Podcasts about austal

The Australian share market hit an all-time high, even with fears about tariffs and political instability hitting the market MARKET WRAP: ASX200: up 0.84% to 8,587 GOLD: $3,330 US/oz BITCOIN: $167,552 AUD Woodside rose 0.7%, Santos up 1.2% and Yancoal gained 4%, as oil prices were higher. Commonwealth rose 1.2% to $182 a share, with NAB up 1.5%, ANZ up 1.1% and Westpac up 1%. Austal shares lifted 7.3% to $6.19. Metcash up 3.5% to $3.51 Next DC 5.2% higher on news of contract wins. Ora Banda Mining still fell 4.6% to $1.05. Backwards by more than 1% were Seven Group Holdings, Evolution Mining and Qantas. CURRENCY UPDATE: AUD/USD: 65.1 US cents AUD/GBP: 48.3 pence AUD/EUR: 57 Euro cents AUD/JPY: 94 Japanese yen AUD/NZD: 1.08 NZ dollars See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sam Jones speaks to Ava Rawlings about the update on federal politics. Plus: North West Shelf legal action; Austal board appointment; and a $70m South Perth project.

Justin Fris and Mark Beyer discuss Austal's efforts to help revive naval shipbuilding in the US. Plus: Coalition pitches boost for junior miners; Fallout from US tariffs; Woodside's US project in review.

On today's program, sponsored by HII, Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the implications that US tax revenue might drop by 10 percent or $500 billion this year in the wake of job cuts at the Internal Revenue Service; the difference between the absence of war and peace as US officials continue to negotiate an end of the Ukraine war; while US officials take Vladimir Putin at his word that he doesn't want to take “all” of Europe, European nations move rapidly to bolster their sovereign capabilities; investment across Asia as nations worry they will be next to be abandoned by the United States was Washington pursues a “grand Bargain” with China; Hanwha sells stock and buys a nearly 10 percent stake in Austal; the US Air Force's decision to award the manned combat aircraft element of the Next Generation Air Dominance program to Boeing over Lockheed Martin; what the decision means for Lockheed Martin's outlook after decades as the world's premiere maker of combat aircraft; and a look at the week ahead.

Mark Beyer and Mark Pownall discuss US President Donald Trump and tariffs; a wrap up on the state election; big news from Austal and a preview of the next Business News magazine.

How present do leaders need to be? Rear Admiral Lee Goddard CSC served over 34 years in the Navy, commanding warships and joint taskforces at every senior rank, and continues to serve as a member of the active reserve. He's also the inaugural CEO and Executive Director of the Australian Missile Corporation, a Non-Executive Director of AUSTAL and the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, an Advisor to the Minderoo Foundation, and Chairman of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. In this episode, Lee unpacks the damage caused by absent leaders, the difference between bad and toxic leadership, and the importance of daydreaming. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week saw a bit of extra good news for Ukraine with the announcement that Australia will donate 49 M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks that are being retired from service. An extra 10 Abrams will be available for spare parts, or they could be returned to a usable condition. No matter how you look at this, it's a significant contribution because while the tanks are a bit long in the tooth they are still a formidable capability, particularly against the ageing junk that Russia is now forced to field. Also last week saw a bit of coverage of the latest US Congressional Research Service report into AUKUS Pillar One – and it identifies a number of failures in the Australian process. Related to this, we are spending billions of dollars in WA getting ready for the deployment of US and possibly UK nuclear-powered submarines with no one doing the analysis of whether we should simply increase the size of that force for the defence of Australia. Finally some words about the company Austal – how come they are all of a sudden in such a privileged position? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For review:1. US Congress passes Continuing Resolution (CR) for continued Federal Government funding.The CR now makes its way to the White House, which has indicated that the President will sign the bill well in advance of the 30 Sep deadline.2.  IDF Prepares for Ground Combat in S. Lebanon.Israel has continued to launch hundreds of strikes against Hezbollah targets and warned that a ground offensive was looming. IDF chief LTG Halevi told Soldiers they would likely soon find themselves in Lebanon.3. France Proposes 21-Day Ceasefire in Lebanon. France outlined the proposal at an emergency UN Security Council session. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that the two Western powers (France & US) were proposing a truce of 21 days "to allow for negotiations and a more sustainable ceasefire."4. US Security Package to Ukraine worth $375 Million.Capabilities include: air-to-ground weapons; munitions for rocket systems and artillery; armored vehicles; and anti-tank weapons.5. US approves $920 million Foreign Military Financing (FMF) loan to Romania.FMF dollars have to be spent on US-made weapons and the loans come with interest that will have to be paid back to the US government. 6. South Korean defense company Hanwha Ocean no longer pursues bid to purchase Australian ship building firm Austal. 7. China fires ICBM into Pacific Ocean during test.Chinese Defense Ministry reports that the ICBM carried a dummy warhead and fell into a designated area of the sea, and that the test complied with international law and was not directed against any country or target.8. Northrup Grumman Selected to Build Hypersonic Glide Interceptors (GPI).The fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act is pushing the US Missile Defense Agency to ensure initial operational capability (IOC) for the GPIs by the end of 2029 and full operational capability (FOC) by 2032, as well as to deliver at least 24 x GPIs by 2040. 

Welcome to the Hughes Hubbard Anti-Corruption & Internal Investigations Practice Group's podcast, All Things Investigation. In this podcast, host Tom Fox is joined by guests Mike DeBernardis and Shayda Vance to discuss the significant case involving Austal USA, a shipbuilding company facing charges of securities fraud and obstruction of a federal audit due to the misreporting of costs for U.S. Navy ships. The episode delves into the actions taken by the DOJ and SEC and underscores the complexities involved when senior executives are implicated in fraud and the challenges companies face in maintaining compliance and cooperation with government investigations. The conversation highlights the importance of having a robust compliance program and the critical role of the board of directors in overseeing investigations. The guests also explore the specific ramifications for government contractors and defense contractors and the significant impact of U.S. jurisdiction on foreign companies listed on American Deposit Registries. Through the lens of the Austal case, the discussion provides vital insights and lessons for compliance professionals, corporate executives, and board members. Key Highlights Details of the Fraud and Legal Actions Lessons Learned and Analysis Government Contractors and Compliance Programs Challenges in Replacing Senior Executives Significance of ‘Not Presently Responsible' in Government Contracting Implications of Listing on the American Deposit Registry Resources: Hughes Hubbard & Reed website 

The Federal Reserve's decision to lower interest rates was welcomed by Australian investors this week. Learn why the US rate cut boosted the local market and explore why the recent dip in oil prices is likely to be short-lived. In this week's wrap, Grady covers: (0:10): how Wall St reacted to the Fed's rate cut (1:20): the recent data signalling economic stability in the US (2:08): why the US rate cut is a positive for our local market (5:01): the most traded stocks & ETFs  by Bell Direct clients(5:29): economic news items to watch out for.

Wall St started the new trading week with a mixed session ahead of the commencement of the Fed's FOMC meeting where it is expected a rate cut of 0.25% will be announced as the US inflation rate continues to ease to the target 2% while the economy remains robust enough to avoid a recession. The S&P500 reversed morning losses to close Monday's session up 0.13% while the Dow Jones rose 0.55% to a fresh record 41,622.08 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended Monday's session down 0.52% though as Apple shares weighed on the tech index.Over in Europe, markets closed mostly lower on Monday ahead of key interest rate decisions out around the world this week. The STOXX 600 fell 0.2% on Monday, Germany's DAX lost 0.35%, the French CAC fell 0.21%, and, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day up 0.06%. The Bank of England rate decision is announced on Thursday where it is widely expected the BoE will maintain the current cash rate of 5% for another period following the first 25 basis points rate cut announced in August.Across the Asia region on Monday markets rose as investors assessed key economic data out of China including August factory, retail sales and fixed asset investment all rising by less than economists' were expecting in data out over the weekend. China and South Korea's markets were closed on Monday for the mid-Autumn festival, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.13% on Monday.Locally on Monday, the ASX200 rose 0.27% taking lead from Wall Street's rally on Friday ahead of the Fed's next FOMC meeting where it is widely expected the Fed will announce the first interest rate cut of this cycle as inflation eases in the US.Gold stocks rose on Monday as the price of the precious commodity rose 0.41% to US$2589/ounce. Evolution Mining, Regis Resources and Northern Star Resources each ended Monday's session in the green.Qantas shares rallied yesterday after the national carrier announced it is raising the cost of changing airfares booked with the airline by 20% which increases income for the flying kangaroo.Australian-based global ship maker, Austal jumped over 17% on Monday after announcing it had won a US$450m contract with General Dynamics Electric Boat to expand production capacity at its US shipyard in support of the US Navy Submarine Industrial Base (SIB).What to watch today:Ahead of Tuesday's trading session the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX to open the day up 0.65%.On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 2.73% higher at US$70.53/barrel, gold is up 0.16% at US$2582/ounce, and iron ore is down 0.86% at US$92.26/tonne.The Aussie dollar has strengthened to buy US$0.67, 94.98 Japanese Yen, 51.04 British Pence and NZ$1.09.Trading Ideas:Bell Potter has initiated coverage of Champion Iron (ASX:CIA) with a buy rating and a 12-month price target of $7.15/share. Bell Potter's analyst sees the company's shift into higher grade production will likely support average realised prices and earnings amid an iron ore price environment generally expected to weaken. CIA will benefit from maturing high-grade iron concentrate markets that recognise emission reduction benefits. CIA is a dividend payer and the analyst expects earnings to continue to support dividends.And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Kelsian Group (ASX:KLS) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 12-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may fall from the close of $3.99 to the range of $3.25 to $3.40 according to standard principles of technical analysis.

ASX 200 kicked off the week on a positive note, gaining 22 points to 8122 (+0.3%), just 27.1 points away from its previous all-time high. Banks did most of the heavy lifting today as resources sagged on lagging commodity prices. WBC was in demand up 2.2% hitting a 52-week high, and the Big Bank Basket rose 1.1% to $245.76. Gold miners firmed, supported by fresh record-high bullion prices during the day. EVN the top beneficiary up 4.2%, while NST and SBM follow just behind. Losses in resource stocks weighed on the index, BHP, RIO and FMG all finished in the red. Energy stocks no better, WDS fell 0.6% despite resuming production at its Shenzi oil and gas field following Hurricane Francine's disruption. Lithium and Uranium stocks on the nose. MIN pared earlier gains, finishing down % after announcing maiden estimates for two Perth Basin discoveries. BOE, PDN and DYL all lost over 1% each. Tech and REITS finished higher, while defensive sector healthcare slumped, CSL eased 1.2% dragging the entire with them. In corporate news, Austal (+20.5%) secured a US$450m shipyard expansion deal. Lendlease (+2.1%) sold its US unit, with expected FY25-26 losses and FY27 recovery. Downer (-0.5%) landed an NZ$800m contract for Auckland Airport's new terminal. Nothing on the economic front today. In Asia, the Hang Seng flat, TOPIX closed, and Shanghai Composite closed. Bond yields down, 10Y yield at 3.81%, 2Y yield down 0.8bps to 3.48%. AUD +0.3% to 67.24US cents. Dow Jones Futures down 6 points and Nasdaq Futures down 31 points.Why not sign up for a free trial? Get access to expert market insights and manage your investments with confidence.Ready to invest in yourself? Join the Marcus Today community.

Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week…Cavas traveled to Mobile, Alabama last week for an up-close look at what Austal USA's shipyard is working on – and the scope of their projects is impressive. He spoke with shipyard president Michelle Kruger about where the shipyard is now, where it's headed and what challenges she's dealing with. Please send us feedback by DM'ing @CavasShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com.

Nadia Budihardjo and Liv Declerck discuss arts' engagement in aged care. Plus all the latest on WA's AAA credit rating; federal goverment's international student cap; and Austal's $35m US penalty.

This is the Fear and Greed Afternoon Report - everything you need to know about what happened in the markets, economy and world of business today, in just a few minutes. ASX closes lower Woodside ups energy spending Austal's $US24m fine Short stay levy Temu founder's fortune tumbles Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is the Fear and Greed Afternoon Report - the top five things you need to know today, in just five minutes. ASX closes lower Woodside ups energy spending Austal's $US24m fine Short stay levy Temu founder's fortune tumbles Support the show: http://fearandgreed.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nadia Budihardjo and Claire Tyrrell discuss the inaugural year of Sterling Property. Plus all the latest on: Albanese's cabinet reshuffle, Austal's $45m wind-powered cargo ship, and Ramelius' strong gold results.

Mark Beyer and Mark Pownall discuss a desal plant in the Pilbara, leadership changes at Austal, revised interest rates, the planning saga around Cottesloe's Indiana Tea House and more.

Nadia Budihardjo and Jack McGinn discuss the challenges facing the critical minerals sector. Plus: desal plant plan; Austal succession plan, and police station sale.

Jack McGinn speaks with Mark Beyer about John Van Der Wielen's top tips for business transformation. Plus, Paladin makes a $1 billion move, a Myer takeover and Austal to build more patrol boats.

Michael Shoebridge talks with Paddy Gregg, CEO of Austal, about the company's history as a builder of commercial and military vessels for decades now. We discuss its stocked up order book both here & in the US, and the future, including Australia's general purpose frigates. Austal USA is making command modules for US Virginia Class submarines and is the biggest revenue earner for Austal, while at Henderson, Austal is ramping up fast with landing craft orders. Hanwha's bid is covered, with Paddy giving his perspective as the CEO of a publicly-listed company.

John Kelly, the chief executive officer of Hanwha Defense USA, the American arm of the South Korean defense firm discusses his plan to grow the company‘s US footprint over the next decade, how lessons from his three decades navigating BAE System's rise in America will help guide Hanwha's growth, the role the company's culture of investment and speed plays in making it an attractive supplier especially for munitions as the US Army applies supplemental funding to refill its stocks, the case for the K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzer in US service, unmanned systems and other capabilities the company has developed and is developing with partners like Anduril, Hanwha's growing naval prowess, and a look at its merger and acquisition approach that will play a key factor in its growth, including an update on a possible Austal deal with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian.

In this Momentum Media exclusive, produced by Lawyers Weekly's sister brand Defence Connect, former prime minister Scott Morrison discusses a range of topics, including that he believes the People's Republic of China and the United States of America are already in a “Cold War under a different guise”. Host Robert Dougherty and Australia's 30th prime minister, Scott Morrison, discuss: Morrison's departure from politics and plans for the future, his new role as non-executive vice-chairman at American Global Strategies and as an adviser with venture capital firm DYNE. A recent visit to South Korea, Australia's relationships in the Indo-Pacific, as well as speculation surrounding defence companies Hanwha and Austal. About a modern, grey-zone Cold War between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Australia's increasingly complex relationship with the People's Republic of China and a recent incident between a PLA fighter jet and a Royal Australian Navy helicopter. The empowerment of Australia's closest neighbourhood partnerships with Nauru and the Solomon Islands and maintaining the Indo-Pacific status quo. Australian involvement in, and the behind-the-scenes formation of, the AUKUS trilateral partnership, its original intent and vision. The US presidential election and possible re-election of Donald Trump. The accomplishments and downfalls of Morrison's career in politics and during his time as the 30th prime minister of Australia. Morrison's own experiences with Australian Defence Force equipment such as F-35 stealth aircraft, Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles and a personal favourite – the Nimitz Class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. If you like this episode, show your support by  rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au for more insights!

In this exclusive episode of the Defence Connect Podcast, senior journalist Robert Dougherty is joined by former prime minister and treasurer of Australia, Scott Morrison. The pair discuss: Morrison's departure from politics and plans for the future, his new role as non-executive vice-chairman at American Global Strategies, and as adviser with venture capital firm DYNE. A recent visit to South Korea, Australia's relationships in the Indo-Pacific as well as speculation surrounding defence companies Hanwha and Austal. About a modern, grey-zone Cold War between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Australia's increasingly complex relationship with the People's Republic of China and a recent incident between a PLA fighter jet and a Royal Australian Navy helicopter. The empowerment of Australia's closest neighbourhood partnerships with Nauru and the Solomon Islands, and maintaining the Indo-Pacific status quo. Australian involvement in, and the behind-the-scenes formation of, the AUKUS trilateral partnership, its original intent and vision. The US presidential election and possible re-election of Donald Trump. The accomplishments and downfalls of Morrison's career in politics and during his time as the 30th Prime Minister of Australia. Morrison's own experiences with Australian Defence Force equipment such as F-35 stealth aircraft, Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles and a personal favourite – the Nimitz Class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. Enjoy the podcast, The Defence Connect team

Mark Beyer and Mark Pownall discuss changes at BGC, APM and Austal ownership, Quintis in receivership, and home market data.

Austal stocks boom after a billion dollar deal, Mesoblast is coming back, the RBA didn't consider a rate rise at last month's board meeting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Iron prices hit rock bottom, while gold prices continue to soar; Mesoblast launches it's comeback; Austal turns down a billion dollar deal from South Korea; How one company is turning our waste into energy; Medical cannabis is one of the fastest growing industries in Australia; and Henry Jennings joins us for the Market Wrap.   Host: Deb Knight Executive Producer: Tom Storey Associate Producer: Charlie Meller Technical Producer: Declan Helmore Publisher: Nine RadioSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Nadia Budihardjo and Mark Beyer discuss the performance of privately owned global contractor Altrad. Plus: resources results wrap; Three Springs solar approval, and Austal's new patrol boats.

Claire Tyrrell and Jack McGinn discuss the recent visit of renowned Italian architect Mario Cucinella and his thoughts on Perth. Plus: Sandfire heritage update; Fortescue hydrogen FID pushed back, and Austal's contract billions.

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The Ransomware Minute is a rundown of the latest ransomware attacks & news, brought to you by KnowBe4. Listen to the podcast weekly and read it daily at https://ransomwareminute.com • KnowBe4 is the world's largest integrated platform for security awareness training combined with simulated phishing attacks. Join our more than 50,000 customers to manage the continuing problem of social engineering. To learn more about our sponsor KnowBe4, visit https://knowbe4.com

In this podcast: Mark Beyer and Mark Pownall discuss FMG; Austal; IR reforms; office occupancy; Burswood Park; apartment dramas; Scyne Advisory; CEO salaries and WA's biggest employers.

Inflationary drivers rising sparked a mixed session on Wall Street overnight as the price of oil and bond yields respectively rose which dampened investor sentiment in equities. The Dow Jones fell 0.2%, the S&P500 edged just 0.02% higher and the Nasdaq rallied 0.22% following a turbulent few session for the tech-heavy index. The benchmark on the 10-year treasury yield hit its highest level since 2007, while the 2-year treasury yield also climbed. Energy stocks were naturally the best performers on Wall St overnight amid the price of oil rising 3%. Inflation remains a key concern in the U.S. with volatility in investor sentiment expected to continue over the coming weeks as further economic data is released.Over in Europe, markets closed at a 6-month low on Wednesday as investor sentiment in the region continues to be dampened by the state of the global economy, rising interest rates and inflationary concerns. The STOXX600 fell 0.2%, Germany's DAX lost 0.25%, the French CAC shed 0.03%, and in the UK, the FTSE100 fell 0.43%. Oil and gas stocks did most of the heavy lifting in Europe on Wednesday following that uptick in the price of oil which offset some of the losses among other sectors like insurance stocks. The RBA's rate decision headache worsened yesterday after Australia's CPI monthly indicator data, the key inflation reading for the country, came in at an acceleration to 5.2% for the 12-months to August. While this was in line with economists' expectations, it is an increase from the 4.9% rise in July and provides further support for the RBA to consider raising rates again or maintaining the cash rate at 4.1% for longer to ensure inflation comes down to the target range of 2-3%. The key drivers of the boosted inflation reading for August were housing, transport, food and non-alcoholic beverages, insurance and financial services. When the RBA meets next week to announce the interest rate decision, the market is currently factoring in just an 11% chance of a rate hike.The market fell in afternoon trade following the release of CPI data, leading to the ASX200 closing the midweek session down 0.11% weighed down by the tech sector falling nearly 1%. Star Entertainment Group tumbled over 9% after the embattled casino operator raised $565m from institutional investors through offering new shares at 60cps.At the other end of the market, Tamboran Resources rallied 11.5% after announcing the upgrade of its gas resources to 2 trillion cubic feet at its 100%-owned Beetaloo Basin.What to watch today:Ahead of the local trading session here in Australia, the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX to open Thursday's session down 0.18%.On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading just shy of 4% higher at US$93.93/barrel amid data showing crude inventories in the US fell by a much bigger-than-expected amount last week, gold is down 1.26% at US$1876.55/ounce, and iron ore is down 1.26% at US$117.50/tonne.AU$1.00 is buying US$0.64, 94.92 Japanese Yen, 52.65 British Pence and NZ$1.07.Trading Ideas:Bell Potter has initiated coverage of COG Financial Services (ASX:COG) with a buy rating and a price target of $1.73. Bell Potter's analyst sees COG's recent acquisitions will add 182 broker firms nationally across the car and lifestyle markets for COG and as a result, Bell Potter expects an uplift of $833m in total funding volumes with improved cross-pollination into higher margins parts of the Group.And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Austal (ASX:ASB) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 36-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $1.82 to the range of $2.29 to $2.39 according to standard principles of technical analysis. 

Wall Street closed mixed on Wednesday after the highly anticipated inflation reading was released, showing an inflation reading that was hotter than expected. Inflation in the US accelerated for a second straight month to 3.7% in August from 3.2% in July which was above the 3.6% reading markets were expecting. The higher CPI reading was driven by rising energy and fuel costs as well as higher growth in transportation costs. Core inflation which strips out energy and food rose by 0.3% month on month and 4.3% year on year which also slightly exceeded expectations. Investors responded negatively to the rise in core inflation as it provides further support for the Fed to continue raising interest rates. The Nasdaq rose 0.29%, and the S&P500 added 0.12%, while the Dow Jones fell 0.2%. Tech giants including Tesla and Amazon were the key drivers of the rally for the Nasdaq and S&P500 on Wednesday.Over in Europe, markets closed lower in the region following the hotter-than-expected inflation reading out of the U.S. The STOXX600 fell 0.99% weighed down by retail stocks while Germany's DAX lost 0.39%, the French CAC fell 0.42% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 closed just 0.02% lower. UK GDP data came in below expectations with a 0.5% contraction for the month of July which is the biggest decline so far this year and reversed the 0.5% growth in June.Locally yesterday, the ASX rally that started the week on a positive note came to an end with the key index closing 0.73% lower, weighed down by the tech-sector falling 1.56% on the back of weakness in US tech-stocks on Tuesday. Qantas shares fell even further yesterday after the high court upheld a Federal Court ruling that Qantas breached the Fair Work Act at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic by standing down workers and replacing their services with third-party providers to cost cut during in 2020. While the airline has apologised and taken full responsibility, the impact is said to be wide ranging on the flying kangaroo. Coronado Global Resources led the wins on the ASX200 yesterday with the coal miner adding over 3%, while Eagers Automotive was the worst performer, down 4.54% at the closing bell.What to watch today:Ahead of the local trading session here in Australia the SPI futures are expecting the local index to open 0.07% lower on the back of the global sell-off overnight.On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading slightly lower at US$88.81/barrel, gold is down 0.22% at US$1908.97/ounce and iron ore is up 0.42% at US$120.50/tonne.AU$1.00 is buying US$0.64, 94.61 Japanese Yen, 51.28 British Pence and NZ$1.09.Stocks trading ex-dividend today include Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS), Cleanaway Waste Management (ASX:CWY), Cash Converters International (ASX:CCV), Austal (ASX:ASB), Ingham's Group (ASX:ING), BBHI, Seven Group Holdings (ASX:SVW), and Spark New Zealand (ASX:SPK). If you've been thinking about these stocks it might be worth considering buying in today as stocks trading ex-dividend generally trade lower on the ex-dividend date.Trading Ideas:Bell Potter has decreased the price target on Select Harvests (ASX:SHV) from $5.50 to $5.30 and maintain a buy rating on the almond producer following the release of the company's crop and market update including Select Harvests reducing its FY23 pricing estimate per kilo due to downward movement in crop pricing linked to the market and quality of crop. FY23 orchard production has been lifted though following a higher recovery in the pollinator crop.And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Medibank Private (ASX:MPL) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 97-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may fall from the close of $3.47 to the range of $3.09 to $3.17 according to standard principles of technical analysis.

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Claire Tyrrell and Jack McGinn discuss those picking up the pieces from fallen builders. Plus: AMB's office move; IR reform backlash, and Austal to book loss.

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The Aussie share market rose 1.35% this week (Mon-Thu) buoyed by the tech sector surging 3.66% as investor appetite for the high growth sector continues to grow.In this week's wrap, Grady covers:(0:11) Geopolitical tensions in Russia(1:05) Volatility in commodity prices(1:54) Opportunities as an investor(2:45) The AI front(3:48) Best performing stocks in the ASX200(4:41) The most traded stocks & ETFs by Bell Direct clients(5:16) Three economic news items to watch out forRead the transcript article here.Read transcript here.

Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week…Not long ago, the future of shipbuilders Austal USA was somewhat in doubt. Yet the company has rapidly expanded into new programs and efforts that are redefining its reputation as just a builder of aluminum ships. We'll hear from Austal USA's VP of Business Development Larry Ryder on the progress of those efforts. Please send us feedback by DM'ing @CavasShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com.

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In New York overnight, markets had a strong run with all three major benchmarks closing with strong gains. The Dow Jones and the S&P500 both had their best session since January, closing 1.6% and 1.96% higher respectively. Meanwhile the Nasdaq rallied 2.43% higher, as strong results from Meta Platforms boosted tech-related companies. Meta shares leapt 14%, after the company reported quarterly revenue that topped expectations, and issued a positive forecast. European markets were also in the green, as strong corporate earnings overcame the concerns around the US banking sector. What to watch today:The Australian market is set to jump 0.75% at the open this morning, following Wall Street's advance. In commodities, Oil is trading higher, after losing nearly 6% in the past two sessions, as recession fears and renewed concerns about the banking sector outweighed falling US inventories and the prospect of weaker global supplies. The US oil benchmark also gave up all the gains from earlier this month when OPEC+ announced a surprise production cut.Gold is at its lowest level in over three weeks with a rebound in risk sentiment and expectations of tighter monetary policy from the Fed. And iron ore prices fell under US$110 per tonne, the lowest since December, as a demand downturn rom steel makers risked the oversupply of iron ore. Quarterly reports from the following companies are set to be released today, so keep watch of the share price movements of these stocks. These include Coles (ASX:COL), IGO (ASX:IGO), Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR), Origin Energy (ASX:ORG), Oz Minerals (ASX:OZL), ResMed (ASX:RMD) and Volpara Health Technologies (ASX:VHT). Trading Ideas: Bell Potter have a Speculative Buy rating on PointsBet Holdings (ASX:PBH), after a recent media report suggested the company could be considering a potential sale of its US business for around US$500 million. Bell Potter says the value looks reasonable or even conservative if other media reports are accurate. The company has also considered the potential sale of its Australian business for around AUD $250 million. Bell Potter have increased their valuation from $2.75 to $3.00, and at the stock's current share price of $1.65, this implies 81.8% share price growth in a year.Trading Central have identified a bearish signal in Austal (ASX:ASB) indicating that the stock price may fall from the close of $1.65 to the range of $1.46 - $1.50 over 18 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis. 

In der heutigen Folge „Alles auf Aktien“ sprechen die Finanzjournalisten Laurin Meyer und Holger Zschäpitz über einen Tiefschlag für Merck, berauschende Zahlen beim Luxusgiganten LVMH und fallende Kiffer-Aktien. Außerdem geht es um American Airlines, SynBiotic, Global X Cannabis ETF (WKN: A3DN58), Canopy Growth, Aurora, Tilray, Cronos Group, Rize Medical Cannabis ETF, Life Sciences ETF (WKN: A2PX6U), HanETF Medical Cannabis and Wellness (WKN: A2PPE8), Volkswagen, Ford, Stellantis, iShares MSCI Canada ETF (WKN: A0YEDS), UBS MSCI Canada ETF (WKN: A0X97V), HSBC MSCI Canada ETF (WKN: A1JHYS), Ossiam Bloomberg Canada PAB ETF (WKN: A3DP6J), Barrick Gold, Agnico Eagle, Teck Resources, Patriot Battery Metals, First Quantum Minerals und Austal. Wir freuen uns über Feedback an aaa@welt.de. Disclaimer: Die im Podcast besprochenen Aktien und Fonds stellen keine spezifischen Kauf- oder Anlage-Empfehlungen dar. Die Moderatoren und der Verlag haften nicht für etwaige Verluste, die aufgrund der Umsetzung der Gedanken oder Ideen entstehen. Für alle, die noch mehr wissen wollen: Holger Zschäpitz können Sie jede Woche im Finanz- und Wirtschaftspodcast "Deffner&Zschäpitz" hören. Impressum: https://www.welt.de/services/article7893735/Impressum.html Datenschutz: https://www.welt.de/services/article157550705/Datenschutzerklaerung-WELT-DIGITAL.html

Senior journalist Matt Mckenzie talks to Jordan Murray about his recent conversation with opposition leader Shane Love. Plus the latest on CoreLogic, Austal and Wyloo Metals.

Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. On this special edition of the CavasShips Podcast from WEST 2023 in San Diego...we bring you highlights from the opening of Austal USA's new San Diego waterfront ship repair facility held February 13th in National City, Calif. The event brought together military and community leaders, elected officials, and representatives from across the ship repair industry. Please send us feedback by DM'ing @CavasShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com.

Ashes to Ash TV: “What Happened to Carolyn Blankenfeld?” - True Crime Series - Ep 13 - The Dance Ash and team head to Colorado to speak with Carolyn's best friend, Lynn. She fills in a lot about who Carolyn was, their friendship, the relationship between Chris and Carolyn and the odd exchanges with Chris following Carolyn's death. The team continues to speak to Ray Evans, a former employee of Austal and former friend of Chris and Carolyn on his uneasy experiences with Chris. Bree contacts members of the Atlantic Strike Force Team, who were stationed at Fort Dix at the same time as Chris. She further finds out that Chris was never a "Rescue Swimmer', but was a member of the Atlantic Strike Force Team as a "Shop-keeper." Follow us on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram: @AshesToAshTV Follow us on Facebook and YouTube: Ashes to Ash True Crime If you can subscribe, please do. You will get to see episodes early, discounted merchandise, uncut interviews, and an invite to our private Facebook group. You can subscribe at www.AshesToAshTV.com If you know of any illegal activity involving this case, please reach out to your local law enforcement. Ashes to Ash TV website (www.AshesToAshTV.com) was created by Second Melody www.SecondMelody.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ash640/support

Ashes to Ash True Crime - “What Happened to Carolyn Blankenfeld?” Episode 12 - Choke Out Trigger Warning - The following episode contains graphic and verbal depictions of bodily harm that some viewers may find upsetting and disturbing. Join Ash and team as they continue to speak with Jules on how terrifying it was to find a body in the water, so close to home. Ash speaks with Mark about the information within the autopsy report and his medical knowledge and thoughts on the state Carolyn was found in, the morning of May 7. Mark then reflects on a time where Chris put him in a choke hold, to the point where he ended up passing out. Chris had stated that he learned this training in the Coast Guard. Bree then flashes back on her short time in the Army, and shares videos of her choking out two men to the point of passing out. This was a move she learned how to execute in the Army, as well as from Chris. (Please note that both people are alive and well, and these videos were posted with their approval.) The team then speaks to Ray Evans, a former employee of Austal and former friend of Chris and Carolyn on his uneasy experiences with Chris. Follow us on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram: @AshesToAshTV Facebook and YouTube: Ashes to Ash True Crime If you can subscribe, please do. You will get to see episodes early, discounted merchandise, uncut interviews, and an invite to our private Facebook group. You can subscribe at www.AshesToAshTV.com If you know of any illegal activity involving this case, please reach out to your local law enforcement. Ashes To Ash website (www.AshesToAshTV.com) was created by Second Melody www.SecondMelody.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ash640/support

Senior journalist Matt Mckenzie discusses his recent analysis of the state's infrastructure pipeline and explains the opportunity cost that comes with prioritising road and rail projects. Plus the latest on Warrego Energy, City of Subiaco and Austal.

I'm thrilled to release this, our 50th episode in the Mastering Risk Management podcast!And with a special occasion such as this comes another special guest, Mick McCormack.Having led APA Group from start up to ASX market darling, Mick McCormack is a proven corporate leader. Moving from the C-Suite to the Board room Mick now plays a key role as NED of Austal, and Origin Energy, and as Chair of Central Petroleum.Seen as a knock about sort of bloke Mick shouldn't be under-estimated. He demonstrates a deep understanding of Risk Management, and Governance more broadly. Known for saying it the way he sees it, his track record suggests he usually sees it right. No hidden agenda, you always know where you stand with Mick.Mick referred to the Clontarf Foundation and the wonderful work it does with indigenous youth. Please find the link below and consider supporting this great organisation: https://clontarf.org.au/

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Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week… a special edition of the CavasShips podcast, as we spent most of the week visiting shipyards on the Gulf Coast. Over the next few weeks we will share interviews and observations from our trip. On this episode we talk to Austal USA's Rusty Murdaugh after spending a day in Mobile touring the yard with his team. In our closing we remember Surface Warfare legend CAPT Paul X. Rinn, USN (ret) who passed away this week. Please send us feedback by DM'ing @CavasShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com.

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ICYMI: On Midday Mobile Sean talked to Attorney Brian Dasinger about the electronically filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of 53 former Austal workers challenging the company's now-rescinded COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The suit, which accused Austal USA of violating the employees' rights under the Civil Rights Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act, seeks damages for lost pay and punitive damages. Dasinger suggested $1 million for each worker would be fair.

Yesterday, our local market started the new trading week with an impressive gain of 1.1%, with all eleven industry sectors closing in the green. The energy sector posted the largest gains, up 2.6%, closed followed by the real estate sector and consumer discretionary sectors, which were both up around 2% each. Looking at the ASX200 leaderboard, one of the best performers was Imugene (ASX:IMU), which lifted nearly 13% yesterday. Also performing well was coal producer New Hope Corporation (ASX:NHC) and real estate investment trust, Ingenia Communities (ASX:INA). Meanwhile, Magellan Financial Group (ASX:MFG) came under pressure, sinking 10% after its co-founder and former Chief Investment Officer, Hamish Douglass had been offloading a significant quantity of his shares in MMG. The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients yesterday were the BetaShares Geared Australian Equity Hedge Fund (ASX:GEAR), BHP Group (ASX:BHP) and the Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (ASX:VAS). Wall Street was closed for the Independence Day holiday but in Europe the DAX fell 0.3% and the FTSE rose 0.9%, and US futures are pointing to declines tonight.What to watch today:The Australian share market is set to open flat, going by the SPI futures.Economic news wise, for the third month in a row, the RBA is all but certain to lift interest rates, with the majority of economists believing a 50 basis point increase is locked in, which would take the official cash rate to 1.35%. Stay tuned for this announcement at 2:30pm AEST. Moving to commodities, the WTI crude oil price is trading 2% higher at US$110 a barrel, as supply concerns boosted prices despite fears that a recession is looming. Gold is trading flat at US$1,809 an ounce. And the spot iron ore price trades 3.7% lower at US118 a tonne.If you hold National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB), Incitec Pivot (ASX:IPL) or CIMIC Group (ASX:CIM), you will receive your dividend payment today.Ardent Leisure Group (ASX:ALG), and Clime Capital (ASX:CAM) are set to go ex-dividend today. Trading Ideas:Citi have maintained its Buy rating on Australia's global shipbuilder, Austal (ASX:ASB) with an increased price target from $2.35 to $2.91. At its current share price of $2.38, this implies 22%. share price growth in a yearTrading Central has a bullish signal on Immutep (ASX:IMM) indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $0.32 to the range of $0.44 - $0.46 in the next 21 days according to standard principals of technical analysis.  

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Ben Davison looks at Morrison's explanation that his debate response to a mother who's child has had their NDIS support cut that he was "blessed to not have had to go through that" was about the difficulties in navigating the NDIS, rather than a comment about children with a disability.  Even if we take Morrison at his word it is, at the very least, a condemnation of his own failure to properly deliver the NDIS.  Plans have been cut by an average of 4%, appeals to the AAT have doubled, foreign private equity backed unregistered and unregulated "platforms" that "connect" workers and participants in, what has been described as, digital sham contracting arrangement are taking 14% margins out of the tax payer funded system.  As the campaigns head into the Northern Territory it is timely to remember that HALF of NDIS plans in the NT have been cut in the last six months. Insiders discussed in detail the failures of the Morrison government on the Solomon Islands and Ben explores how Morrison spent the end of the week setting up another pork barrel program while refusing to answer questions about Australia's largest foreign policy blunder in the pacific for over 70 years. Barnaby Joyce was the Insiders guest from the government and he made it clear that their only plan is to let multinational corporations sell our resources overseas.  While sitting in Gladstone, where people have to fly to Brisbane to get medical treatments as billions of dollars of resources depart the docks, Barnaby was asked what the government's plan for the future "If they want to buy it we will sell it" was his response. This ideologically lines up with the findings of two major pieces of work from the Australian Union movement this week.  The ship building company Austal received a Morrison campaign visit and a $124M contract after having been found to underpay its workers. The union, ETU, won the money back but Morrison wouldn't even acknowledge the request for safeguards to prevent this from happening again on government funded projects. The ACTU released research showing that while 100 countries put limits on the use of "fixed term contracts" Australia is not among that group of 100 nations and that casuals in Australia are being paid up to $350 LESS than ongoing workers doing the same job. Ben urges everyone to join their union at australianunions.org.au/wow and to put the Liberals last (with a brief explanation of how the ballot papers work)

Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. SNA Day Two…We interview Lawrence Ryder, Vice President, Business Development & External Relations at Austal USA. During our conversation we discuss on-going build efforts, Austal's move into the ship maintenance business and expansion in to steel shipbuilding. Our SNA coverage is sponsored by HII and Raytheon Missiles & Defense–for more information please visit raytheonmissilesanddefense.com . Please send us feedback by DM'ing @CavasShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com.

Yesterday the ASX200 lifted 48 points or 0.66% higher, the market's first gain of the week, boosted by both the energy and tech sectors, which gained 3% and 2% respectively. Also supporting the market was solid gains for commodity prices, as well as Jerome Powell's testimony that confirmed the Fed would lift rates if needed to check prices. Nickel Mines (ASX:NIC) led the way, up an impressive 6.5%. This follows the nickel price touching a seven-year high amid the global push towards a greener future, like the push towards electric vehicles. Nickel is a key component in lithium-ion batteries, which are used to generate power for electric vehicles. Another top performer was Afterpay (ASX:APT). The stock gained 4.8% yesterday after the company cleared its final hurdle to be taken over by Block (formerly Square). APT will now officially stop trading on the ASX next Wednesday, the 19th of January, and will commence trading on the NYSE on the 2nd of February. Meanwhile, Domino's Pizza (ASX:DMP) came under pressure, falling 4.5%. This appears to be driven by an update from its US parent. The pizza giant warned that it's expecting “unprecedented” food cost increases in 2022, approximately an 8% to 10% rise in its food basket costs, and that's worrying, as that's 3-4 times the food inflation experienced in a typical year. The most traded stock by Bell Direct clients yesterday, were Allkem (ASX:AKE), a lithium carbonate supplier, formed after the merger between Orocobre and Galaxy Resources. Its shares have gained over 25% the past month, underpinned by the hot-running lithium markets. Lithium carbonate prices have increased six-fold since January 2021. In the US, all three benchmarks rose, with the Nasdaq gaining for the third straight day. This comes as the consumer price index increased 0.5% last month, which was slightly better than expected. And therefore in the 12-months through to December, the CPI has surged 7%, its biggest jump since 1982. Despite the positive session on Wall Street, the futures as at 8:30am AEDT are suggesting the Aussie share market will open 0.04% lower. What to watch today:Keep an eye on Crown Resorts (ASX:CWN). Goldman Sachs gave the stock a neutral rating and an $11.03 price target, telling investors to instead buy the shares of its rival Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR). Oil prices pushed to two-month highs on tight supply and easing concerns about the potential hit to demand from the Omicron variant.The gold price gained, as the dollar retreated following US inflation being in line with expectations. Spot gold was up 0.2% to $1,825 per ounce.  The silver, copper, steel, iron ore and lithium prices are all booming, all up between 1.5%-3%.  Trading Ideas:Citi have maintained their BUY recommendation on shipbuilding and repairing company, Austal (ASX:ASB) with a price target of $3.09. Citi believes the stock remains catalyst rich and are supportive of the new strategies aimed at diversifying pipeline risk. These include adding steel capability and increasing number of programs it contests) and growing support revenue. Austal closed 5% higher yesterday to $1.97, which implies about 57% share price growth in a year.Trading Central has a bullish signal on software company, Whispir (ASX:WSP). This signal indicates that the stock price may rise from the close of $2.60 to the range of $2.64 - $2.72 in the next 30 days, according to standard principles of technical analysis. 

Episode 21:43 If You Live In Alabama, You Need To Know About This Joe is a good, hard-working man in excellent health. He loves his job and has performed it faithfully for over 10 years. Joe gets along well with all of co-workers and his supervisor consistently gives his work performance high reviews. Unfortunately, as of October 27, 2021 Joe will no longer be able to work at his current job. NOT because he doesn't want to. NOT because his work performance has suffered. NOT because his supervisor and co-workers want to get rid of him. NOT because his company is experiencing financial difficulties. Instead, Joe will no longer be able to work at his job because he has chosen NOT to get the Covid vaccine. No longer able to support his wife and children, nor provide them with health insurance, because of a decision he should have every right to make. Let me say that again: Joe - a hard working, healthy man - will no longer be able to work at the job he has performed flawlessly for over ten years simply because he has chosen NOT to get the Covid vaccine. That's ridiculous. But it's true. You see, Joe works at Austal, a ship building company located in Mobile, Alabama. And, since Austal has contracts to do work for the Federal Government, they are being mandated to have all their workers vaccinated. This Federal mandate is not only an overreach of authority, it applies to individuals such as Joe, who ALREADY have had COVID-19 and, as such, HAVE a natural immunity against the virus. But the Federal Government doesn't care. They want to force Joe, and millions of other Americans like Joe, to get the COVID vaccine AGAINST THEIR WILL. It is, in my opinion, a form of tyranny. Fortunately, there are groups of individuals throughout the country fighting back. People defending the rights of Americans to choose what they feel is best for their health. One such group is Health Freedom Alabama. Health Freedom Alabama is made up of individuals who are standing up for the rights of ALL Alabamians with regard to medical freedom. To this end, they have put together a bill, HB31, that fights back against vaccine mandates. A bill designed to protect hard-working individuals like Joe from being unfairly discriminated against. On this episode we sit down with Stephanie Durnin, the co-founder of Health Freedom Alabama and let her explain to us what HB31 is… how it came about… WHY it is so important… and what WE can do, as citizens, to help make it a law. PLEASE give this episode a good listen and, when you're done, be sure to take action! (You can find out contact information for your State Senator and Representative here: https://www.healthfreedomalabama.com/find) In addition, please SHARE this episode with everyone you know who calls the great state of Alabama “home.” ———————- Want to learn more? Continue the conversation regarding this episode, and all future episodes, by signing up for our daily emails. Simply visit: GetHealthyAlabama.com Once there, download the “Symptom Survey” and you will automatically added to our email list. ———————- Also, if you haven't already, we'd appreciate it if you'd subscribe to the podcast, leave a comment and give us a rating. (Thanks!!!) 

On Facebook? Connect with us at Facebook.com/GetHealthyAlabama

 * This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease. Please consult with your health care provider before making any health-related changes.

The market went for a nice run today, finishing up 0.58% at the close of trade. Almost every single sector finished in the green, with the energy MVP. Austal was up 2.67% as "that fella down under" (the PM) went nuclear, signing a new military partnership with peers Boris Johnson and Joe Biden. At the other end of the scale, traders took profits in Pilbara Minerals and Orocobre. Fortescue and Rio were deep in the red with iron ore slumping to a new low for the year. Meanwhile, the Australian 10yr yield is bid after today's (unsurprisingly) sour jobs read. If you missed it live, you can join Annette and her guests on today's edition of the big picture. Go get a good night's rest - you deserve it.Our top three VODs: Why there could be gas left in Zoom2U's tankJust hang on; two micro caps on the road to a profitable futureA role reversal for BHP | the trade See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

US stocks rebounded from prior losses, with energy stocks leading the gains after the oil price increased 3%. US stocks are 1.3% away from an all-time high. Investors are bracing for further volatility, as it is the end of the quarter and options expire on September 17. The Aussie share market is set to open higher, with the futures suggesting the market will rally 0.4%, and the focus on employment data ahead. What to watch today: Unemployment data for August will be released today at 11:30am AEST. Unemployment is expected to grow from 4.6% to 4.9%. If the data is weaker, expect selling pressure. Watch banking and consumer spending stocks. Uranium stocks are in focus today. The US President, the Australian Prime Minister, and the UK Prime Minister, announced a new partnership with Australia, to build nuclear powered submarines. Historically, this is the first partnership of its nature. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the three nations will work together over the next 18 months, to determine the best path forward, to get the wheels into motion, and examine “nuclear stewardship responsibilities” in Australia. Therefore, uranium stocks to watch include Paladin (ASX:PDN), Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL), 92E Energy (ASX:92E), Devex Resources (ASX:DEV) and Energy Resources of Australia (ASX:ERA). Also watch ship builder Austal (ASX:ASB). Watch the lithium sector, after Australian produced lithium from Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) was sold at a record amount. Oil stocks are in focus, as oil is trading at a 7-week high at US$72.65. Meanwhile, iron ore fell again, down 3% to US$122, after China's construction investment fell 3.2% from January to August, and China's steel output fell to a 17-month low in August after tightening property restrictions. Companies going ex-dividend today include Sky City, (ASX:SKC) and Spark NZ (ASX:SPK). The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients yesterday included Metalhawk (ASX:MHK). MHK shares rose 13% and the day prior its shares rose 264%. Metalhawk is a gold and nickel explorer in Western Australia. Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) was also a highly traded stock yesterday. SYA shares rose 13% as the lithium sector remains under the spotlight. Trading Ideas: South32 (ASX:S32) was upgraded as a Citi BUY, with an increased target from $3.50 to $3.80, implying 13% share price growth in a year. Bullish charting signals have been seen in Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) and Challenger Exploration (ASX:CEL) according to Trading Central. 

The rise in mental health problems caused by the lockdowns in Victoria and NSW have already cost $1 billion in lost productivity and those aged 15 to 25 are likely to be the worst affected, according to updated modelling by the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre. The figure builds on earlier modelling by the centre that estimated the productivity cost of the COVID-19 pandemic at more $20 billion a year due to a projected increase in psychological distress, hospitalisations and suicide. The centre's modelling considers the initial and ongoing cost of increased mental health illness to the health system and the wider economy. This includes estimates of the costs of increased suicide; the costs of caring for the increases in people self-harming and having suicidal thoughts; and estimates of the reduction in productive output of those affected by mental illness. Professor Ian Hickie, the former Mental Health Commissioner, warned the growing COVID-19-related mental health crisis, especially for young people, had become a “shadow pandemic”. Business support for mandating Covid vaccinations in workplaces is growing, with a national survey of 700 companies finding a quarter would like compulsory jabs of their employees. An Australian Industry Group survey of business attitudes to mandatory Covid vaccination in workplaces found more than half were in favour of some form of mandating. 24% said they would like to mandate Covid vaccinations for some or all of their employees; and 27% said they would like Covid vaccinations to be mandated only through a health order related to their industry.Almost 7000 COVID-19 jabs have been administered to critical workers in the food and freight sectors from Sydney's hardest-hit local government areas Co-operation between major employers and the federal government's Operation COVID Shield rollout effort has seen staff of supermarket and food giants Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, OzHarvest and Metcash vaccinated across 19 sites. About 1000 doses have been administered to employees at freight firms Linfox and DHL, according to federal government data. Ahead of a major expansion of workplace vaccinations in coming months, about 6000 Commonwealth Bank and Westpac employees in hotspot local government areas are being jabbed in a pilot phase. Rollout boss Lieutenant General John Frewen is working with the retail and university sectors on workplace vaccinations, and sporting bodies in AFL, tennis, soccer and netball are expected to be included.Hutchison Ports and DP World have told wharfies they must get the jab to come to work next week as new rules introduced by the NSW government ratchet up pressure on employers to mandate vaccinations. The stevedores advised hundreds of workers they could not work at their Port Botany terminals, located in one of the hotspot local government areas in south-western Sydney, from August 30 if they have not had their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination. The directions confirm what employer groups suspect thousands of employers might be forced to do after the introduction of rules requiring authorised workers in 12 Sydney local government areas to be vaccinated if they work outside their LGA, unless their workplace uses rapid antigen testing. Fully vaccinated travellers will be able to claim 1000 Qantas frequent flyer points, 15 status credits to move up the loyalty tiers and a $20 discount on Qantas and Jetstar flights from tomorrow. It is part of a new initiative from the airline to encourage vaccinations. Frequent Flyer members who claim the rewards will automatically enter a prize draw to get free accommodation at Accor hotels and free fuel from BP service stations. Prize winners will also get a free international flight on Qantas or Jetstar when borders re-open, projected for mid next year. There will be 10 winners overall – one selected from each state and territory, with another two winners chosen from a national pool. The Porsche-driving mortgage broker who filmed dying police officers at a horrific multi-vehicle accident last year has been banned by the corporate cop from providing financial services or credit for at least a decade. Richard Pusey, whom a judge dubbed “the most hated man in Australia”, was banned from performing any function relating to carrying on a financial services or credit business earlier this month by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. An investigation found the 43-year-old mortgage broker and insurance salesman had given the regulator as many as seven false statements in licence applications and compliance documents. The regulator declared he “is not a fit and proper person to participate in the financial services and credit industries”. In a statement, ASIC said Mr Pusey “has no regard for the law”, “lacks the attributes of good character, honesty, and judgment” and “cannot be relied upon to comply with directions issued from authorities”. ASIC added Mr Pusey “is likely to contravene credit legislation and financial services legislation”. Mr Pusey is in custody awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to assaulting a woman at his home, and two road rage incidents. Mr Pusey also pleaded guilty to menacing a Westpac bank employee in a series of messages in 2019 following a credit card dispute.Australian electric car charging network JOLT plans to install 5000 free fast chargers across capital cities after Blackrock, the world's largest asset manager, bought a stake in the company and pledged an initial $100 million towards building the network. Drivers using JOLT chargers would receive 7 kWh – equivalent to about 45 kilometres of driving – for free, and be charged for power drawn after that. JOLT would also make money from advertising sold on its charging stations. All the power it sells will be renewable and the installation of the charging points is expected to begin in Sydney in September. JOLT operates charging stations in Adelaide. Charlie Reid, a managing director of BlackRock's Global Renewable Power team, said for the world to reach net zero emissions by 2050, the last internal combustion car engine would need to be sold by 2035. He said this would happen globally and in Australia, whatever government policies were in place, as Australia imported its vehicles.Supermarket giant Woolworths has responded to the push by many shoppers for faster online deliveries, striking a deal with Uber Eats for groceries and fresh fruit and vegetables to be delivered from some of its Woolworths Metro outlets within an hour. Woolworths is starting a trial for Uber Eats drivers to deliver goods ordered from 12 Woolworths Metro stores in Sydney and Melbourne. It aims to roll out the service to about 200 Woolworths outlets by early next year. Woolworths operates 996 large supermarket outlets and 78 Woolworths Metro stores, which have a smaller footprint and are generally positioned in inner-city locations to capture customers and commuters buying smaller amounts of groceries, but more frequently. But the Woolworths Metro format has suffered in the pandemic as more people worked from home and CBDs emptied out. Woolworths in June booked a $50 million write-down on the value of 13 Metro locations located in CBDs or near major train stations, which have borne the brunt of the work-from-home shift.Right-wing extremists are using platforms such as YouTube, PayPal and Buy Me A Coffee to raise money to support their nefarious activities, says the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which is calling for anti-money-laundering laws to apply to more technology businesses. ASPI analyst Ariel Bogle wants the federal government to develop a centralised hate crime and statistics database to track and understand the financial activities of extremists operating in Australia. She is also calling for regulators to consider whether emerging platforms have obligations under laws such as the Anti-Money-Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act.About 7000 truckies at Toll Transport will strike across the country on Friday, disrupting parcel and food deliveries at the height of the pandemic. The Transport Workers Union confirmed drivers would stop work for 24 hours after Toll refused to drop bargaining claims in crisis talks on Monday, including that part-time staff work up to 38 hours a week without overtime and new drivers work six to 12 month contracts. The stoppage is the first national strike in road transport in more than a decade and comes as home deliveries have surged following stay-at-home orders for more than 14 million people in NSW and Victoria.And the profit reporting season continues. Kogan's net profit plunged 87% to just $3.5 million in 2021. Takeover target Afterpay has widened its net loss to $159.4 million in financial 2021, versus $22.9 million in the prior year. Australia's biggest smash repair outfit AMA Group reported a $99.1 million statutory loss for the year. Chorus EBITDA rose slightly to $NZ649 million during the year, up only slightly on $NZ648 million in the 2020 financial year. Its net profit after tax fell to $47 million, from $NZ52 million, and operating revenue dipped to $NZ947 million, from $NZ959 million Reliance Worldwide revenue rose 15.3% to $1.16 billion while net profit climbed 110.5% to $188.2 million. oOh!media's revenue for the period was up 23% to $251.6 million, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation more than tripled to $33.3 million. The company reported a $9.3 million net loss after tax compared to a loss of $28 million in the prior comparable period. GPI Property Group's net profit fell to $22.96 million, down from $66.74 million a year earlier. NIB's underlying revenue rose 2.9% to $2.6 billion however its net profit rose 84.5% to $160.5 million. Hotels and cinemas operator Event Hospitality and Entertainment has posted a 45.4% fall in financial 2021 revenue to $449.3 million. It narrowed its statutory loss 15.7% to $48 million on EBITDA of $27.2 million. Mining contractor MACA's net profit after tax jumped 219% to $20.7 million following the $17.4 million loss it reported last year. Ampol's EBIT rose to $340 million, from $221 million a year ago. Michael Hill's net profit rose 15-fold to a record $45.3 million in 2021. Charter Hall reported post-tax operating earnings of $284.3 million. Latitude delivered an 81% rise in cash profits, to $121 million. Ansell sales rose 25.6% to $US2.02 billion while EBIT climbed 56% to $US338 million and profit firmed 57.5% to $US246.7 million. Perenti Global's net profit after tax and amortisation in the second half of the 2021 financial year improved by $75.3 million from a first-half statutory loss of $63.8 million to a statutory gain in the second half of $11.5 million. Underlying net profit after tax and amortisation fell from $211.7 million to $170.8 million. HUB24 reported net profit after tax of $15 million, up 53%, and underlying group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation of $36.2 million which was a 47% increase on FY20. Monadelphous Group's revenue rose 18% to $1.75 billion while profit climbed 29% to $47.1 million. The Westfield Australia real estate trust Scentre Group has reported its operating profit for the half year to June 30 climbed 27.5% to $460.1 million on property revenue up 21.3% to $1.064.8 million. Total revenue fell 1.2% to $1081.4 million. Alumina's net profit dipped 19% to $US73.6 million. Carbon Revolution revenue declined 10% to $34.9 million as the company reported a $32 million loss after tax. Oil Search's revenue climbed 7% to $US667.7 million in the first half of the year while core net profit soared 463% to $139 million. Nanosonics' full year revenue was up 3% to $103.1 million for the period with an operating profit before tax of $11 million, down from $12.4 million in FY20. Voice communication software provider MNF Group's recurring revenue rose 12% to $113.2 million, while EBITDA increased 13% to $43.1 million, sitting at the top end of market guidance. Estia Health's revenue rose 4.4% to $665.4 million while profit after tax rose to $6 million following a $116.9 million loss a year earlier. Austal's net profit after tax came in at $81.1 million, down from $89 million in FY20. Superloop's total revenue rose 2.9% to $110.7 million during the year however it still reported a loss of $31.9 million for the year. Sleep treatment specialist SomnoMed has narrowed its full-year net loss to $1.18 million and lifted revenue 9% to $62.7 million for financial 2021. ReadyTech's underlying net profit after tax and amortisation rose 27% to $10.6 million. Local fund manager VGI Partners delivered a normalised net profit after tax of $42.9 million for the half-year to the end of June. Fertility specialist Monash IVF has hiked its adjusted net profit 61.5% to $23.3 million on revenue up 26.3% to $183.6 million for financial 2021. Statutory net profit climbed 116.9% to $25.5 million, with the adjusted profit number excluding the impact of JobKeeper subsidies. Viva Energy's gross profit firmed 17% to $788.9 million. Mt Gibson's sales revenue dipped to $329.7 million, from $445.2 million a year earlier, while net profit slid 24% to $92.1 million. Wagner Holdings reported net profit after tax of $10 million. Financial software player Bravura Solutions reported 13.8% fall in financial 2021 profit to $34.6 million. Northern Star's net profit climbed 299.7% to $1.03 billion. Medibank Private's net profit advanced 39.8% to $441.2 million. Sky City's reported profit dipped 33.7% to $NZ156.1 million. Seven Group's net profit firmed 447.6% to $631.4 million. Zircon miner Iluka Resources has posted a half-year net profit up 61.7% to $129 million. Orocobre's losses widened 14.7% to $US59.6 million. IDP Education's earnings before interest and tax were $64.1 million, a 41% decrease on FY20. Adbri's net profit firmed 94.5% to $56.6 million. National Storage REIT grew underlying earnings by 28% to $86.5 million for the financial year that ended in June. Nine Entertainment's net profit firmed 76% to $277.5 million. APA Group's profit after tax 98.8% to $3.68 million due to significant one-off items. Engineering Group Worley's net profit fell 50% to $86 million in financial 2021. IVE Group's net profit rose to $29.5 million, improving on the $20.2 million loss from a year earlier. Growthpoint Properties has posted a financial 2021 statutory net profit of $553.2 million, versus $272.1 million in the prior year. McMahon Holdings' Statutory net profit rose 19% to $77.2 million. Ferries and bus operator Sealink reports its underlying net profit climbed 152.6% in financial 2021 to $74.7 million. Aurelia Metals' net profit firmed 46% to $42.9 million. Green whistle painkiller merchant Medical Developments has swung to a net loss of $12.6 million. Clearview Wealth reported a 54% increase in underlying net profit after tax to $22.7 million. Dalrymple Day Infrastructure reported net profit of $113.2 million. Sunland Group's net profit after tax surged from $2.4 million in FY20 to $24.9 million in FY21. Ridley's EBITDA climbed $9.6 million to $69.1 million while total comprehensive income climbed to $29.9 million following a loss of $10.7 million a year earlier. E-commerce business MyDeal has swung to a $5.9 million loss. Zip Co has reported a staggering $652.5 million loss. Pent-up demand for youth fashion helped Universal Store lift net profit by 90% to $24.4 million in 2021.And that's it for this week. And next week, I'll be talking to Cat Long, the CEO of Trace, a company set up to help businesses and individuals reduce and/or offset their carbon footprint. And I'll be talking to economist Nicholas Gruen about ways to manage our superannuation.In the meantime you can catch me on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. And if you want leave a comment. Wishing you all a safe and healthy week. And looking forward to bringing you Talking Business next week Follow my socials on:https://twitter.com/leongettlerhttps://www.instagram.com/leongettler/https://www.linkedin.com/in/leongettler/https://www.facebook.com/talkingbusinesspodcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In today's episode of At Close of Business, journalists Jordan Murray and Katie McDonald discuss the recent architecture awards and rejuvenating Perth's unused spaces. Making headlines, Premier Mark McGowan puts the heat on his federal counterparts over their handling of Australia's relationship with China, Austal lowers its full-year earnings, the state government to reappoint John McKechnie, and FMG confirms its multi-billion-dollar green energy plan for Congo.

In today's episode of At Close of Business, journalists Jordan Murray and Katie McDonald discuss the recent architecture awards and rejuvenating Perth's unused spaces. Making headlines, Premier Mark McGowan puts the heat on his federal counterparts over their handling of Australia's relationship with China, Austal lowers its full-year earnings, the state government to reappoint John McKechnie, and FMG confirms its multi-billion-dollar green energy plan for Congo.

Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss Perth's liveability ranking, Austal's court battle with ASIC, Michaelia Cash, the latest on Pindan, Pacific Energy, borders and trade, and infrastructure.

Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss Perth's liveability ranking, Austal's court battle with ASIC, Michaelia Cash, the latest on Pindan, Pacific Energy, borders and trade, and infrastructure.

In today's episode of At Close of Business, journalists Jordan Murray and Jesinta Burton discuss the legal action that has forced the closure of Bocelli's Espresso. Making headlines, Silver Lake Resources suspends operations at its Daisy complex after an employee passed away, Austal and former chief executive David Singleton face legal action, Caruso launches legal action against former employer Mineral Commodities, and Azure doubles down on its WA nickel asset.

In today's episode of At Close of Business, journalists Jordan Murray and Jesinta Burton discuss the legal action that has forced the closure of Bocelli's Espresso. Making headlines, Silver Lake Resources suspends operations at its Daisy complex after an employee passed away, Austal and former chief executive David Singleton face legal action, Caruso launches legal action against former employer Mineral Commodities, and Azure doubles down on its WA nickel asset.

In this episode of The Weekly Defence Podcast we delve into the newly released US FY2022 defence budget proposal; and we speak to the Institute for Security Science and Technology (ISST) at Imperial College and Iceni Labs about efforts by academia and industry to support defence R&D in the UK. Newsround [01:02] At the Land Forces 2021 exhibition in Brisbane, Australia, local firm Cyborg Dynamics displayed a demonstrator version of its Warfighter UGV armed with twin Spike LR2 anti-tank missile launchers.Navantia and Rheinmetall Defence Australia have teamed up to offer one solution for the Australian Army's next amphibious logistics vehicle, while Austal laid its cards on the table as another contender.In Europe, the Croatian government last Friday finally announced a replacement for its elderly MiG-21 fighter fleet.Chinese aircraft carriers continue to worry the Japanese military, which plans to deploy a mobile aircraft control and warning squadron of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force on the Ogasawara Islands in the Pacific Ocean.In focusDefence Journalist Alix Valenti, Air Editor Tim Martin and Senior Land Reporter Tim Fish engage in a round table discussion which looks at the implications of this year's US FY2022 budget proposal. Looking at some of the key points from the announcement, the team explains what the proposals could mean for the US Army, the USN and the USAF if approved by Congress.Interview-  ISST and Imperial College[24:40] News Editor Ben Vogel is on the line with Professor Deeph Chana, Co-Director of Imperial College's ISST, and Alexander Giles, Chief Commercial Officer at Iceni Labs, to look at what industry is doing to support UK government plans to prioritise high-risk R&D in defence.This episode was produced by Noemi Distefano with music and sound mixing by Fred Prest  

In Episode 70, “Think Without Barriers”, Blenheim Partners’ Gregory Robinson speaks to John Rothwell AO, Founder and Chairman of Austal Ltd. As the world’s largest aluminium shipbuilder, Austal owns and operates industry-leading shipyards in Australia, the United States of America, the Philippines and Vietnam, with a joint venture in China and a global support network. John was also previously Chairman of the Australian Shipbuilders Association and the State Training Board of Western Australia.From two boats out of a backyard to leading Australia’s first ASX-listed shipbuilder, John gives us a view through the lens of an entrepreneur; the tenacity and thinking required to overcome obstacles, expanding and opening new markets offshore, and building a legacy. He also shares his views on the stark contrast between business conditions in Australia and the United States, and making deals in China. Finally, John imparts some advice to the entrepreneurs who see the world’s limitations.

Austal USA's Senior Vice President of Operations Mike Bell (left) and U.S. Congressman Jerry Carl, Alabama's First District (right), give Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Harker an in-depth look at Austal's investment and modernization activity surrounding the company's new steel manufacturing line Mar. 31 at the company's shipyard in Mobile. Carl also visited with elected officials in Clarke and Washington Counties last week.Article Link

Tuesday 16 March 2021 Iron ore giant Fortescue Metals and one of the country’s largest gas companies, AGL, make big bets on an environmentally friendly future. Also today: A swathe of European countries halt injecting the AstraZeneca vaccine. RBA Governor Philip Lowe calls data the oil of the 21st Century. And Woolworths reveals the two most in-demand online items during the pandemic. Plus an interview with Paddy Gregg, chief executive of Austal, about running one of the country’s biggest shipbuilding companies.Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sean Aylmer speaks to Paddy Gregg, CEO of shipbuilder Austal, about the Australian company's success building vessels for clients around the world.Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Engineering Career Journeys, David Armstrong talks with Richard Liley – Head of Production at Austal. Austal is proudly Australia's global shipbuilder, defence prime contractor and maritime technology partner of choice - designing, constructing and supporting revolutionary defence and commercial vessels for the world's leading operators. 

The ASX200 is eyeing a flat open to start the week.Restrictions are easing in South Australia and Queensland has opened its borders.What to watch today:The market could see a rise for the seventh week, with consumer spending, local tourism, food and beverage stocks to see a jump in sales as we get closer to Christmas.All eyes on Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) as a court trial kicks off today. Flight Centre is being accused of underpaying a handful of workers for over 13 years. FLT is a Morgan Stanley, UBS and Bell Potter buy.What to watch this week:The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) is set to be released later this week. It is expected to show a stronger bottom line than October's budget thanks to the rally of the iron ore price, while spending is expected to drop due to the JobKeeper payments.Local trading ideas:Austal (ASX:ASB) was reiterated as a Citi buy with a $4.30 price target. Given the U.S., Australia, the Philippines and governments may look to stimulate economies through ship building programs, ASB's revenues could rise.Asaleo (ASX:AHY) was reiterated as a Citi buy after it received a takeover offer.McPherson's (ASX:MCP), Ava Risk Group (ASX:AVA) and Audio Pixels Holdings (ASX:AKP) are all showing bullish charting signals according to Trading Central.

Full podcast of Tasmania Talks with Aaron Stevens for Tuesday 24th of November 2020. 

Aaron Stevens speaks with David Singleton, CEO of Austal. Image: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.

A timely interview with Mark Pownall, Director of Strategy and Innovation at Business News. 30 years of impeccable journalism makes Mark a formidable voice on the state of Western Australia business landscape in the context of setting strategic priorities. Nine months into the COVID economy and a state election looming, Alex and John from Ninja Software sit in front of Mark for his keen observation on the gems of innovation from WA that are now on the world stage. The Bureau, Adrian Fini, Austal Ship, Airscope, Ninja Software and Mumpreneurs - What is the role of the media and the government in championing our capability and shaping our identity? What can we do to help ourselves? Wake up Perth! We are a resource-rich state consistently punching above our weight in tech, medical, defence and lifestyle. Our priority is to tell that story well! More Information: The Bureau, https://www.thebureau.com.au/why-business-news Business News, https://www.businessnews.com.au/ The West Australian, https://thewest.com.au/ Austal, https://www.austal.com/ Airscope, https://www.airscope.com/ Ninja Software, https://www.ninjasoftware.com.au/ Film My Video, https://filmmyvideo.com.au/Hunters & Collectors - Throw Your Arms Around Me (1990), https://youtu.be/5-hDK76bIpsWebsite: https://www.techsociety.fm/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/techsociety-fm/?viewAsMember=trueSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0STaLU0ATmS9dEyey4FwjviTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/tech-society/id1516405840Google: https://podcasts.google.com/search/tech%20societyTwitter: https://twitter.com/TechSocietyFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/techsociety.fm/

U.S. and Canadian markets closed overnight for Labour Day, rendering a silent night. London's market rose 2.4%, German and French markets followed off the back of economic cyclical stocks like autos leading the gains.Commodities:• Gold steady at US$1,935• Oil fell further below US$40, losing over 5% in the last 2 sessions, now trading at US$39.07.• Copper trades at US$3.05, its highest since June of 2018, driven by Chinese demand.The Australian Dollar:• The AUD tracks lower at 72.7 U.S. cents, holding a near two-year high.What to watch today:• The Aussie share market is expected to rise for the second day, with the futures suggesting a 0.4% gain, or a lift of 25 points. Yesterday, the market rose 0.3%. Not enough to recover from the market's fall last week, marking it's third fall in 3 weeks.• The U.S. futures will be under scrutiny as they attempt to rebound from Thursday and Friday's fall, in which the Nasdaq lost 5.3% - it's biggest fall in 5 months.• Many companies are going into ex-dividend from here on in. Today, Austal (ASX:ASB) BlueScope (ASX:BSL), Jumbo Interactive (ASX:JIN), and Northern Star (ASX:NST) all go ex-dividend.• Business confidence numbers are out for the month of August, expected to remain very weak.Trading ideas:• QBE (ASX:QBE), Australia's second largest insurer, was reiterated as a Bell Potter buy with a $11.90 target.• Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST), Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR), and Champion Iron (ASX:CIA) may be worth a look. Trading Central's data identified all three of the stocks are showing bullish signals, indicating their prices may move higher off yesterday's close, according to standard principles of technical analysis.

The Aussie share market opened 0.6% lower in the first 10 mins of trade, as the futures predicted. The market continued to fall in the first hour  - with investors digesting weaker than expected financial year report cards, leaving the market sitting 1% lower at 11am.On the downside:Financial software and advice provider, Bravura (ASX:BVS) is one of the worst performers on the market today – its shares are down 15% dragging BVS almost back to its COVID-19 low. BVS reported a 22% jump in profit but the market is focused on the uncertainty of its new sales.Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) is down 8%, on the back of full year results that were largely in line with estimates.On the upside:Waste business, Cleanaway Waste Management (ASX:CWY) is the best performing stock so far this session up 8.5% after reporting its revenue rose 2% to $2.33 billion in the year, while all divisions made a profit, beating market expectations.Fintech business, HUB24 (ASX:HUB) is up 6% to $16.26, after hitting a record all-time high earlier today – as Credit Suisse and Citi upgraded the stock overnight, Citi giving HUB a $17.40 target. HUB's financial results were out yesterday, showing much stronger inflows into the financial platform than expected, something Credit Suisse expects will continue.We are also seeing oil stocks like Oil Search (ASX:OSH) and Cooper Energy (ASX:COE) trading higher after the oil price rose to its highest level in five months US$42.45 on the back of storm-driven output cuts.Trading ideas:Ship builder, Austal (ASX:ASB) was upgraded by Citi after it handed down its full financial year results – showing an improvement in profitability. Citi upgraded ASB's earnings estimates by 10%, has a buy rating on the stock and a target of $4.50.Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) is now being sold around $18.50, as there's downside risk to the iron ore price.  FMG has strong free cash flows and is focused on returning surplus cash to shareholders.Moving to overseas, sentiment is high, for two key reasons, (1) COVID-19 cases are continuing to fall over the month, and (2) the U.S. and Chinese officials reaffirmed the phase one trade deal is on track.If you look at the U.S. futures  - they're indicating U.S. equities will mostly open positive, indicating the S&P500 and Nasdaq will rally off Tuesday's record closes.

Aaron Stevens speaks with David Singleton, CEO of Austal.

 Intro Presenters: Zachary Doney and Bri AlderseaToday we’re talking about the Australian Strategic Policy InstituteWhat is it? Where does it come from? Does ASPI have a place in progressive spaces?We’ve spoken about ASPI before but the problem hasn’t gone away. For some context, here’s Bri:Recent eventsOn the 11th of June Twitter suspended 170,000 accounts from Twitter with the help of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which we will now refer to as ASPI. Accounts that, according to Twitter, spread “geopolitical narratives favourable to the Communist Party of China”. This includes so-called “deceptive narratives” around Hong Kong protests and COVID-19.What are these deceptive narratives? Is any criticism of the Hong Kong protests as violent or right-wing a “deceptive narrative”? It seems as though “deceptive narratives” are simply narratives that stray from the Western mainstream.It seems strange that a US company, Twitter, would pair with a “non-partisan, independent think tank” based in Australia to control who is allowed to use the social media platform. We’ll get into the funding relationship between ASPI and Twitter later the program.Twitter frequently expresses its inability to control fascists on its site yet it can delete 170,000 accounts in one swoop? Perhaps it is because fascists have a more acceptable narrative to the US government compared to pro-Chinese nationals.ASPI’s collaboration with Twitter is an example of why we must be critical of the think tank. It has yet to assess whether the US military, currently the greatest imperialist force, is a threat to national security or world peace. ASPI's pastUs at Alternative News are becomingly increasingly frustrated with the public’s blind acceptance of ASPI’s work. Today’s episode will be about ASPI’s history, funding, and goals to assess whether the organisation should be accepted in progressive spaces.ASPI was founded in 2001 by the Department of Defence as an independent body to advise on defence, strategy, and national security. It was initially fully funded by the Department of Defence. As Deputy Sheriff of the Asia-Pacific, our national interests extend to beyond our peace and safety. To us at Alternative News, ASPI is simply the think tank that operates to excuse militarisation, war and imperialism. An example of this is ASPI’s report from June 2003 titled “OUR FAILING NEIGHBOUR - AUSTRALIA AND THE FUTURE OF SOLOMON ISLANDS”. The report explored how Solomon Islands is under threat and is unstable because of nationalist groups that were attempting to reclaim the islands with the goal of eradicating poverty. ASPI positions the conflict in the Solomon Islands as a part of Australia’s national interests. In the report they say “The consequences for Australia are serious. A failing state on our doorstep engages Australia's interests at many levels, from short-term economic, consular and humanitarian concerns to our most enduring strategic imperatives.” A month after ASPI’s report the Australian government launched the interventionist "Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands". This mission lasted for 14 years where thousands from the Australian Defence Force and Federal Police were stationed at Solomon Islands to quell unrest.This is an example of how ASPI justifies neocolonialism in the Asia-pacific.Is an organisation that justifies national oppression, war, neocolonialism and militarisation something that progressives should associate with? No.From ASPI's charter:"Independence and Participation in Public Debate"...the Government places high priority on the development of ASPI as a centre of excellence in strategic thinking which both is, and is seen to be, independent of Government. At the same time, the Government will want to ensure that its significant investment in the establishment of ASPI is being used effectively [...] The Government will therefore seek [...] to have a regular input into the setting of ASPI's research agenda."Independent or of the government?If this were the Chinese Strategic Policy Institute statements like the above would be rightly subject to the most intense scrutiny and ridicule by the mainstream and the progressive left. Instead we're inviting ASPI members into our spaces to talk about how bad and scary is China! Pathetic.ASPI is a part of the imperialist agenda. If you are part of an anti-colonial group and platform or promote ASPI writers or contributors you are shooting yourself in the foot. ASPI nowWhat does ASPI get up to now? They are funded by weapons manufacturers, WEstern states and tech companies such as:Naval group the Australian subsidiary of the French company building the $50bn (or is it $80bn) submarines which will be obsolete long before they are dumped into our watersNorthrop Grumman, who deal with airforce-type technologies, including autonomous aircraft and cyber security Jacobs, who deal with cybersecurity, weapons systems and nuclear technologyLockheed Martin, who build missiles and military aircraftMBDA missile systems; Raytheon Australia, who deal with electronic warfare technology and submarines; Austal, a maritime defence contractor; Thales (pronounced: Tahl), a defence systems, products and services provider part-owned by the French govt;SAAB; Various parts of the Australian government, including the DoDAmazon; Twitter; Facebook and; Google.Twitter funds ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre. ASPI’s international cyber policy centre helps twitter to police its platform in the interests of western imperialism by excluding voices who disagree with US narratives. What ASPI is currently producing is a large amount of articles and reports bashing China. ASPI is spreading bad-faith interpretations of Chinese policy and domestic law to inform a legion of media and government bodies who are very bad at foreign policy.ASPI is interested in Australia's strategic interests. China, as a rising power, is the subject of ASPI's investigations because ASPI sees China as a threat. On the 8th of June in The Australian, ASPI  Executive Director Peter Jennings penned an article congratulating Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on tightening Australia's foreign investment laws: "The new laws will apply to investment from any country, but make no mistake about it, by far the biggest source of concern is China." If the question is about sovereignty and not selling up the country to foreign ownership then the CICD is in favour of this position! Selling our resources and assets to private companies and foreign governments does not help the Australian people.Jennings agrees, but only when it comes to China: The Morrison govt has a problem i.e. "...how to unpick the consequences of poor decisions over many years that led to much of our electricity grid, gas pipelines and ports being sold into Chinese hands."As of 2019 the largest investors in Australia are: 1: USA, 2: UK, 3: Belgium, 4: Japan, 5: Hong Kong, 6: Singapore, 7: Netherlands, 8: Luxemborg, 9: ChinaJennings is not worried about that, saying that investment from "like-minded democracies" is good becuase these countries won't "economically threaten or spy on us and treat our political leaders with contempt."China is the threat - not because they invest so much in Australia but because they don’t have a Western-style democracy. This position is simplified through the media apparatus to: China is a threat because they invest in Australia.The CICD stands for an independent and non-aligned foreign policy. This is not the foreign policy for which the Australian Strategic Policy Institute stands. ASPI stands with the imperialist agenda, firmly placing us at the feet of the US as deputy sheriff in the Asia-Pacific region.ASPI wrote multiple reports and articles applauding the 1.6 billion dollar expansion of the Tindal base in NT. Why were they so happy about further militarising stolen land? Because China! China is the threat! As Deputy Sheriff, Australia MUST militarize the Asia-Pacific before China.As we mentioned previously, part of ASPI’s program is to protect Australia's national interests, which, as we have discussed, more often than not extend abroad to protect our economic interests in the Asia-Pacific and our alliance with the US. They run a fortnightly podcast aptly called ‘Policy, guns and money’ [gunshot and cash register chime sound effects]. Rebuttals:Are there arguments for the research which ASPI produces, despite the points we have raised? Is it worthwhile to separate the content ASPI produce from the sources of funding? After all, the people who work at ASPI have their own views and the ASPI self-declares as independent.Our objection to this position is the ASPI will not produce a truly independent piece of research because the ASPI, despite their own claims, is not an independent think tank. Their entire existence depends on the discretionary spending of warmongers. This is also why ASPI will never support peace.It is true that ASPI is non-partisan  - it doesn’t not have any explicit affiliation with this or that political party. However, it does receive funding directly from the government of Australia and this government is run by a political party. Be it Labor or Liberal it’s all imperial.Some further pointsIt is essential to examine the funding sources of organisations to discover the character of their output. Who is paying them to say what?As a member of Chinese diaspora, someone is entitled to their dissenting opinion about mainland China and it is appropriate to grant them a place on a progressive platform to voice their opinion. However, as an employee of an imperialist think tank this same place on a progressive platform should not be granted. These people are paid to spread the ideas which contribute to the ASPI’s charter i.e. the interests of the government of Australia.These people have accepted salaries and commissions from weapons manufacturers and on that basis have accepted blood money. CICD demands that we keep blood money out of progressive spaces. ConclusionBased on what we have discussed today, does ASPI have a place in progressive spaces? No. if you are going to introduce ASPI research or people into a progressive space you must maintain your ability to critically analyse where these experts come from and who is putting money in their pockets. ASPI’s infiltration into progressive spaces is an example of how identity politics fail. ASPI is able to get away with its agenda by tokenizing members of the Asian diaspora in Australia. Behind these individuals are white imperialists like Peter Jennings and the weapons manufacturers who they represent. [presenters sign off]Up next, Concrete Gang! 

In this podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss the recession looms, stimulus, BGC, Adrian Fini, Austal, Richard Burt, Tim Marney, markets strength, and our special report on perennial favourite, breweries and distilleries.

In this podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss the recession looms, stimulus, BGC, Adrian Fini, Austal, Richard Burt, Tim Marney, markets strength, and our special report on perennial favourite, breweries and distilleries.

In this podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss market recovery, virus rules relaxed, infrastructure contracts, Caratti court case, Malcolm Turnbull, Andrew Forrest, Austal and our special report on philanthropy and charities.

The Australian share market is set for a breather today with the futures suggesting the ASX200 could fall 2.2% at the open following global equities.Wall Street investors trimmed profits overnight as weaker economic data came out, while hopes are still high for a COVID-19 vaccine. Today, investors will be watching Origin Energy (ASX:ORG), Austal (ASX:ASB), ResMed (ASX:RMD) & new home sales for March.

In this podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss market recovery, virus rules relaxed, infrastructure contracts, Caratti court case, Malcolm Turnbull, Andrew Forrest, Austal and our special report on philanthropy and charities.

Sarah Adam-Gedge is an experienced leader in the digital and technology industry, as well as being a Non-executive Director. Sarah is currently the Managing Director of Publicis Sapient Australia. Publicis.Sapient is the digital business transformation hub of Publicis Groupe, and helps clients drive growth and efficiency and evolve the ways they work, in a world where consumer behavior and technology are catalyzing social and commercial change at an unprecedented pace. With 19,000 people and over 100 offices around the globe, our expertise spanning technology, data sciences, consulting and creative enables us to deliver on complex transformation initiatives that accelerate our clients' businesses through creating the products and services their customers expect. Sarah is also a Non-executive Director of Austal Ltd. Austal is 'The Australian Shipbuilder', defence prime contractor and maritime technology partner of choice; designing, constructing and supporting revolutionary defence and commercial vessels for the world's leading operators. Sarah is also Chair of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, and member of the Audit and Risk Committee. Previously Sarah was a non-executive Director of Ovarian Cancer Australia, and continues to support this important charity as a member of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee. Prior to Publicis.Sapient Sarah was Managing Director of Avanade, and has held executive roles at IBM, PwC, and Andersen across Australia/NZ, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. She is a graduate of the AICD, Chartered Accountant, member of ACS and on the ACS Diversity Council.

A Special Ripp Report on Catalyst, Governor Ivey's High-stepper turkeys, Medical Cannabis Bill makes it out of the Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee, Bay Minette PD gets a grant for AR's (in preparation for a hypothetical), Laura Burke sues Coastal Alabama Community College over dismissal, Airbus slips tariffs, Austal sacrifices for Trump Wall, Alabama House Bill requiring vasectomy, Delta Flooding exemplifies reasons to remove coal ash, all the while SB 117 slithers through the legislature to redefine what a "landfill" is under Alabama Law (APCO), Parker Road Complaint to ALDOT, Baldwin County, and the City of Fairhope, Baldwin County Strategic Plan, Legal News, Board of Education budget inquiry, and Feb 22nd comedian and musician Whitmore Thomas will film an HBO special at the Flora-Bama Lounge.

On this week's podcast, Marcus sits down with Bill Sisson. Bill is the President and CEO of The Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. Listen to this week's podcast to hear them talk about the State of Economy and the great vision and expansion Mobile is experiencing as we move into the new year! Bill: I'm Bill Sisson, president and CEO of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. Marcus: Yay! I'm really excited to have you on the podcast again. Bill: It's good to be here. Marcus: Yeah. I think it's about probably  since you came on last and I was very excited about some of the things that I heard in your State of the City. No, it was State of the Economy. Bill: State of the Economy, yeah. Marcus: Sorry. Mayor does the State of City, right? Bill: That's right. We have the State of the City and the State of the County and we do that once a year. Marcus: Yeah. And so I was very excited about some of the things that you were talking about that and I also just wanted to give you kind of a platform to talk about some of the initiatives that I know the Chamber was going to be taking on in 2019. Bill: I appreciate that. Marcus: Yeah because I have ... and he didn't ask me to do this but we have benefited greatly from being members of the Chamber and I cannot tell you just how important an asset they are to our area with the economic development that they do and all the platforms they give to small business owners all the ... just the wonderful programs like Emerging Leaders and stuff like that that they do for the business owners here. So if you are not a member of the Chamber, then please consider. We're members. I'm member of the Board of Advisors. I'm now, I guess- Bill: Coming on the Board of Directors. Marcus: Yeah, I'm going to be on the Board of Directors- Bill: Yeah. We appreciate that. Marcus: Here soon. Bill: Yeah. Marcus: And I'm really excited about what I'm seeing you all do and so I wanted to get you back on and have that conversation. Bill: Well, I appreciate that plug. You didn't have to do that but you're an ideal member too because you're entrepreneurial. You've also put your membership to work which I always tell people it's like anything else. You get out of it what you put in it and you've always been very, very involved and we appreciate that and so we're excited about your business in it, the type of business that you have growing here in this community. Marcus: Yeah. Bill: It's really important to us. Marcus: I think you and I had a discussion and I want to say it was like four or five years ago and just about Bluefish and the type of business that it was and I ... it was ... it made me, honestly, the conversation that I had with you made me change the focus of my business because at the time, I think, it was a distributed company. We had employees in West Virginia and some in Missouri and a couple of other folks that we used either in Canada or out in California. Bill: Yeah, I do remember. Marcus: And I just ... I made the realization that if I wanted to be a part of this community that I needed to look at it also from a job generating standpoint and so we changed. We started ... I moved one guy down from West Virginia that's Tad and we started hiring here locally and it's benefit us. So I appreciate it. Bill: Yeah, I remember you doing that and I was proud that you did that. I think that we need more and more businesses thinking that way, particularly as we develop the talent base here, attracting people and growing it here, I think, and we have a lot to sell. I mean, the quality of life and the cost of doing business here, the cost of living here. I think all of that kind of sells itself if you can get people down. Marcus: And as things are improving, it's making it easier and easier to justify in making those changes. Bill: Right. Marcus: But why do you ... I mean, we usually have a list of questions and I'm not going to necessarily go by the script because I think there are more interesting things to talk about but why don't you give some of the highlights of what you discussed in the State of the Economy. Bill: State of the Economy. It's one of my favorite events. Started that when I came back to the Chamber over five years ago and I like it because it give the community a snapshot of what local business, what they're feeling, thinking, how their business has been the previous year, and what they're thinking is on the horizon and I thought this year in particular, the survey results were interesting because they showed that the local business community is much more bullish about the economy than they are about the national economy, which I thought was interesting. I think it was 73% of the respondents felt that the economy would be in 2019 than it was in 2018. Marcus: And folks, he doesn't have his notes in front of him so he's off by a percentage, give him some grace. Bill: Yeah. Yeah, give me ... yeah, cut me some slack and I think it was, I want to say it was 57% felt that nationally things would be better. Both of those are good statistics but I think that three out of four here locally feeling that this year is going to be even a better year I thought was pretty telling. Marcus: So I have always felt that what a city needs is a cheerleader and a group people that are providing and casting vision and leading, not necessarily doing. It's not an execution thing. Although, there are some things like ... so when you look the mayor and to yourself, it's not necessarily that you're responsible for doing all the things but what you do have to do is you have to provide a positive attitude and a vision for what the city could be and I think as I look to what has happened with the city, with the leadership, over the last say four years or so and with what you've brought, I just ... I see that. I see that there's a cohesive vision, that there's a plan for moving forward instead of just saying, “Oh, everything's going to be better!” And I think that's why business owners feel like it's going to get better. Bill: Well, we have many sectors that are growing. I think that's something that is very, very positive in this economy here locally. A lot of communities would be thrilled to have one or two. One that was growing and we have quite a number and I think that people also realize that we've only really begun to see some of the benefits of the larger scale projects like an AirBus. We haven't really seen the effects of that yet and so I think that's what's exciting is knowing that that's going to continue to grow and expand and what's going on with our port and the container terminal and the logistics sector. That's one we all need to watch carefully because we've ... Walmart and Amazon have happened. Well, we're working a number of projects in our portfolio related to distribution and you only have to look at cities like Savannah that had an expanded container terminal and now they have, I think, it's over 30 distribution centers that have followed that expansion. Marcus: Because they don't mind being in the same place. Bill: Right. Exactly. Marcus: Yeah. Bill: Exactly. Marcus: I mean, if somebody else like a Walmart or an Amazon says, “No, we think it's good enough.” Well, guess what? Bill: Yeah and it's- Marcus: It's going to answer a lot of questions for all the other guys. Bill: It's like the clustering effect. I mean, it's like car dealerships. They all sort of cluster together, right? And they see their synergies and I think distribution centers see that as well. Plus, the fact that we do have such excellent logistics. We're an easy sell. Talk about shouting it from the rooftops. That's what we ... that's really our job at the Chamber and Economic Development is to make sure that these companies understand what our logistical advantages are and our other business assets here. Marcus: So I thought it was very interesting about AirBus with the Bombardier deal and I don't know if you remember any of the numbers based off of that of like what they're planning on doing there and when. Bill: Well, they'll have 400 additional jobs associated with the 220 and essentially what we see with this is the facility that we have currently for the 320 essentially will get another one for the 220. So we've doubled it and I think that these jobs numbers are probably pretty conservative. Marcus: They're ... 'cause they're already talking about doubling for the 320. Bill: Right, right. Marcus: So, yeah. Bill: And I think that ... I mean, it makes sense to manage people's expectations and we have always tried to do that related to this project because I think a lot of people felt like it would be like the Mercedes project in Tuscaloosa and then suddenly all of these suppliers came but it's different with aircraft because these are large pieces of equipment and they're building up their rate, five currently, I believe, and they'll continue to expand to 12 eventually and then now, with the 220, you have 12 additional aircraft per month ultimately and so then you start really thinking about how that spawns additional suppliers and service providers even though we've gotten many. We have 20 ... I think it's 21's the last count, that have come. They're small at this point. They'll grow with the AirBus facility but when you get to those sort of numbers, that critical mass is really important and so I think that this just accelerates everything. Marcus: What else would you like ... I mean, what else can we bring out from the State of Economy that was a highlight for you? Bill: It's not a surprise but the number one business concern of the business community was basically talent development, workforce development, keeping ... well, attracting and retaining workers. I mean, this rose to the top this year. Last year, it was sales issues. I think the people were concerned about the economy, where it was headed, and they also mentioned the last year that they were concerned about overburdensome regulations. Well, all of that went away and this year at the top, you had these workforce development issues and we know that. We know that with the unemployment rate being as low as it is and communities really competing to attract talent, that has to be a big focus of ours. Marcus: Well, I mean, it will serve to drive up salaries. Bill: It certainly will. Marcus: But I don't know. Like we've- Bill: But I've never apologized for that. I really don't. I mean, it's one of those things that our existing members, they are obviously concerned about that but if they think about it, that's the only way to really raise your standard of living and everybody's going to be doing better off. Marcus: Well and it needs to go up honestly. Bill: And that's, again, the only way to really affect the economy is to get those higher salaries and that's been the Chamber's focus has been really directing our efforts to recruit higher salary positions. Now, in some cases, these are trades positions or advanced manufacturing positions, blue collar versus white collar. A lot of white collar follows blue collar but the blue collar that we have really seen the job growth in in this community and in very high paying positions and so that's helped to raise the average salary in this region. Marcus: Yeah, I use the example of ... was it Austal was looking for a welders at one point in time and they may not be offering those now but at one point, they were offering almost a six figure salary and we're talking to, well, we're working with Bishop State and they have a truck driving school where after eight weeks, they don't guarantee it but almost everybody that's graduating out of that program is making $40,000.00 and within a couple of years, you can do six figures making ... if you're got a clean driving record, stay drug free, and don't do anything stupid, you can make a six figure salary there too. And those are all going to feed off of this distribution center and taking all the parts up northern Alabama to the plants that are up there and all the other things that are going on with transportation in this area. So yeah. Bill: And the other thing that people need to remember is that a lot of these advanced manufacturing positions, they're very high tech in nature. These are not ... well, I think Hallie McNair at the State of the Economy event, he's the manager at AMNS facility but he said it great when he said, “You know, I don't need people now who can lift things. I need people that, for example, are retired pilot. I need people that have technical skills” and that's people sometimes forget is that with advanced manufacturing, there's a real high tech nature to that work. Marcus: Yeah. You have to have at least a certain understanding of that. So one of the other things that I thought was extremely interesting from that talk that you did was you highlighted the ... and you may have used a different term but the microbusinesses, was that the term that you used? Bill: Yes. Microbusinesses. That came out of the feasibility study for Innovation Portal. Marcus: Ridiculous number! Bill: Yeah! Yeah. 29,000. 29,000 micro businesses. Marcus: When I saw that slide, I just ... Bill: [crosstalk 00:13:10] And this was a very extensive feasibility study that we had done by a consultant who does this work across the country for people that are applying for federal economic development administration grants. You basically get to prove your feasibility of what you're asking for, for what you're saying you're going to do and we did that with Innovation Portal but even he was blown away by the number of micro businesses that we have here in this market. I think he told us that typically, you would see 13 or 14,000 in market [crosstalk 00:13:43] this size. Right. And we had 29,000. What that says to me is that we have a lot of pent up entrepreneurial spirit in this community and so I think a lot of the things that are going on now, certainly businesses like yours that are rising to the occasion. I think that this entrepreneurial ecosystem's changing and I think it's a good thing. Marcus: No, I mean, we're seeing it too. And so one of the main reasons we started this podcast which you may be aware of but listeners may not is we wanted to give a platform to those smaller businesses and help shed a light on the awesome things that business owners are doing in Mobile. We wanted to join the championing ... in championing ... I don't know if that's a real word but we wanted to be cheerleaders for Mobile and all the cool things that people are doing. And so what we found is that as we start to get to the end of our network, like we'll ask some people and then lo and behold, there's this whole other group of people that we didn't even know existed that are business owners and blah, blah, blah, and then we talk to them and it's like it just keeps going and going and going. We're not in any danger of running out of people to talk to or things to talk about. But we also notice it with any of the networking events that we have like there's a lot of people that come out and I think one of the things that I've and I think I've talked to Todd about this on his episode just recently was for over a decade, a buddy of mine who now works with start-ups in Huntsville. For over a decade, we had been talking about the freelancer or solopreneur economy and that people were slowly making decision to either leave their cubicle job and go and start their own or they were ... they liked to bake cakes and so they were going to start baking wedding cakes or they were going to do whatever like earlier today, we talked to some folks and they've made a whole business out of basically Mardi Gras. And so, I mean, there's just ... whatever it is, it doesn't matter what it is. If there's an interest, then you can make a business surrounding it and it's never been easier now to have the assets that you need whether it's the software or the process workflow software or the financial software or whatever. It's never been cheaper or easier to get that stuff and so it's made it really easy for people to start these businesses- Bill: And that can certainly explain part of the kind of numbers that we've seen in this area related to those microbusinesses. That could very well be part of it is that it's easier now to be able to do those things out of our garage, out of your back bedroom. Marcus: Yeah, it's exciting to think about what that's going to look like in a couple of years with 29,000, not all of them make it, right? Bill: Of course not. Of course not but even if a fraction of them- Marcus: 10% of them- Bill: Right. I mean, that's exciting! Marcus: 2900 businesses. I mean, that's a huge number of businesses more mature than what we currently have. I mean, that's a huge- Bill: Well, I, like you, have been pleasantly surprised with the number of people that have sort of come out of the woodwork in this entrepreneurial space because like I said, just a mere three years ago, we had that feasibility study done. There are a lot of people working on this at the University at Bishop State, other entities, city county, everyone really wanting to foster entrepreneurship but I've been surprised and I know this market pretty well but I've been surprised at the people I meet that have these side businesses or have the desire or have an idea. Marcus: Or are moving back. Bill: Or are moving back and that is another key component to that talent development that needs to occur. Marcus: Now, I rudely interrupted your presentation at the smaller State of the Economy that you did for the executive round table and said one of the concerns that I have is that we have a lot of high school students that are going away to college and then they never come back because they don't see Mobile as a place where they can work on the exciting job that pays them well, that has all of the ... it's like, when you think about silly things like, “I'm a young 24 year old. I've got a good job. I want to get paid well and then I want to be able to use that money to have fun, go shopping, do all these things” and it's like some of that's starting to happen. I love the changes the company that bought Bel-Air Mall is making. I've been spending more time there in the last two months. Bill: Yeah, they've made it quite- Marcus: Then I did in the previous two years and it's much nicer. So I mean, it's going to be interesting to see how the landscape changes and whether we'll be able to do something to bring those people back 'cause I mean, I'd love to see some of that energy come back too 'cause those are the people that go into Innovation Portal with their ideas and start businesses that really kind of blow up in this area. Bill: Well, I think your point's well-taken. I mean, I think I mentioned this at the round table but my son who is a senior in college was mentioning to me, he was home for Christmas, and he said, “Gosh. I can't believe how much this has changed since I've been gone.” And I think those of us that are living here, it sort of has slowly happened and so we don't really quite notice how profound some of these changes downtown and as you mentioned, Bel-Air, and some of the new retail that's arrived, the restaurant scene. So much of that has changed in the last ... just a few years and so it was good for me to hear that from my son because, again, he only comes in periodically and so for him to notice that, I think, it tells us something. Marcus: Yeah. So what's the Chamber working on in 2019? I know you guys are never sitting on your hands so what other initiatives do you have for 2019 that you want to talk about? Bill: Well, two which I'm very excited about. We're having extensive research done in two areas: foreign direct invest to develop our trade strategy in a more focused approach, meaning that we've been doing trade missions at our Chamber for years and years and we typically help business build business abroad or business to business contact on those trade missions and we do this in partnership with the state of Alabama Department of Commerce but what we haven't done is done an overlay in those countries that we're visiting on those missions to make sure that there's not a targeted approach to economic development related to that particular country. As you know, a lot of our focus is typically on the air show side or the trade show side, developing relationships with site selection firms, getting to know suppliers and so forth for the sectors that are growing here but there's a real opportunity for entrepreneurial, smaller businesses that are in some of these foreign countries to introduce them to this market and so this foreign direct investment strategy, this research that we've had done and then will develop a strategy will be help us be much more razor focused on that international economic development. I don't know if you're aware but we're always in the top five for our size city metropolitan areas for foreign direct investment. We do a really good job of attracting foreign direct investment and that has been, I think, the key to seeing this economy do as well as has done but we want to continue doing that and want to take advantage the foreign direct investment that we've seen over the last few years. Marcus: For those that may not be aware and I know this may put you on the spot but for those that may not be aware, how does that manifest itself in this area? What's an example of that? Bill: Well, an example ... well, I guess the best way to put it is that's new money that's coming into your economy. If a business is doing business with somebody locally, money is basically shifting around. When you get foreign direct investment such as an AirBus investment in this community or an Austal out of Australia investment in this community, that is new capital- Marcus: AMNS is from- Bill: AMNS is [inaudible 00:22:18] and the [inaudible 00:22:19] to Japanese, European conglomerate. But yeah, that's new capital that's coming to the market and that's the way that you can grow your economy. There was an interesting New York Times article recently on how important foreign direct investment is and they were comparing cities in the US and they were highlighting Nashville as having done a really good job of foreign direct investment and that has led to a lot of their economic prosperity and then they were comparing Nashville to cities that size that had not done it and you could clearly see that that was the better economic path. Marcus: I was talking to Jared Boyd this past weekend and he has ... he's moved back to Memphis but he is a Memphis native and I said, “What the deal with Memphis and Nashville?” And one of the things that I found were very interesting 'cause I didn't know this was that Memphis and Nashville ... Memphis was actually a bigger city that Nashville was- Bill: I think not far. Marcus: Not too long ago. Bill: Yeah, not that long ago. Yeah. Marcus: And it was this foreign national investment that kind of changed things and also I think the city got its act together as far as how it marketed itself, not just to foreign nationals but also just to the geographic area around it but you've got now where I mean, they're talking about 70,000 people per year moving to Nashville from outside of that area and- Bill: Yeah, it's an insane amount. Marcus: Yeah. I mean, it's just become a massive metropolitan area and dwarfs Memphis by far. Bill: Extraordinarily so. Marcus: But so yeah, I can see that being a huge boom for Mobile. Bill: And I think that Nashville, they do have a cool factor which I think we have as well. We just haven't marketed it as well as they have and so that's something that we really need to all collectively work on. I mean, not just the Chamber but individuals speaking to people that are living in these other places and tell them what's going here and the history here and the location and the architecture and- Marcus: The food. Bill: The food. Marcus: Yeah, the cultural side of things between Mardi Gras and being close to the water and all the things you can do there, you know? Bill: And you know, it's ... of course I drank the kool-aid years ago but it's so true. Marcus: For those that don't know, he's not from here. Bill: Right, exactly. But my younger son who's a freshmen in college, one of the things he mentioned was, “You know, Dad I never realized how unique Mobile is” because he's now in school with people that are from the Midwest and no offense to the Midwest but more typical American cities and Mobile's not a typical American city, not by any means and so I think there's a real marketability to that. I mean, people are looking for those kind of cool, unique locations. Marcus: But I love that you say that's not just some ... it's not ... the city's responsibility. It's not your responsibility. It's not ... Visit Mobile's responsibility. It's all of our responsibility. I mean, like we've even taken up and we're not being paid for this. The website that this podcast resides on has things to do. It has a business directory of all the businesses that are going on. It has an events calendar of all the things that are happening and so we have seen- Bill: Yes, you have. Marcus: We've seen that we have to kind of take some ownership of helping the city become its best self and so we're investing in that. But you know- Bill: Well, you've done a good job of that and you, too, are not from here and you've adopted it, right? And you know what it's like once you've adopted something and I think- Marcus: I want to see it succeed. Bill: Absolutely! And I think even people that are natives, they need to start telling the story because one thing people do here is travel a lot. I have noticed that and so when they're out and about, they should be talking about what's going on here economically, culturally, and I think that that's going to help us to be able to attract the talent that we need. Marcus: You had and you may not ... I'm going to say something but I'm not going to require that you know this fact. So at one point in time in the Business View magazine, you had all of the current larger projects of renovation that were happening inside of downtown. I added it up. It was $185,000,000.00. And I can't believe that all that money is coming from here as well. I mean, is that ... are those ... do you know offhand? Is that some level of foreign investment too or is that still stateside and US investors? Bill: A lot of those investors are from out town, not necessarily foreign. Not necessarily foreign but that's a good thing too. Marcus: Yeah, no. Not at all. Not at all. I wasn't saying it was a bad thing. So I just found it very interesting that there's such a huge amount of money that's flowing into downtown for renovation and I know at some point in time, there will be, I mean, I have to wonder $185,000,000.00 that's a lot of renovation happening downtown, are people really going to live downtown? But I also have to say, like I'm living in Broadstreet Lofts and I was using the ... we have a little grill out in the community area that we can use and one of the other couples that lives in the apartment there came out and she was an older woman, very nice, and she said that she and her husband were from Nashville and that they had retired and that they had looked at all the cities along the coast and they decided that they still wanted to live in a city and that Mobile the place for them. And I just can't help but wonder 'cause we went to Nashville a couple of years ago and on the way back, traffic started at Franklin and didn't stop until Montgomery. Bill: Yeah, yeah. Marcus: Northbound so everybody was coming back from spring break and so I just can't help but think that all those people that are spending all their spring breaks and all their summer vacations and stuff like that coming down here. At some point in time, they're going to want to retire and that's going to start happening very quickly and they're going to be looking for a city life. Bill: I think you're exactly right. I think that what Mobile offers, really unique to this central Gulf Coast region, is a urban core which you really don't find that along the Mississippi coast. Certainly Pensacola has it as well but- Marcus: [crosstalk 00:28:53] To a certain extent but our downtown's bigger than Pensacola. Bill: To a certain but not as urban feeling as our urban core because we've been- Marcus: I mean, certainly New Orleans does but a lot of people don't want to put up with all the mess of New Orleans. You don't have to say a word 'cause I'm not going to get you in trouble but I'll say- Bill: No, I never downplay competitor cities because, I mean, that's just what they are. They're competitor cities. They're great cities and I'll add this very Chamber-esque comment, we need a strong New Orleans [crosstalk 00:29:25] on the Gulf Coast. Marcus: I love going over there and having a good meal or doing ... seeing some shows or something like that. Bill: But it's important to have that strong city there. No question about it. Marcus: So what else? What else have we not talked about that you kind of want to let people know is going on?  Bill: Well, in the area of this talent development, we do, at the Chamber, take this very seriously. I think that that is going to be the key to capitalizing on the economic development that we've seen over the last few years and so the ... I mentioned the foreign direct investment study and then the other big research that we're having done right now is on our talent. We want to know where we are currently, what that workforce looks like with that labor shed, they call it, looks like here, where the gaps are, and then we will be developing a strategy in the first quarter of this year to go out through universities and through other networks to capture back some of that talent, that as you mentioned earlier, has settled in other cities such as Charlotte, Nashville, Atlanta, cities where maybe they've had some very formative career years but they're ready to come back and I think that- Marcus: Maybe they're tired of the traffic or the expense or- Bill: The expense or maybe they're about to have children and they want to be close to family. Marcus: And they don't want to raise them in [crosstalk 00:30:57] ... yeah. Bill: And so I think that if we can really target those people and tell them that the story has changed as we were talking about it earlier, I think that we can be quite successful in getting them to come back. Marcus: Yeah. It's really good. All right, so I'm going to go back to the script. Any books, podcast people, or organizations that have been helpful in ... helpful to you in the last, say, six months? Bill: That's a good question. I think the most interesting thing that I'm reading right now is “The Start-up Nation” and I'm just impressed with what they've been able to do in Israel. I'm actually fortunate to be on the Committee of 100 for the US Chamber and they are taking a group of us to Tel Aviv this year to see that first hand and subsidized by the Israeli government but I think that we here, in Mobile, can learn a lot from what they have done. It's a country of what, six million people? And they have per capita the most start-ups of any country and so there's something cultural going on there and I think we can learn from that and I look forward to it, to learning more about that but the book, of course, has helped me prepare for that. Marcus: Yeah. Well, that's very good. And what do you like to do to unwind? Bill: Well, besides read? Marcus: Yeah. Bill: I actually am I pianist and I- Marcus: I did not know that. Bill: Yes I am and I've been really bad about not playing the piano just in these ... the last years of my boys being at the house, just one thing after ... their sports and so I've been trying to get back on it and trying to get my fingers moving again. So but I have to say, though, of most of the things that I do to unwind, that one probably helps me unwind the most. Whenever I go back to it, I realize, “Gosh, I was missing that.” Marcus: Right. Yeah, that's something that really kind of soothes your soul. Bill: Yeah, yeah. Marcus: So that's awesome. Well, I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast. To wrap up, any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share? Bill: Well, just I would end with saying, I think 2019's going to be a great year. I think I'm like those three out of four surveyed people that said that they felt like 2019 was going to be a good a year. I think it is. I think that there a lot of reasons for that and I look forward to seeing it and look forward to working with business leaders like you. Marcus: Yeah. No, I appreciate it. So Bill, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share some of the things that are going on here in Mobile. It's been great talking with you. Bill: Thank you! I appreciate. Marcus: Yeah.

SUMMARY     Matt: Hey, I'm Matt Gray, founder of Leveld. Marcus: Awesome, Matt. Well it's good to have you on the podcast. Matt: Thanks for having me, I appreciate it. Marcus: Yeah, absolutely. So we'll get into a little bit about what Leveld is here in just a minute, but to get started, why don't you tell us the story of Matt. Where are you from? Where did you go to high school? Did you go to college? Married? Anything else you want to share with the audience. Matt: Well I'm a simple creature for the most part. So yeah, I grew up in ... born in Alabama, actually born up near Birmingham, spent a lot of my childhood in Alabama, grew up just out in West Mobile, I actually grew up in Mississippi, West Mobile was always our home. Marcus: That is considered West Mobile by now, right? Matt: Yeah, well you know, some people argue that, right? Marcus: [crosstalk 00:00:51] Matt: Yeah, yeah. So I grew up in Mississippi, all my family is there. Went to school there in Mississippi, near Hattiesburg, I actually graduated high school there, little small town called Purvis, Mississippi, and from there, went to school at Mississippi State University, got my engineering degree. Mechanical Engineering is my background, so the tech venture and all of the things that I'm diving into here with Leveld has been new for me. But yeah, I'm a single entrepreneur if you will. I've spent a lot of my early career, early life traveling the world. My first career out of college took me abroad to about nine different countries, so I spent the first three to four years living out of a suitcase if you will. So just kind of traveling around. I spent a lot of time in Asia and Africa, and made my way back here to Mobile about a year and a half ago, to this area, and started trying to figure out what's next for Matt, what's next in the journey. So I kind of came up with the concept of Leveld, and it started getting really rooted here in this area, here in Mobile on the eastern shore, so this has just kind of been where I set up shop if you will. Marcus: Yeah. Matt: Spending all of my time here, so. I'm calling it home if you will. I'm putting down a flag. Marcus: Yeah. I know you ... I mean, when we talked originally, you had mentioned that you were doing a lot of traveling and stuff- Matt: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Marcus: So I'm glad to hear that some of that's calming down, because I know that as Leveld kind of grows, that the focus you're going to need to have is ... traveling is not going to mix well with that. Matt: Sure. Well there's a good bit of personal time that you could use there that works well for you. I get a lot of my inspiration, a lot of the great ideas I've had, I've learned from abroad, my travels abroad, but yeah, absolutely. It's imperative I guess at this point, when you're trying to launch a business or a company or anything like that, you really have to spend a lot of your time and focus in the business and not so much in airports and traveling, so it's got its balance for sure, so yeah. Marcus: So tell us about Leveld. Matt: Okay. Marcus: What is it? What do people need to know? Matt: So when I kind of brand it to people and people who have no idea what we're doing, I pitch it as we're just like Airbnb, but for tools and equipment. So granted, I'm not licensed to use Airbnb as a reference or their name, but we're taking that platform and we've kind of put our own little spin on it. We've innovated a little bit in trying to implement that type of marketplace, peer to peer interaction, into a new industry that really hasn't had much of that yet. If any yet. So Leveld is an out based marketplace, essentially, where we bring together two people who have a problem. We have, on one side, we have people who have tools, equipment, whether it be large equipment, small equipment, lawn equipment, whatever that is, might have that in their house, their garage. We tend to find, or at least I have so far, where you have a lot of angry spouses who said, "Oh, I've got a garage full of stuff that I would love for my spouse to get out there and get out of our way." So you have these people who have a lot of inventory that's not being utilized. They spend a lot of money, it's being used a few times a year, and it's just kind of thrown out of the way, right? Out of sight, out of mind. So that's one side of the fence. On the other side of the fence, we have people who need items throughout the year to do projects around their home, whether it's a DIY project or some kind of larger undertaking that they've decided to do themselves- Marcus: Renovating a potential office space. Matt: Renovating, right. Building a new office space, absolutely. Just like you. After this is over, hit me up, we might could work. But yeah, you have folks who don't necessarily want to invest time and money in purchasing things, they don't have space to store things, and maybe they don't use it but a few times a year or a few times every couple of years, so it doesn't make economic sense for them to buy something. So the polar opposites there, that's what we're here to connect. So we created this marketplace where we can allow people to put their own items on there. They set their own price, they set their own availability to rent it in and out, and it's a great way for those folks to make some passive income, right? I mean, they've got a lot of money invested potentially into these things, and it's just sitting around, so why not put it out there to work for you? Marcus: Now, I mean, I'm keenly aware because I have tons of tools that literally just sit, and my issue is just time. You know, like the idea of sitting down, and I'm sure this is going to get easier. And I'm not making a judgment call on the app, so let's be clear, but even just sitting down for two or three minutes would be a bit much right now with a renovation project and running a business, but getting some of those in so that I can make those kinds of transactions is interesting to me because I've got all kinds of power tools and torque wrenches and all kinds of other stuff that just sits around unused, so. But yeah. Go back in your history to your first job, and not your first engineering job, but your first burger flipping job or sweeping the floor job, that job. Your first crap job, how about that? Were there any lessons that you still remember from that? Matt: My first job that I ever had, I started when I was fifteen years old working for a local ... he was an entrepreneur himself, he was very successful in real estate and construction, and he had a large farm, and I went to work for him afternoons after school, weekends, that type of thing. And even today, when I'm going through a challenge or when I'm faced with something in business or even in my "day job", there's one thing that resonates with me from working for him, and one thing he used to say all the time, he said, "If there's a will, there's a way." So anytime you're in business, anytime you come across challenges, there is a way, I should say, if you're willing to look for it. If you look hard enough. And that's been something that really has resonated for me. Yeah, is to really think about that anytime you hit a roadblock. If there's a will, there's a way to get around this, there's a way to get through it. Marcus: Absolutely. Matt: Yeah. Marcus: Yeah. And setting your intentions on that positive outlook versus, "Oh my gosh, the sky is falling." Matt: Right. If you focused on the negative, you'd just give up and quit, right? If you focused on the negative, you wouldn't be moving into a new office space, right? You wouldn't be growing your business. So you have to be able to look at the positive side of it and think, "Well, there's always an out. There's always a way to get around something." Right? So- Marcus: Yeah. No, very good. Matt: And search it out. Marcus: So tell us a little bit about how you started Leveld? How did that come to fruition and what efforts have you kind of undertaken so far? Matt: So the idea came about, I was sitting in a conference actually through my prior job, and we were listening to a speaker, the keynote speaker, his name was Jack Uldrich, and he was ... and he is, I think, a New York best-selling author, I guess, if you will ... New York Times best-selling author. And he was giving a presentation on kind of the evolution of technology, and he was really kind of looking in the present where we are and kind of flipping backwards in real time on the screen as to where we came from, what we were. Really, he focused around Uber, right? Twenty years ago, no one would have thought about sharing a car with a random stranger- Marcus: Shoot, man. Five years ago, nobody would have thought about it. Matt: Well five years ago, for sure, and he was really showing the rapid expansion of technology in about a twenty year span, so he was kind of flipping back and forth between twenty years and now, present day. This was a year and a half, two years ago that I sat through that, and that's really started resonating with me, thinking about how we've made strides. And he kind of hit on Airbnb as well, we talked about that at a great deal of length. And now you have a marketplace where strangers are interacting, and the largest hotel chain in the world doesn't actually own a hotel, right? They don't have any inventory, they don't have any "employees". So he was really diving into that, and he made a comment in passing, "Who knows what could be next? We could change how we rent the things in our closet out or how we work independently with each other and start interacting with people on a day to day basis." And when he mentioned renting out things in your house, my mind kind of started working, thinking about, "What do I have in my house that other people might want?" Right? Marcus: Right. Matt: And it came across about a week and a half later, at that time, I was helping my girlfriend at the time who I was dating, and she had a project and didn't have the tools that we needed to get it finished, and I thought, "Man, if I only had a neighbor down the street or if I only knew someone down the street." You know? So it all just started coming together. At that point, the wheels were put into motion, I guess, and I thought back to that presentation and how we were talking about, "Man, this could be a great platform to use. If I'm needing this, there's probably someone else out there needing something similar." You know? Marcus: It's wild how something in passing that somebody said can spawn off a completely different- Matt: Right. Marcus: Yeah. It's incredible. Matt: And his presentation was an hour long, and I took away maybe a ten second blip of that and thought about it long enough that it resonated with me throughout the weeks and days after. Marcus: Now I think it's fair to say, you've been planning this for awhile, but you're still fairly new into this venture? Matt: Right. Yeah. Marcus: Is that fair to say? Matt: Yeah, I started planning it quite awhile back actually. Marcus: Yeah. But if you were talking to someone that was wanting to get started in running their own business, what's the one bit of wisdom that you would impart to them? Because obviously you ... as you've been going through this process, you've learned some things. Matt: I've learned a great deal, absolutely, and I guess it all goes back to what I said a moment ago. If there's a will, there's a way. I had really no business contacts in Mobile. I had a lot of friends here, I've been in the area most of my life, so it really goes back to the beginning when I thought about the idea, and I had no clue where to get started, and I just started reaching out to everyone I could think of, and making cold calls, and cold emailing as I call it, just reaching out to individuals in the city that I thought might could point me in the right direction. So if there are people out there, and I talk to them all the time, that are trying to get started and do their entrepreneur thing if you will, I always tell them that. I always say, "Look. If you want to get into it and you've got a great idea and you're passionate about it, you need to find the right people. The right people that can help you push that along." And when I got started, I connected one person, and they connected me with two people, and those two connected me with four, and then it's just growing in that way. Marcus: Yeah. Network can be everything when it comes to that. Matt: Yeah, and it's not so much networking in the sense where you go out to social hour and have a drink, it was more or less just connecting, "Hey, you've got this idea. I know this person is working on something similar." And then you kind of start building that out. So it was networking unintentionally. It just started building upon itself, and that's one aspect of it I tell people, you really can't be afraid to get out and just start knocking on doors and trying to find people. I was able to reach out to our local chamber, some of the folks there at the time, and they put me in connection with a few folks at the small business group and the entrepreneur center out at south, and then that kind of expanded into Exchange 202, and then it just ... the network's been building ever since. Marcus: It grew from there. Matt: Yeah. Absolutely. Marcus: If you look to the business world, is there someone that motivates you or that you kind of look to and think, "Yeah, I want to get there." Or they've got some skillset like you're ... yeah. Matt: There's a lot of people. There's people from my past. I mentioned the gentleman awhile back that I worked for when I was just starting. He's passed on now, but he was an entrepreneur from the beginning, right? He had been through a lot of financial hardships I believe, and he had been able to rebuild himself and rebrand himself and come back and achieve success ultimately. So he was one I really looked up to just from a ... what's the word? From a persistence- Marcus: A mindset, yeah persistence. Matt: Yeah, persistence standpoint. He never backed down from a challenge. If there was a problem, whether it be a legal issue or financial issue, he always found a work around, he always found a way to get through it and be successful on the other side. There are some folks here that I've met just on this journey in Mobile, somebody from a mindset perspective and a thought perspective, Todd Greer here in Mobile. Todd is a phenomenal individual. Marcus: He keeps coming up. That name and Mel Washington. Those are the names that are kind of ingrained in our- Matt: Well, I can't leave Mel out either, I was going there next. Mel was the first person I connected with in Mobile, and he brought a huge amount of enthusiasm to the project that we're working on with Leveld, and then he helped me meet Todd, and Todd helped me meet the others, and ended up recommending you as well, so it all kind of came through together. So yeah, those two guys just bring a wealth of knowledge, but there's been so many people along the way. I look at the business culture here in Mobile, a lot of entrepreneurs that are starting out, young and old, I think there's something to learn from each of those. Each of their backgrounds, each of their experiences. If you look at the pool here, it is deep. We have a lot of great talent here, and there's a lot of folks here that I look up to. Yeah, absolutely. Marcus: That's very cool. Are there any books or other organizations outside of the ones you've mentioned that have been helpful in moving you forward? Matt: Books? Yeah. Marcus: What are you reading right now? Matt: I tend to read ... so I actually found this book the other day that had been thrown out ... not thrown out, I should say. It had been given to me awhile back and I kind of tossed it aside, never really circled back to it, but it's called "On Fire" it's by John O'Leary, and if you've never heard of John O'Leary, look him up, he's an incredible inspiration, and not just from an entrepreneurial standpoint, but he was injured severely as a child, near death experience. Spent six months in the hospital I think, came back from it. But he puts just such a positive vibe on everything, and basically it's not what happens to you, it's how you respond to it. So I think that goes a long way in life, but that goes a long way as well in business too because there are challenges every day that you face, right? Marcus: Right. Absolutely. Matt: And I face. And you've got to kind of figure out, okay, well I can't change what's happened here. How do we push forward? What do we do? Whether it's money, whether it's any other situation that might come up. So I found that book, I've been reading that. "Lean Start Up" was a good book, that's one that Todd had recommended to me in the beginning. Marcus: Kind of appropriate for you. Matt: Yeah. That was kind of the bible at the beginning, right? Trying to understand and just kind of get introduced into the world a bit more. So, that was a great book. Yeah. That's been the couple that really stick out to me right now, and then I read a book, my mother actually gave to me for my 30th birthday, and it was called "Detour", and it's more of a spiritual, religious type book, and she had given it to me I guess because mothers love in their own bounds, right? So she had given me the book, and I kind of tossed it aside, but it really talks about your life and journey through that, and I really felt like there was a lot of parallels in the business/entrepreneurship side of things too, that really take you through a lot of detours if you will, right? When you get momentum or you get things moving forward, and then all of a sudden you've got a little bit of a sidetrack. Marcus: Yeah. Matt: So- Marcus: We've changed the term from detours to pivot, you know? Right? But it is what it is. You're going to hit something and it's going to change your direction whether you want to call it a detour or a pivot, which is the more modern term. You just have to ... it's a guaranteed. Matt: Sure. Marcus: You just kind of have to accept that's going to be the way things go. Running a business or founding a company is much like the game Plinko, where you stick a quarter or something or a ball in the top and it kind of bounces around. Matt: That's right. Marcus: That is the life of a business owner. Matt: That's right. And you never know where it's going to land until the chips fall. Absolutely. Marcus: What's the most important thing that you've learned about running a business? Matt: Responsibility I think would probably be that. I mean, there's no one looking over your shoulder to tell you what you need to do next. You have to be persistent, you have to be aggressive, you have to be out thinking the next move if you will. And I knew that, right? I say I knew that. I kind of had a sense that, "Hey, this is what a business life is like." But when there's no one there to hold you accountable, it's up to you to achieve success or wither and die. So I think for me, it's the accountability part of things. When you go out and you're looking for investors or you go out to talk with a banker about raising or acquiring some funds to get things started, they're not ... you don't have a ton for them to base things off of, right? They're really putting their money in you as a person, and I think that's been important for me to learn and understand, and I hold that value very close to me because I feel like I am the person that's accountable. I am the person that's looking over my own shoulder if you will to make sure that, "Hey, you're doing all you can to make this a success." We've pushed it this far. You've got to push it the next mile and just trying to keep one up yourself if you will. Marcus: I think people underestimate the ... what's the word I'm looking for? They underestimate the pressure that it takes to even just be able to make the decisions that are required for running a business. Matt: Sure. I had to ... in the beginning, I had to make a decision whether or not I was going to personally spend my own money to fund the beginning of the project. I mean- Marcus: [crosstalk 00:18:42] Matt: We couldn't find the investors, we couldn't find ... right? In the market we were in, we had to proof it out, we had to come up with our MVP, so that was all on my shoulders to do that. So there were a lot of sleepless nights after writing that check or clicking send on that wire transfer, yeah. Absolutely. It's a lot of stress that goes into making the big decisions that have to be made, and no one else can do it for you. Marcus: Well it's even the small ones, too. Even the small decisions, because there's this thing that many people don't know about called decision fatigue, right? So I'm just speaking from personal experience. Getting out of the office at night, sometimes seven, eight, nine o'clock or later, the last thing I even want to think about is what I need to eat. So it's literally just like just go home and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because I don't even want to think about that. I just want to go home and get something in me that's going to take away the pain in my stomach, you know? Matt: Right. Right. Marcus: And I don't think people really understand just how even making small decisions throughout the day, all of those get tossed on top of the pile of the larger decisions too, and you get to the end of the day, or the end of the week, or the end of the month, or the end of the year, and you're just like, "Good night, I'm just over this." But I get what you're saying as a business owner, not having somebody else. That's not there for you to bounce those ideas from. There's nobody there that's telling you what to do. There's nobody there that's ultimately going to take responsibility, it lands on your shoulders. Matt: That's right. Yeah, and it's difficult too when you don't have someone who shares a ... maybe your vision, or maybe they don't share your aggression towards the project, so they don't understand exactly how you're looking into it, right? So when you don't have those types of people to bounce ideas off of, it comes back to you, and you have to think through, and like I said a moment ago, you really have to anticipate the next move before you even get close to it so that you can understand a little bit more about, how risky is this situation? How risky will this decision be if it goes wrong? That type of thing. Marcus: No, very good. How do you like to unwind? This is the hardest question. Matt: Outdoors. I love being outdoors. We live in an incredible place here in Mobile on the bay, the beach, right here on the coast. So I love being outdoors, whether it's on a boat, fishing, riding my bike. That's what I get the most stress free weekends, I guess, come from being out on the beach with a book or something, just hanging out, no thoughts in mind. Marcus: Well tell people where they can find out more about Leveld and get the app and all that other stuff. Matt: Sure. Sure. So the app is available for download now in the IOS store. So currently, we're only in the IOS store. We're looking to expand to the Android market hopefully by the end of this year. Marcus: Cool. Matt: But yeah, you can check it out there. And then you can also go on our website, , it's L-E-V-E-L-D. So it's Leveld misspelled. Yes, that was intentional. Marcus: Because you can imagine Leveld all spelled out correctly was probably quite expensive as a domain name. Matt: Well and it makes no sense. Why would you spell it correctly when you can spell it wrong? Marcus: Yeah, exactly. Matt: So there's an interesting story behind that as well, but yeah, you can find out about that on ... and check us out on social as well. We're on  and  @GetLevld as well. Marcus: Nice. Well I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast. To wrap up, any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share?  Matt: Thank you, man. I appreciate you having me. I want to acknowledge you for a moment. Small business of the year in Mobile. That's big for yourself and your team here at Bluefish- Marcus: Very much so. Thank you. Matt: Congratulations on that, and just the work you're doing here with Mobile and what you're trying to do with getting the word out here in Mobile for a lot of the cool stuff that's happening. So yeah, I want to acknowledge you for that as well. Marcus: Yeah, I mean, we've kind of moved away from this, but Jared reminded me of it earlier today because we've recorded ... you're our fifth podcast of the day. Matt: Nice. Marcus: Yeah. Matt: It was strong, I hope. Marcus: Yeah. No, absolutely. No, where I was going to go with that is we started this because we wanted to be cheerleaders for the business community and we wanted to share the stories of people like you and the cool things that are happening here because I think oftentimes, those stories get lost in the larger picture of Airbus and Austal and some of the larger job providers here, but the truth is that Mobile is an economy made up of individuals like you and like me that are providing jobs for fifteen, 20, 30 people or so, and there's just a plethora of people out there that are doing that. Matt: And one thing that's cool I'd like to mention and showcase, even when we launched, my big message pushing Mobile has been the people that are here, the culture that we're building, a lot of the young talent that's here that's coming up with ideas, and they're expanding on it and they're building it. It's bringing a lot of attention to Mobile, right? Marcus: Yeah. Matt: Far too long, Birmingham, Hunstville, they had gotten a lot more of the attention. I think it's time to bring some of that attention south. Bring it to Mobile, bring it to the gold coast here if you will, and I think there's a lot of cool stuff happening especially exciting things, big projects here that are going to be expanding and exploding out of Mobile soon, so it's exciting. Marcus: I couldn't agree with you more because I think I knows some of the same people you're talking about. Well I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share your journey as a business owner and entrepreneur. It's been great talking with you. Matt: Thanks. Absolutely.

In this Business News podcast Mark Beyer and Mark Pownall discuss government contractor failures, house prices, population growth, LNG revival, Austal, who are the performance share winners, and our special report on tourism.

In this Business News podcast Mark Beyer and Mark Pownall discuss government contractor failures, house prices, population growth, LNG revival, Austal, who are the performance share winners, and our special report on tourism.

This week, we discuss a school choice victory, being locked in prison and not charged or convicted, death penalty, war machines, and the loss of the electoral college. Featuring Hosts: Matt Carano, Tom Hudson, and Nick Boyle Engineered by: Matt Carano Produced by: Tom Hudson, Matt Carano, and Nick Boyle News School choice court victory http://www.unionleader.com/education/litchfield-parent-wins-rare-school-choice-case-20180521 Man who has committed no crime, locked up for 23 hours a day because he has a mental illness http://www.unionleader.com/state-government/House-Senate-at-odds-over-future-of-prisons-psychiatric-unit-05092018 Death penalty foes petition Sununu with 50,000 name http://www.unionleader.com/article/20180518/NEWS0621/180519238 NH Dems want to change to popular vote in electoral college. http://www.insidesources.com/n-h-dems-push-popular-vote-compact-endanger-fitn-primary/ Sununu wants Congress to pass right to try bill http://www.unionleader.com/article/20180522/NEWS06/180529815/-1/mobile?template=mobileart The ridiculous celebratory masturbation caused by the sight of US weapons of war http://www.unionleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=UL&Date=20180521&Category=NEWS10&ArtNo=522009999&Ref=PH Events Freecoast Liberty Outreach Meetup Dover - 1st Thursday Exeter - 2nd Thursday Hampton - 3rd Thursday Rochester - 4th Thursday Brentwood - 5th Thursday Freecoast Festival (festival.freecoast.org) Sept 7th through the 9th in Portsmouth, NH Tickets on sale now! Special Segment - Autocrat of the Week Sununu unless he signs death penalty repeal into law (MC) Jeanne Shaheen, official sponsor of the USS Manchester, 1 of ten ships in a $3.5 BILLION contract to Austal shipyard in Mobile, AL. Will be commissioned the Saturday May 26th 2018(NB) NH History Alan Shepard, first American in space. Born in Derry, NH in 1923 Earned a Bachelor of Science at the US Naval Academy Served on a Navy ship in the Pacific ocean during WWII After the war, entered flight training, then graduated from the Naval Test Pilot School and the Naval War College In April 1959, Shepard was selected as one of NASA's first group of seven astronauts On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space. He flew on a one-person Mercury spacecraft that he named Freedom 7. It launched on a Redstone rocket. On this flight, Shepard did not orbit Earth. He flew 116 miles high and then returned safely. The flight lasted about 15 ½ minutes. After his first flight, Shepard developed a medical problem. An inner ear problem stopped him from flying in space. NASA named Shepard as chief of the Astronaut Office. He helped select new astronauts, plan missions and make sure astronauts were ready to fly. Later, he had surgery to fix the ear problem, and he was able to fly again. Almost 10 years passed between his first and second flights. Shepard's second spaceflight was on the Apollo 14 mission to the moon. He was commander of a crew that included Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell. The Apollo spacecraft was launched on a Saturn V (5) rocket. On Feb. 15, 1971, Shepard and Mitchell landed on the moon. (Roosa stayed in orbit around the moon while the other two landed.) During two moonwalks, Shepard and Mitchell collected more than 100 pounds of moon rocks. They conducted scientific experiments on the lunar surface. Shepard also became the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon, showing how far it would go in the moon's lower gravity. After his second flight, Shepard returned to his job as head of the Astronaut Office. He retired from NASA in 1974. Shepard worked in private business. He also did volunteer work to support education and to help people learn about spaceflight. Shepard died of leukemia in 1998. My favorite quote from him, “It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract.” https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/who-was-alan-shepard-58.html   Suggestions/Feedback Do you have a topic that you would like for us to discuss? A correction and additional piece of information that we may have overlooked, please send it in to freecastpodcast@gmail.com While you are here, follow us on Twitter @freecastpodcast and like our Facebook page.   References The Innocence Project

Austal has set the benchmark for successful Australian defence companies with a strong export focus, regularly securing multimillion-dollar defence and commercial contracts overseas, most recently landing a further contract for the Independence Class littoral combat ship (LCS) with the US Navy. Defence Connect caught up with Austal’s chief executive David Singleton at the Pacific 2017 International Maritime Exposition to discuss how Austal achieved its phenomenal success overseas, closing the cost gap between south-east Asia and Australia, his views on the success of the 2016 Defence White Paper thus far and the future of Henderson.

In this Business News podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss home prices, data M&A, Austal and shipbuilding, subcontracting and insolvencies.

In this Business News podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss home prices, data M&A, Austal and shipbuilding, subcontracting and insolvencies.