executive authority. He wants to roll
back regulations aimed at curbing car emissions forwards that would
divert money into producing more trucks and vans, affordable evs,
and an energy storage business that's expected to initially target
enterprise customers. At the end of September, the Trump administration
(14:29):
withdrew the seven and a half thousand dollar consumer tax
credit for purchases of new evs. Pretty amazing because initially
it led to this massive surgeon EV purchases before it ended,
and then it dropped by fifty percent basically the next month.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Finally, I mentioned this at the top of the show.
The NASDAQ, the tech heavy second largest exchange in the US,
has asked for regulatory approval to trade twenty three hours
a day during the working week. What's the extra hour
force updates and coffee breaks?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Maybe I was wondering, but I thought you'd be able
to do that automatically. I don't know. It's asked the
Securities and Exchange Commission to add an additional trading session
from nine pm to four am. So that's on top
of the pre market trading, the regular trading, and the
post market trading times. In a statement, senior vice president
of North American Markets, the beautifully named Chuck Mack said,
(15:25):
and I quote this evolution reflects a simple reality. Global
investors expect access on their terms and their time zones
without compromising trust or market integrity. He's right. They big
implications for other exchanges like Australia. So if nazac's trading
during Australian opening hours, it's basically just another exchange that
our traders can buy and sell immediately on the information available,
(15:47):
rather than actually having to wait hours to execute orders.
So it is actually quite significant. The New York Socock
Exchange is planning to upgrade trading to twenty two hours
a day. That they've got to be cold on that
they've got the well preliminary approvals a few months ago.
That I haven't heard much more about that anyway. Interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah, it certainly is now up next. As we mentioned
before Fear and Greed Q and a Ivan Colhoun from
Credit to Watch it is coming up in the Fear
and Greed playlist on your podcast platform or at Fearandgreed
dot com dot AU. Don't know why I stumbled over that, Sean.
I say the same words every single day. I think
I'd be able to do it with my eyes closed.
It's also where you sign up for our free daily newsletter.
(16:28):
Thank you very much, Sean.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Thanks Michael.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
It's Wednesday, the seventeenth of December twenty twenty five. Make
sure you're following the podcast and please join us online
on LinkedIn, Instagram x TikTok and Facebook. I'm Michael Thompson,
and that was fear and greed. Have a great day.
Welcome to Fear and Greed business news you can use today.
Prime Minister Anthony Aberzi says the massacre at Bondi Beach
on Sunday was inspired by terrorist group ISIS. Consumer confidence
takes a tumble, and Google considers becoming an online property seller.
Plus a precedent setting work from home case is overturned,
and the Nasdaq wants to trade twenty three hours a day.
(00:29):
It is Wednesday, the seventeenth of December twenty twenty five.
I'm Michael Thompson and good morning, Sean Aylmer.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Good morning, Michael, Sean.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
The main story this morning, the attack on Bondi Beach
on Sunday, appears to have been inspired by terrorist group
Islamic State. According to Prime Minister Anthony Alberanesi.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The two gunmen travel to the Philippines, known as a
home to extremist groups, a month before they staged the
Bondai massacre. In their vehicle on Sunday, police found two
homemade ISIS flags and ied. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Chrissy
Barrett said an AFP investigation had found the massacre was
the and quote alleged actions of those who align themselves
(01:09):
with a terrorist organization, not a religion end quote. She
said there was no third gunman and it appears that
the alleged killers were only interested in a death tally
Like October seven to twenty three.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
The Federal government is under a lot of pressure now,
both at home and from abroad, to do more than
introduced tougher gun laws. There are widespread calls to crack
down on antisemitism, and there is a flood of criticism
of Anthony Alberezi, with claims that he hasn't done enough.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
The federal government's own anti Semitism envoy, Gillian Siegel, has
urged the government to deal with the underlying cause of antisemitism,
calling for action rather than just saying let's come together.
She said the Alberanzi government could have acted further and
faster to prevent anti Semitism. Former Prime Minister John Howard
visited Bondai yesterday and said the government's antagonistic behavior towards
(02:04):
the Jewish community had led to the spread of anti Semitism.
He said it was the first responsibility of a prime
minister to protect Australian's domestically. There were more extreme views
on migration and the performance of Alberanesi pushed by more
rebel mp so Bob Catter was one One Nation's Pauline Hansen,
(02:25):
current National Party member soon to be One Nation member
Barnaby Joyce. He was with Pauline Hanson yesterday and they
were very critical of Anthony Alberanzi.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Now six people remain in critical condition, while another twenty
five are in hospital. The death toll remains at fifteen
plus the shooter, serjd Akram. But amid the grief, Sean,
there have been some very human stories really, some incredible
bravery and some touching acts of kindness as well.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yes, so Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who fought and
darmed one gunman, remained in hospital. He has been speaking though,
and let's hope that he does recover as well as
he can.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I suppose he's had a string of visitors as well.
I know that the new South Wales Premier visited him,
the Prime Minister visited him yesterday, The Governor General was
there yesterday yesterday afternoon. So everyone has been visiting him
to thank him in person.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
The poor fellow probably just needs a good sleep. I
don't he go fund me page for him Michael, you
were telling me, was it two million dollars?
Speaker 1 (03:30):
A yek, Yeah, yeah, it had sailed. Last time I
checked was yesterday afternoon and it was well past the
two million dollar mark, which is just an incredible response
from just ordinary people right around the world.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
The person I've wondered about the man and the footage
will hurled an object at the gunman after he was
de armed. His name was Ruven Morrison, a sixty two
year old. He died in the attack, which is very
sad but incredible bravery from mister Morrison. There's footage of
two unidentified bystanders wrestling with Sajid Akram, the father, as
(04:04):
he got out of his car before the shooting began.
The pair were shown this wrestle. It seems that they
probably died moments later on the footpath. They were probably
the first two people to die in the massacre. Incredible
work from Bondi lifeguards, from medical staff, from police. Chris
Min's The State premieres that I stood up for police
(04:26):
after questioning about them and since he attacked record blood donations.
According to Australian Red Cross, life by the insurance industry
is kind of doing the right thing. Some of the
councils in the area I noticed providing money for small business.
I noticed one of the flower shops down at BONDI
just put out flowers out the front on the street,
(04:47):
so that anyone that wanted could just take a bunch
of flowers and place them down at the site without
actually charging anyone, which I thought was incredibly touching.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Really, yeah, the the acts of kindness, those really kind
of human stories that emerge after a tragedy like this.
It is really quite something, isn't it, Sean Really is okay?
Moving to the local market, now, let's take a look
at the AX. How did it go yesterday?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
There's some PAX two hundred closed down almost half percent
to just under eighty six hundred points. Tech stocks and
energy companies led the market lower, while the industrial's index
was the best of the sub indices. Among the large caps,
only three of the top fifteen stocks, Macquarie, Rio and Transurban,
ended the day in the black. The rest, led by
Forteskew Metals and Woodside, ended lower. The fact that twelve
(05:34):
with the fifteen ended lower but the market was only
down zero point four percent, suggests that there's not a
huge amount going on in corporate news, Aurica said the
twenty twenty six financially has started strongly with ongoing demand
for commercial explosives and blasting products.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
What about global markets, What's going on elsewhere in the world.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
All prices are lower, with Brent back down to sixty
US dollars a barrel. That's the lowest since May. We
should feel that in the petrol bowser soon and I'm
sure Diesel will be the same. Michael. Maybe maybe Gold's
training at just under forty three hundred US dollars announced
the Ausie dollars buying sixty six point three US sins.
Cryptocurrencies have fallen back there, bit coins now below eighty
five thousand US dollars a unit. I'd sort of taken
(06:13):
my eye off it, and when I saw it last night,
I thought, wow, that has really fallen back. The market
leads now down thirty percent from its record high a
few months back of one hundred and twenty six thousand
US dollars a unit. So quite the comedown for bitcoin.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Indeed, all right, plenty is still to come. We'll be
back in a moment with the rest of the day's
business news. Seawan a surge in consumer confidence has proven
somewhat short lived, with sentiment tumbling as expect as the
expectations really of rate cuts that we all shared for
(06:50):
a while. There they've receded now.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
The west Pac Melbourne Institute reading jumped last month. Now
it's back to ninety four point five points. That means
there are more pessimous than optimists, although the number is
higher than twelve months ago. If consumers a confident, they
tend to spend more money, which is a beneficial effect
on overall economic growth. That's why we like to see
consumer confidence higher than what it is that a kin
this month reflects a more subdued outlook for the economy.
(07:15):
It also suggests the cost of living crisis isn't over yet,
with positive responses to the highly watched is now a
good time to buy a major household item falling much lower.
There was also a drop in people saying now is
a good time to buy a house or a dwelling,
presumably reflecting interest rates.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers is expected to release the federal
government's media budget update today Sean.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It's expected to show higher revenue thanks to strong commodity prices,
high and higher capital gains tax, but also higher spending.
The budget deficit this financial is tipped came in around
thirty three billion US dollars. Would be interesting to see
what their economic forecasts say. National Australia Banking Commonwealth Bank
yesterday both forecast and interest hike as soon as February,
(08:02):
which pretty interesting. NAB chief economist Sally Old said the
combination of stronger growth outcomes and the evidence of capacity
constraints would force a rate hike in February and one
in May. Come Off Banks forecasts just one increase next year.
A Zed reckons things will be on hold. Westpac is
still forecasting a rate cut now.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
This next one's really interesting, Sean. Google is testing home
for sale ads at the top of search results, effectively
becoming pretty much an online real estate agency, and that
decision has sent the share price of online property groups lower.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
That's right, So US online estate agent share prices tumble
as well as some of the local guys. So Aria
dot com is a big one now now that domains
been taken over by co Star. The RAA dot com
tumbled three percent in the US. At least, Google's real
estate listings include all sorts of things like the number
of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, the year a home was built,
(08:57):
available parking, all that sort of stuff. Each list also
features the option to directly reach out to a real
estate agent. Users can also schedule a call with the
agent directly on a Google's listing. Google's got a similar
feature for restaurants that allow uses the book of reservation
on the search results page. It just shows how, particularly
using AI for some of these functionality, Google can really
(09:20):
kind of it's gonna say, infiltrate that's probably being a
bit mean, but be part of your everyday life. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And so is it just through the main kind of
Google search home page or is it through say Google
Maps and things, because maps is obviously such a big
resource for them, and you could see those that data
being overlaid with the map data quite quite easily.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Very true. I mean, at the moment it's actually just
search pages. I suggest that to Google. NICKI T has
got a great idea. How about this, Just.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Drop them the note Sean, it's been a roller coaster
ride from defense technology company Drone Shield. We've been talking
about this for a while that it just keeps on going. Right.
It's share price surged twenty three percent yesterday after it
announced a new fifty million dollar contract to provide its
counter drone equipment to a European customer.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So It's share price tumbled early last month after the
chair CEO and another directors sold down their holdings, and
one day it's share price felt thirty percent. Since it's
low less than four weeks ago, it's now up sixty
percent for twenty twenty five, all up almost three hundred percent.
The Sydney based company's top product, I love this. It's
the drone gun which fires radio waves at drones to
(10:35):
bring them down. Pretty cool. Its shares have rocketed over
the past two years as it announced their string of
new deals with foreign governments.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Businesses in capital cities are finding it tougher than the regions,
with high commercial rents combining with soft consumer demand to
push up failure rates in the cities.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
The latest Credit to watch at Business Risk Index shares
Sydney and Brisbane share the highest business failure rates among
the capitals, followed by Melbourne. By contrast, regional failure rates
sit much lower, with businesses shielded by cheaper operating environments,
less competition, stable anchor industries like mining, agriculture, health. Overall
business failures remain elevated. I think you know, high commercials,
(11:16):
insurance bills, wage and energy price hikes, cost of living pressures,
all hurting smme's cash flow. But there are winners like
perths three percent growth powered by mining, investment, migration and
infrastructures helping that very much. Is in contrast to states
like New South Wales and Queensland. Adelaide's construction boom is
an area where things are doing pretty well, Hobart's retail
(11:36):
and tourism revival and Melbourne's post COVID bounce in health
and professional services.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
And you're actually speaking today after the show fearing greed
Q and a Ivan Calhoun, who is the chief economist
for Creditor Watch.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
That's right. We talk about which sectors are doing okay,
what the outlook for insolvencies is for the next twelve months.
And so Ivan and I many many years ago work
together at the Reserve Bank.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Great fellow, Yeah, both veterans of the industry.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Sean you like that word veteran data.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Oh God, every chance I get, I will drop it
into every conversation from now until eternity. A ruling Sean
granting workers compensation to an employee who hurt herself by
tripping over a pet fence while working from home has
been overturned in a judgment significantly narrowing employer's liability for
(12:24):
remote work accidents. There'll be plenty of people watching this one.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah so. Back in September twenty twenty two, while working
from home and looking after a colleague's puppy in the
city of Charles Sturt, worker Lauren Vercom tripped over a
temporary pet fence she'd set up, injuring her shoulder and
knee during a coffee break. Now, the South Australian Employment
Tribunal found that a home was her workplace, the injury
(12:48):
occurred during an authorized break, and the fence was a
physical workplace hazard, meaning her injuries arose out of her employment.
Quite controversial at the time, Now the full bench of
the Essay Employment Tribunal have overturned that decision, saying the
private purpose of the fence called into the question called
into question the accident's connection to her employment. Now the
(13:11):
ruling is the highest authority. Yes, in a mostly uncharted
legal world of work from home accidents, it could exclude
employers from liability relating to private hazards in remote workers' home,
so very very relevant. I still can't believe she actually
won the case to begin with, but anyway.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I love the fence was ruled a physical workplace hazard,
one that she set up herself.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
A temporary one after a dog. Ah.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
There's a lot in that, but we don't have time
to go any further. It might make an appearance in
our weekend. It is Suan shaking your head at me
in international news. Ford expects to take a nineteen point
five billion US dollar hit as it scraps its flagship
F one P fifty all electric pickup truck, as well
(14:00):
as other large evs to focus more on profitable hybrids
and combustion engine models.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
The averhaul in the US car maker strategy follows the
recent cancelation of tax credit for EV purchases that was
under President Donald Trump's executive authority. He wants to roll
back regulations aimed at curbing car emissions forwards that would
divert money into producing more trucks and vans, affordable evs,
and an energy storage business that's expected to initially target
enterprise customers. At the end of September, the Trump administration
(14:29):
withdrew the seven and a half thousand dollar consumer tax
credit for purchases of new evs. Pretty amazing because initially
it led to this massive surgeon EV purchases before it ended,
and then it dropped by fifty percent basically the next month.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Finally, I mentioned this at the top of the show.
The NASDAQ, the tech heavy second largest exchange in the US,
has asked for regulatory approval to trade twenty three hours
a day during the working week. What's the extra hour
force updates and coffee breaks?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Maybe I was wondering, but I thought you'd be able
to do that automatically. I don't know. It's asked the
Securities and Exchange Commission to add an additional trading session
from nine pm to four am. So that's on top
of the pre market trading, the regular trading, and the
post market trading times. In a statement, senior vice president
of North American Markets, the beautifully named Chuck Mack said,
(15:25):
and I quote this evolution reflects a simple reality. Global
investors expect access on their terms and their time zones
without compromising trust or market integrity. He's right. They big
implications for other exchanges like Australia. So if nazac's trading
during Australian opening hours, it's basically just another exchange that
our traders can buy and sell immediately on the information available,
(15:47):
rather than actually having to wait hours to execute orders.
So it is actually quite significant. The New York Socock
Exchange is planning to upgrade trading to twenty two hours
a day. That they've got to be cold on that
they've got the well preliminary approvals a few months ago.
That I haven't heard much more about that anyway. Interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah, it certainly is now up next. As we mentioned
before Fear and Greed Q and a Ivan Colhoun from
Credit to Watch it is coming up in the Fear
and Greed playlist on your podcast platform or at Fearandgreed
dot com dot AU. Don't know why I stumbled over that, Sean.
I say the same words every single day. I think
I'd be able to do it with my eyes closed.
It's also where you sign up for our free daily newsletter.
(16:28):
Thank you very much, Sean.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Thanks Michael.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
It's Wednesday, the seventeenth of December twenty twenty five. Make
sure you're following the podcast and please join us online
on LinkedIn, Instagram x TikTok and Facebook. I'm Michael Thompson,
and that was fear and greed. Have a great day.
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