Welcome to the Fear & Greed Afternoon report for Friday, the 2nd of June, 2023. I'm Sean a Aylmer. Every afternoon we've got the five stories that happened today that you need to know about. Story number one, the Fair Work Commission today listed the award rate for 2. 4 million workers by 5. 75%, the highest amount in decades. Economists and employees immediately warned that the increase in the national award wage rate could trigger higher interest rates, job losses, and cuts to hours. The national minimum wage, which affects about 180, 000 workers on the lowest rate, will rise by 8. 6% to $ 882. 80 a week. The Australian Council of Trade Union said the decision, which meant up to $ 51.08 extra a week for entry level retail staff was a historic cost of living increase, and urged the Reserve Bank not to lift rates to undercut it. Fair Work Commissioner president Adam Hatcher said the panel opted for a below inflation pay rise for award workers after concerns about entrenching high inflation expectations. Story number two, the S&P ISX 200 looked like it was in for a strong day this morning, but the Fair Work Commission decision triggered expectations of higher interest rates, and that weighed on the market. So it fell sharply, and then it caught some of the way back to finish up half a percent to 7, 145 points, which is pretty much where it started the week. The material sector was the standout today, while more defensive companies like Consumer Staples, Healthcare and Telcos were the under performers. The iron ore producers, which have had a pretty tough week were the standouts. BHP jumped 3%, Rio Tinto was up 2. 6%, while Fortescue Metals Group rose 1. 7%. Energy giants Woodside & Santos also rose 1. 7%. Coles, Woolworths, Telstra and National Australia Bank were the worst of the large caps. Better mentioned uranium miner Paladin Energy. It was the best performing stock for the second successive day, up more than 11%. Earlier in the week, it tumbled on the back of speculation that its partly owned mine in Namibia could be partially nationalized, but it released a statement today saying the Namibian government had no intention of seizing any stake in any existing mines, hence the share price surge. Also worth a mention, fixed income markets. Investors are now pricing in a 25 basis point rate hike next week, with several market economists forecasting two or three more rate rises income months. Story number three, earlier in the week, BHP considered it had underpaid about 28 and a half thousand past and present employees. That was worth about $ 430 million, saying its systems had an upgraded to include new legislation from back in 2010. Today it was supermarket giant Coles's turn. It said it will take an additional $ 25 million provision in relation to the underpayment of staff, more than doubling initial estimates. It's becoming a common occurrence. David Jones in men's fashion retailer Politics agreed this year to pay more than $ 750,000 in interest in contrition payments after admitting to underpaying thousands of employees for a million dollars. And back in 2021, Woolworths faced a 420 million blowout in its back pay bill. Story number four, Bubs Australia today said it's on track to meet all regulatory milestones to allow it to permanently sell in the massive infant formula market in the United States, but sales in Japan remain below expectations. The ASX listed group is facing a board split being led by its co- founder Kristy Carr, and former executive chair Dennis Lin. Today, Bubs said that sales of formula and adult nutrition in the Chinese export market remained below expectations, and revenue in three months to March 31 was down 56%, with the company now facing a buildup of inventory. That's never good news. Bub's share price today fell almost 3%. And story number five, the US debt ceiling crisis is over. Well, at least it was resolved this morning with Senate passing the bill, thus averting default. It's taken weeks of negotiation between the Republicans and Democrats, including President Joe Biden, and has riled financial markets. But this morning it passed 63 votes to 36 in the Senate. That certainly helped risk assets. We saw that in equity markets here in Australia. The Aussie dollar also jumped as a result it's now back above 66 US cents. Oil prices were also higher. That's it for the afternoon report for Friday, the 2nd of June 2023. Michael Thompson, Adam Lang and I will be back tomorrow morning with a weekend edition of Fear & Greed. I'm Sean Aylmer. Enjoy your evening.

Welcome to the Fear & Greed Afternoon report for Friday, the 2nd of June, 2023. I'm Sean a Aylmer. Every afternoon we've got the five stories that happened today that you need to know about. Story number one, the Fair Work Commission today listed the award rate for 2. 4 million workers by 5. 75%, the highest amount in decades. Economists and employees immediately warned that the increase in the national award wage rate could trigger higher interest rates, job losses, and cuts to hours. The national minimum wage, which affects about 180, 000 workers on the lowest rate, will rise by 8. 6% to $ 882. 80 a week. The Australian Council of Trade Union said the decision, which meant up to $ 51.08 extra a week for entry level retail staff was a historic cost of living increase, and urged the Reserve Bank not to lift rates to undercut it. Fair Work Commissioner president Adam Hatcher said the panel opted for a below inflation pay rise for award workers after concerns about entrenching high inflation expectations. Story number two, the S&P ISX 200 looked like it was in for a strong day this morning, but the Fair Work Commission decision triggered expectations of higher interest rates, and that weighed on the market. So it fell sharply, and then it caught some of the way back to finish up half a percent to 7, 145 points, which is pretty much where it started the week. The material sector was the standout today, while more defensive companies like Consumer Staples, Healthcare and Telcos were the under performers. The iron ore producers, which have had a pretty tough week were the standouts. BHP jumped 3%, Rio Tinto was up 2. 6%, while Fortescue Metals Group rose 1. 7%. Energy giants Woodside & Santos also rose 1. 7%. Coles, Woolworths, Telstra and National Australia Bank were the worst of the large caps. Better mentioned uranium miner Paladin Energy. It was the best performing stock for the second successive day, up more than 11%. Earlier in the week, it tumbled on the back of speculation that its partly owned mine in Namibia could be partially nationalized, but it released a statement today saying the Namibian government had no intention of seizing any stake in any existing mines, hence the share price surge. Also worth a mention, fixed income markets. Investors are now pricing in a 25 basis point rate hike next week, with several market economists forecasting two or three more rate rises income months. Story number three, earlier in the week, BHP considered it had underpaid about 28 and a half thousand past and present employees. That was worth about $ 430 million, saying its systems had an upgraded to include new legislation from back in 2010. Today it was supermarket giant Coles's turn. It said it will take an additional $ 25 million provision in relation to the underpayment of staff, more than doubling initial estimates. It's becoming a common occurrence. David Jones in men's fashion retailer Politics agreed this year to pay more than $ 750,000 in interest in contrition payments after admitting to underpaying thousands of employees for a million dollars. And back in 2021, Woolworths faced a 420 million blowout in its back pay bill. Story number four, Bubs Australia today said it's on track to meet all regulatory milestones to allow it to permanently sell in the massive infant formula market in the United States, but sales in Japan remain below expectations. The ASX listed group is facing a board split being led by its co- founder Kristy Carr, and former executive chair Dennis Lin. Today, Bubs said that sales of formula and adult nutrition in the Chinese export market remained below expectations, and revenue in three months to March 31 was down 56%, with the company now facing a buildup of inventory. That's never good news. Bub's share price today fell almost 3%. And story number five, the US debt ceiling crisis is over. Well, at least it was resolved this morning with Senate passing the bill, thus averting default. It's taken weeks of negotiation between the Republicans and Democrats, including President Joe Biden, and has riled financial markets. But this morning it passed 63 votes to 36 in the Senate. That certainly helped risk assets. We saw that in equity markets here in Australia. The Aussie dollar also jumped as a result it's now back above 66 US cents. Oil prices were also higher. That's it for the afternoon report for Friday, the 2nd of June 2023. Michael Thompson, Adam Lang and I will be back tomorrow morning with a weekend edition of Fear & Greed. I'm Sean Aylmer. Enjoy your evening.