1. Shark bitten by endorsement of FTX

When celebrities put their name to a product or service they have to be careful in an increasingly litigious world. And in the US, litigious comes with a capital L! CNBC reveals that “Shark Tank” judge and CNBC contributor Kevin O’Leary said on Thursday that he’s lost all of the $15 million FTX paid him to act as a spokesman for the now-collapsed crypto exchange, which some think might have acted illegally. But he’s not the only celeb in cranky investors sights, with NFL star Tom Brady and comedian Larry David all to be sued for not doing their due diligence and for not curbing their enthusiasm for FTX.

2. Wall Street rethinking its recent negativity

US stocks were positive ahead of the close which looks set to beat a five-day losing streak for stocks. Negativity has crept into the market following better-than-expected economic news, which had market influencers believing that the Fed could raise the official interest rate by 0.75% next rather than the expected 0.5%. This is how CNBC saw this week’s action which has been negative based on the thinking that good economic news is bad stock market news: “Investor attention remains laser-focused on next week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting, where the central bank is widely expected to issue a 50 basis point interest rate hike. It’s a smaller increase than the prior four rate hikes, but may do little to alleviate recession fears as the Fed attempt to squash surging prices.” And those recession fears are becoming more worrying in the States.

3. Who are our highest paid CEOs?

The AFR has done the figuring and “Macquarie Group chief Shemara Wikramanayake is Australia’s highest-paid CEO in 2022 for the second year in a row on $23.7 million, as the bosses of the 300 biggest companies enjoyed a 16 per cent pay rise to a median salary of $2.7 million.” Coming in second was Lovisa’s CEO Victor Heerero on $20.9 million. In the highly paid stakes, Herrero was followed by long-time Resmed chief executive Mick Farrell, who jumped up the ranks after being paid $16.1 million and followed by founder of the Goodman Group, Greg Goodman, on $15.7 million.

4. A taxing year ahead

The SMH reveals that “Australians face paying the highest average tax rates on their wages on record without a major overhaul of the tax system, with new independent analysis showing the federal revenue system becoming distorted by its heavy reliance on wage earners.” A Parliamentary Budget Office report found even with the 2024 tax cuts ordinary workers face a huge spike in the amount of tax they will pay. “The average tax rate is expected to climb to 25.5 cents in the dollar in 2023-24, and then fall to 24.1 cents after the stage 3 tax cuts,” Shane Wright and Rachel Club report. “But without further tax relief, the average tax rate will again start climbing and hit an all-time high of 26.4 cents in the dollar by 2032-33.”

5. Energy rebates for households coming?

The Australian says “Federally funded energy rebates for households to help with soaring power bills would be funneled through state governments in exchange for NSW and Queensland capping coal prices, under fresh compensation demands being brokered overnight with the ­Albanese government.

“The NSW government is leading the push for a rebate, which is believed to have in-principle backing of the Albanese government. The rebate in NSW could be worth as much as $280 for households.”