Full Transcript for PM backs down on defence sales; On’s big plans for Aussie runners; midterms fallout

Manila later this month. Albanese said his message to the President would remain focused on de-escalating the conflict with Iran, arguing the war was damaging the global economy and affecting Australians, even though Australia is not directly involved in the fighting. Hmm. 00:03:17 Speaker 1: As many as three meetings... Is there such a thing as too many meetings, do you think, John? 00:03:21 Speaker 2: I'd say so. I'd say so. There are a lot of these international get-togethers. And I get that ASEAN and APEC and G20 and Quad are all different, but a bunch of the same people turn up. Surely you can have some sort of agenda and crossover just a little bit, maybe. 00:03:39 Speaker 1: Also, just do it by Zoom, right? 00:03:41 Speaker 2: So much faster. 00:03:43 Speaker 1: So much more efficient. 00:03:44 Speaker 2: Go Zoom. 00:03:45 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Now, the week after the Reserve Bank lifted interest rates for the fifth time wasn't a particularly good one for the housing market, with the preliminary auction clearance rate coming in just over 50%. It means that the rate has now been stuck below 60% for six months, would you believe? Higher interest rates, cost of living pressures, really deterring buyers week after week. 00:04:10 Speaker 2: Cotality figures show just 51.5% of capital city auctions were successful over the last week. That's up from a 60-year low the previous week, but still well below normal levels. Auction volumes have also collapsed. There were about 1,700 properties going under the hammer in the last week. That's down 43%, 44%. The final clearance rate, of course, will be much lower, probably around that 44%, 45%. The final clearance rate in the week ahead of the hike was just 41%. That was the lowest since COVID. So you can imagine that we, I mean, anything over that is good news, I suppose, but relative to where we've been, it's pretty horrendous. 00:04:52 Speaker 1: Yeah. The local share market, Sean, is expected to open slightly higher today following a jump on Wall Street. What do you say? It has been a volatile ride since the US midterms. which was only less than a week ago now. But perhaps the best news for the local market is actually centered around the price of oil because that has fallen. A barrel of oil now costs less than 100 US dollars. I mean, certainly not great overall, but it's definitely better than a week ago. 00:05:24 Speaker 2: Yes, I think so. The local market has suffered earlier in the year from having relatively few major data centers and AI chip businesses, that type of thing. Now we're actually benefiting from it because there's a sell-off in those companies. Over the past month or so, our market's actually done pretty well. So our tech index is up 7%. Now remember, we are more SaaS companies. We aren't data center AI chip companies. So those others have done pretty well. The bank index is up 8%. We actually look really quite reasonable, except for the big miners. They've dragged us lower. Also, just before we leave markets, Australia's Future Fund... we all own that one, has recorded its weakest quarterly performance in almost three years. As turmoil in global bond markets weighed on investment returns, the sovereign wealth fund grew just 0.07% in the September quarter, adding around $ 200 million to reach just about $ 290 billion. It'd be good if you actually had that much money that 0.07% turned out to be $ 200 million. Yeah, not bad, right? 00:06:24 Speaker 1: Now, Sean, can I give a very quick mention of regular listeners to our Saturday edition? I would have noticed something a little bit different in the Saturday Just Gone. We talked a couple of times about YouTube and the fact that the Saturday edition Just Gone was our first ever official video podcast. And if you haven't already followed the Fear and Greed podcast YouTube channel, which is, well, Fear and Greed podcast, just search for it on YouTube, you can actually check us out. It's you... Me and our colleague, Adam Lang. And it's a, it's a, how do you describe it? 00:07:08 Speaker 2: Uh, disaster? 00:07:08 Speaker 1: No, no, technically everything is perfect. 00:07:12 Speaker 2: Oh, sorry, the YouTube part of it's great. It's just our performances. I'm not sure we, you and I argue against each other and hope Adam makes some sort of vague, sensible decision, which inevitably we're disappointed. 00:07:23 Speaker 1: No, if you go there expecting credibility and clarity- And a very succinct summary of the news. Look, you're going to be disappointed. But if you go there expecting a bit of fun and expecting a debate and expecting some tantrums and walkouts, then you're in luck and you can see it all on camera. So head along to YouTube and follow that one. Let's take a quick break, Sean, back in a moment with the rest of the day's business news. Sean, Australians are buying new cars in record numbers. Despite rising interest rates and the cost of living pressures that we keep talking about, a record 107,493 new vehicles were sold in October. That is up 7% on a year earlier. Electric vehicles accounted for 23% of sales, up from just 7% last year. If you add hybrids and plug-in hybrids, And overall then, electrified vehicles actually made up more than half of all sales. The Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger returned to the top of the sales charts, followed by the Toyota RAV4 and the Tesla Model Y. This is according to figures from the Federated Chamber of Automotive Industries and the Electric Vehicle Council. 00:08:42 Speaker 2: What I think is really interesting. So Toyota, once again, biggest selling brand. Chinese manufacturer BYD held the second place for the seventh consecutive month. But what I think is incredible is how far some of the more commonplace manufacturers have fallen thanks to the influx of Chinese vehicles. So Mitsubishi, long-term top 10 manufacturer, was almost outsold by a Chinese group, a motor, Jaiku. They came in 13th and 14th, respectively. Zika, another

Chinese group, almost beat Nissan. Wow. Five years ago, Volkswagen was ninth best-selling car brand. Last month, it was 20th. So it is just remarkable how the European brands and the Japanese brands, even the Korean brands, have really struggled to match the Chinese brands. 00:09:35 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's extraordinary. And I just find it remarkable that we as a nation are still buying so many new cars. I suppose as far as the dual cabs go, the tradie trade is kind of constant, right? There's always kind of upgrading and you see those those patterns, particularly as you approach the end of financial year as well. But is the rest of it, do you reckon, actually, we talk about cost of living being something that would prevent people from buying things, but it's actually something that is motivating the shift towards electric vehicles? 00:10:04 Speaker 2: I think so. So I might, this was correct. I'm assuming it's still correct. The cheapest car, brand new car on the market was a BYD at $ 19, 990. I presume that's still the case. If you're looking for a car, my kids... sort of looking for cars, and why wouldn't they buy an EV? If you can get past the range anxiety, EVs are just so much cheaper to run. 00:10:30 Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay. We talked a fair bit last week about David Jones and the administrators of the collapsed apartment store chain say that they have received strong interest from potential buyers in Australia and from overseas, raising hopes that now that the 188-year-old retailer can, in fact, survive. 00:10:51 Speaker 2: McGraw-Nickel says credible retail operators and financial investors have made inquiries. Meanwhile, David Jones stores have reported a surge in customers since entering administration on Thursday. So there's one outlet, one DJ's outlet, doubled sales compared to a year ago. I mean, a bunch of shoppers are running into redeemed gift cards. Good option, I would suggest. It's likely that a new owner would shrink the chain. chain dramatically. So it's got 38 stores now. You're probably going to end up at 10, 15, thereabouts. Anchorage Capital, which owned it, put it into administration. It's talking about participating in the rescue. Not quite sure how that works, but clearly there's some interest in DJs. Okay. 00:11:33 Speaker 1: Now we mentioned this at the top of the show, Swiss Sporting Brand On, which is backed by tennis legend Roger Federer. And honestly, I will buy anything that Roger Federer recommends. 00:11:44 Speaker 2: Especially a white jacket. Remember he used to wear white jackets under the court, which is not very appropriate for tennis, but anyway. 00:11:52 Speaker 1: Oh, but I mean, anything that he does, he makes look classy. 00:11:55 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. 00:11:56 Speaker 1: The on-running brand, the on-brand, is planning a major expansion here in Australia ahead of the Brisbane Olympics. It's probably best known for quite distinctive running shoes. 00:12:08 Speaker 2: Yep. 00:12:09 Speaker 1: Also

for the premium prices that you will pay if you want to get on board with this. On has got, I think, two Australian stores. They want to grow from two to four or five by the end of next year and eventually have around 10 of them along the East Coast. 00:12:24 Speaker 2: So it's not huge in Australia, but sales doubled to about $ 76 million last year. So people are clearly happy to pay for it. The company's also paged French football superstar Kylian Mbappe from Nike to It's targeting younger consumers through collaborations with celebrities like Zendaya. This is all according to the Finland Review. On's expanding into football plans to tackle golf next year. Competition fierce there. You've got Nike and those sorts of things all looking for fighting. Sorry, Rebel and Sports Direct and the brands themselves like Nike fighting for customers. Still with the Brisbane Olympics approaching, On believes Australia's obsession with sport is worth cashing in on. 00:13:07 Speaker 1: Yeah, obsession with sport. I bought a pair of on-running shoes, Sean. Not so much for the. 00:13:16 Speaker 2: Running. 00:13:17 Speaker 1: Because we were going to Disneyland and planning a lot of walking. So I thought, why not go for comfort? And my God. And I needed something that was versatile enough to play tennis in. And honestly, they are the most comfortable shoes. However, six months on, they've developed a really amazing Unpleasant squeak. 00:13:38 Speaker 2: Yes. Exactly the same issue. I think that some of the best shoes I've ever worn. Yeah. Then there comes a time after a few months. 00:13:46 Speaker 1: Everywhere you walk and you can hear someone. You can actually identify fellow on running shoes in a crowd. For a pair of sneakers, they are not very sneaky, right? Like you can just hear them coming. It is just, it is an identifying mark and they should make that part of the marketing. 00:14:05 Speaker 2: Anyway. 00:14:06 Speaker 1: In international news, as the dust gradually settles from last week's US midterm elections, and my gosh, there is some analysis going on. It does seem like the biggest losers are data centers and Elon Musk, with Democrats taking the House, the Senate, and a number of state governorships as well. Analysts expect a slowdown in data center builds and AI, the rollout of all the infrastructure associated with it. Local communities are expected to have a bigger say in this process, which in itself will slow down everything as well. In Texas, where about 25% of the tech industry is planning to build new data centers, a Democrat who promised a data center moratorium is now governor. So a fairly influential position there. 00:14:56 Speaker 2: Ohio. 00:14:57 Speaker 1: where Meta and Amazon Web Services, they both have plans to spend a combined $ 3 billion on data centres. They've got a Democrat as governor and, again, one who has called for an immediate conditional moratorium. So it just feels like the brakes have come on in a hurry. 00:15:14 Speaker 2: Yeah. In fact, roughly half of proposed data centre projects in the US are now in areas with leaders who have promised to halt them, according to the Morning Brew newsletter. Then there's Elon Musk, the world's richest man. He set a record for an individual donor in a US election by spending close to half a billion dollars trying to get Republicans elected, especially in states crucial to AI infrastructure build-out. Well, it didn't work. It just didn't work. His companies, Tesla, SpaceX, and X, relocated to Texas with promises of tax breaks and uncumbered build-outs. That didn't happen. Musk himself took it quite well. He posted on X, I'll quote him, data centers in space look pretty appealing right now, end quote. Still, this is not good for his value has fallen to a mere $ 850 billion, Michael. Back down below that trillion dollar mark, disappointing. 00:16:08 Speaker 1: Yeah, poor fella, Sean. All in all, it was a pretty bad week for tech stocks in the US, notwithstanding a bit of a rebound over the weekend. After losing about $ 2. 3 trillion in value on Thursday of last week, the NASDAQ then rose 1.4% over the weekend. Still for the week, though, it was down 5%, which is a bad week by anyone's measure. 00:16:30 Speaker 2: Yes, the border-based S & P 500 fell about 3% for the week, worst showing since Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs in April last year. 00:16:38 Speaker 1: It's getting a little bit bizarre in Washington. Honestly, that's actually a sentence I could have said any time over the last couple of years. But there are credible reports that says US President Donald Trump has offered Dana White, the president and CEO of UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship, the job as White House press secretary. 00:17:02 Speaker 2: Well, then White added to the debate. He was saying he was flying to Washington to meet Trump this week. He was a bit confused about it all, but he said he'd have more to talk about it. Later, CNN reported that White had actually turned the president down. But the fact that Donald Trump asked him to begin with. Yes. Wow. 00:17:19 Speaker 1: That it wasn't just a thought bubble. 00:17:21 Speaker 2: No. 00:17:21 Speaker 1: It was a legitimate job offer. Right. 00:17:25 Speaker 2: Okay. Okay. 00:17:27 Speaker 1: Israel's president says he will task opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot with forming a new coalition government. President Isaac Herzog has been holding talks with political parties after neither Eisenkot's block nor that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's secured a majority in Israel's parliament, known as the Knesset. Following last week's election, Eisenkot will now have 28 days to try to form a new administration with a potential 14-day extension. So this could still have a little bit to run. 00:17:59 Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is how it works in Israel. No political party has ever won an outright majority in that country. Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, in its far right, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies, won 53% of the 120-seat Knesset, while Eisenkot's centrist Yashar Party and three other Jewish opposition parties with 148. Now, two Arab-led alliances, one called the United Arab List and the Joint List, won an unprecedented 19 seats between them. The problem is that the non-Arab parties have basically said, we will not go into coalition with the Arab parties, but they actually hold the balance of power. So it'll be interesting to see what happens there. Just quickly, before we go, New Zealand had an election over the weekend, too close to call, but voters, decisive verdict on the major parties. Smaller rivals had their best ever result. That could well reshape that country's political landscape. Okay. 00:18:58 Speaker 1: Up next, fear and greed Q & A. This is the week ahead with NAB and Chief Economist Sally Auld is your guest today. 00:19:05 Speaker 2: Have a great chat about what the midterms elections mean for the Australian economy. That's where we start. Then we talk about the interest rates from last week and where we're going on interest rates, what's going to happen now. Fantastic chat with Sally. 00:19:16 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good one. It is coming up next in the Fear and Greed playlist on your podcast platform or at fearandgreed.com.au. Thank you very much, Sean. 00:19:25 Speaker 2: Thank you, Michael. 00:19:26 Speaker 1: It's Monday, the 9th of November, 2026. Make sure you are following the podcast and join us online on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. I'm Michael Thompson, and that was Fear and Greed. Have a great day.