The Saturday Edition | 27 June 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is the Saturday edition of Fear and Greed, business news you can use. I'm Michael Thompson. Good morning, Sean Aylmer. Good morning, Michael. Sean, our Saturday show is all about the two of us each nominating what we think is the biggest business story of the week. We'll nominate the most remarkable story, a mystery category that we change every week, and then our favorite business-related story. But this is different to the weekday show. This is a competition and we need a winner. And that winner is chosen by a judge who is our fear and greed colleague, Adam Lang. Adam, good morning. Hi, Sean.
Hi, Michael. Wake up, Jeff. No, no.
What are the biggest business stories of the week?
I'm ready.
Adam was a bit late this morning. Very unlike him. This is the second time in, what, six years? And we're going to let him remember it because some of us aren't quite as adept at being on time as Adam is.
So, what's up, mate? Well, as you said, Sean, this is the second time. And as we always say on Fear and Greed, the trend is your friend. That's right. Twice in six years. For us, that's a trend. Adam Sleepy Lang is how he shall now henceforth be known forevermore.
All right, Adam.
Good morning. What are you looking for when you're judging these categories this week? What are you actually looking for?
Well, look, economic impact mainly. Of course, we want topicality and timeliness for these business stories and, yes, a little bit of subjective playing to my bias and melodrama from you, Michael, chiefly. But Sean's been really good at it lately, so you're up for a contest.
And Michael's been very good at the economic impact recently too.
What? That's just unnecessary sledging. What's the biggest story of the week? Okay, biggest story of the week. What was it for you, Sean?
Has to be the economy. Tick up in inflation. We got to 3.6% annually on underlying inflation. Four months of rising underlying inflation. We are now seeing the second round effects of oil prices feeding through to the economy. Things like fruit, veggies, restaurants, people that use transport a lot to get products to their shops to sell, they're actually starting to put up the prices. We also had a drop in the unemployment rate to 4.4% after the creation of 40,000 jobs last month. That's a pretty good result. Seems the economy's not doing too badly. Then we had household spending rising 1.3% in May. One of the highest readings in three years. We had Deputy Governor Andrew Howser talking about three interest rate hikes, not hurting the labour market.
So we've had three, not hurting the labour market. Put that into the mix, master gentleman. What's it mean? Adam, Adam, the economist.
Yeah, well, interest rates are not looking like they're going to come down anytime soon. Price is going to come up. It's really troublesome.
I'd like a little bit more enthusiasm. If we were doing melodrama, Adam, you were being judged for melodrama. Look, bottom line, interest rate hikes are back on the agenda.
Simple as that. They're not off the table at all. But you know what's actually a story that happened this week? You know what? Nothing happened this week? The gloves are coming off. I've had enough. Of the tiptoeing around each other's stories. This week, it is on. The biggest story this week, right? The one that people are actually going to pay attention to. The diabolical state of the housing market in Australia. And maybe that's a little bit strong. Maybe I'm overreaching, but it wouldn't be the first time. This week, we saw the final clearance rate for the last week. fall to 42.3%. Now, that's diabolical, right? I can comfortably say diabolical for that. The last time it was this low was April of 2020, when nobody could even go to auctions because we're all in lockdowns.
So here we are, pandemic era conditions in the housing market right now. At the same time, we've got domain forecasting a drop of up to 7% in Sydney house prices, 8% in Melbourne. The handbrake slamming on for those markets that are still growing. Why? Everything we've already talked about. Interest rates, lack of confidence. Don't point out inconsistencies in my melodrama.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:06–0:47
2
What are the biggest business stories of the week?
0:47–6:53
3
How is inflation affecting the economy currently?
6:53–7:16
4
What impact do rising oil prices have on consumer goods?
7:16–12:53
5
What is the current state of the housing market in Australia?
12:53–17:09
6
How are recent tax reforms impacting the economy?
17:09–28:16
7
What significant political changes occurred in the UK recently?
28:16–29:39
Speakers
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