00:02The oil price had already fallen below US$100 a barrel when President Trump rang a reporter
00:07from CBS News.
00:08She immediately posted her scoop on X at a quarter past six this morning, our time, saying
00:14he had told her the war is very complete, pretty much, and he's thinking about taking
00:18over the Straits of Hormuz, whatever that might mean.
00:21The oil price promptly dropped to 85.
00:24The news conference a couple of hours later didn't take things much further, even though
00:27he foreshadowed the removal of sanctions to get oil flowing.
00:30But in general, markets are feeling much better about things today than they were yesterday.
00:35But it really is a day-by-day proposition.
00:38The oil price is still about $25 above where it was before the United States and Israel
00:43started bombing Iran and the Persian Gulf slammed shut, while gold and silver went up today.
00:50The share market had a bit of a bounce, with investors buying miners and banks and selling
00:54oil and gas stocks.
00:55The US market rose last night, as did Japanese and Korean stocks today.
01:00And the Aussie dollar moved a bit higher against the US dollar, but stayed steady against the
01:05Euro.
01:06Now, the government might be wishing Australia taxed its LNG exports as much as the royalties
01:10on iron ore.
01:11And better still, coal.
01:13Liquid natural gas prices are soaring, but we only get 2% of that on top of the company tax,
01:18compared with 7% for iron ore and 13% for coal.
01:22And finally, the Roy Morgan ANZ Consumer Sentiments Survey today showed that, unsurprisingly, inflation
01:29expectations have surged.
01:31This is what the Reserve Bank is worried about.
01:33And if interest rates go up next Tuesday, or more likely in May, this will be why.
01:38And that's finance.
01:40And that's finance.
01:43So, I have a Cindy.
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