1. Multiple conflicting worries for Wall St

US stocks were sliding before the close as yields in the bond market spiked on comments from a prominent Fed official. This is how CNBC reported the observations: “Investors weighed comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard, who said in a speech Thursday that “the policy rate is not yet in a zone that may be considered sufficiently restrictive.” He then added: “The change in the monetary policy stance appears to have had only limited effects on observed inflation, but market pricing suggests disinflation is expected in 2023.” This led to the 2-year Treasury yield to jump to 4.465% but that then made other Wall Street worriers to focus on higher rates could send the economy into a recession!

2. From TPG to David Jones?

The AFR’s Carrie LaFrenz reports that “Teoh Capital – the private investment firm of billionaire David Teoh and his family – has joined an auction for the nation’s oldest department stores chain David Jones, which could spell the end of a rather painful era for its South African owners.” Mr Teoh founded and grew TPG Telecom into one of Australia’s largest telecommunications companies. Teoh Capital is now owned by his sons Shane, Jack, Bob and John Teoh. The company has tended to be in tech B2B businesses but as the AFR reminds us they bought the once ‘online only’ Oscar Wylee glasses company, which now has 135 stores across Australia and NZ. Meanwhile, TPG has nosedived since the Teohs left the business.

3. FTX was f’d

This story in the AFR could be the best reason why all cryptocurrency businesses are regulated: “Advisers now overseeing the ruins of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Group are struggling to locate the company’s cash and crypto, slamming poor internal oversight and record keeping at the now-bankrupt company.” And this is what John J. Ray III, the group’s new chief executive officer who formerly oversaw the liquidation of Enron, said in a sworn declaration submitted in bankruptcy court: “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information.” Officialdom has allowed investors to put their money into something that looks as secure as a two-up school run by local standover merchants!

4. Still moving out of cities but slower

The Regional Movers Index (RMI) is produced by the Commonwealth Bank and the Regional Australia Institute. The September quarter numbers reveal “The latest level of migration is 7.2%  lower than a year earlier, when a near-record number of capital city people, predominantly from Sydney and Melbourne, moved to regional areas during pandemic lockdowns.

“The latest numbers show that Migration flows from capitals to regions during the quarter recorded a slight uptick, up by 2.4%, but the capital to region migration is still well above pre-COVID levels, even as public health measures ease. These quarterly migration flows in the past 12 months have averaged a level that’s 15.1% higher than during the two years prior to the pandemic.

5. Franking credits not dead, yet

The SMH tells us that “a $200 million tax loophole that allows companies to buy back shares at a discount using franking credits will be closed, but the Assistant Treasurer says ordinary investors will still get their dividends as the government works to strengthen the current system.” Rachel Clun writes: “Stephen Jones said the change was not about getting rid of franking credits would end the “unintended incentive”, which sees companies go off-market to buy back shares, rather than on market. “Our change is only to align the corporate tax treatment of on-market and off-market trades. That is fair and as it should be,” the Assistant Treasurer told an accounting group yesterday. Off-market buybacks favour low tax shareholders such as retirees over those investors on higher tax rates.