Coles and Woolworths alleged to rig prices | RBA pauses the cash rate... again | Intel receives a $5B offer

This is what the Flux.

I'm justin and I'm harsh deep and it's Wednesday, the twenty fifth of September.

A s we spoke the other week about luxury e commerce marketplace set Higher. The share price dropped nearly fifty percent, and that was because it's auditors wouldn't sign off on their financial results. But now the auditors have come back and given set Hire the all clear. Okay, next minute, SETI share price jump nearly seventy percent.

Oh, talk about a comeback. It's the last week of September and that means it's the time of the month to do the financial hygiene. We've got it all covered in the Flux app, from checking your credit score to tracking a financial wellbeing score. Keep your financial wellbeing on track in the Flux app.

Good call HD three very Highgienie can clean stories today. Let's get into it for our first Woolworths and Coals are in hot water after the Atrible c failed a court case alleging that the supermarkets have misled consumers over products on sale.

Looks like someone's been caught with the hand in the cookie jar.

Tell me more, does Okay? So we own O Coals and Woolies as the supermarket heavyweights in Australia. Together they control over sixty percent of the grocery market.

And with the cost of living skyrocketing lately, it's fair to say that many Aussies are on the lookout for those yellow stickers at the supermarket.

But HD, it seems like some of those supposed bargains at the supermarket might not have been so genuine after.

All, how do you mean?

Well, the A Triple C's alleging that both Coals and Woolies have jacked up the prices on over one hundred items just before putting them on sale.

We're talking about everyday essentials like bread, milk, yogurt, and even toilet paper.

Send it all over, TikTok now itch. They claim these supermarkets increased prices on certain products to make the discounts appear larger than they really were.

And if the A Triple C's allegations are true, this could have some massive consequences for both Woolies and Coals.

Yeah, we're talking fines of up to ten million dollars and a.

Heap of pain to their already battered reputation.

So true, So tell me, ah, what is the key learning here.

The damage to a company's reputation can often be far greater than any finds they face.

Yeah, let's be honest, regardless of the legal outcome of this case, we've still already become a pr disaster for Woolies and Coals.

Oh yeah, they weren't exactly in the Australian consumer good books to begin with.

No, no, no, They've already been under scrutiny for squeezing supplier margins.

And using inflation to justify price.

Hikes, and as a result, Woolworths has fallen thirty two spots from second on the Brand Trust rankings to thirty fourth according to Roy Morgan.

While Coals has fallen two hundred and twenty one places from the fifth most trusted brand to becoming the two hundred and twenty sixth most trusted brand.

And a she this wasn't just one or two products that the AH Triple S alleges that misled on.

Nope, the A Triple C alleges Woolwards engaged in this behavior across two hundred and sixty six products.

And Coals did this across two hundred and forty five products as well.

So does even if the legal case goes in favor of coals and woolies, the damage to their reputation has already been done.

For our second story, the Reserve Bank of Australia has sat for the sixth time this year and paused the cash rate for the sixth time at four point three five percent.

Bucking the trend of the other central banks. Tell me more jazz.

Okay, so we know the Reserve Bank of Australia. It's the central bank of our nation.

Their goal is to basically ensure that there is economic prosperity for people of Australia.

As well as stability of our currency, stability of employment and jazz.

The Reserve Bank became the bestie of nearly every Australian over the past decade when it dropped the cash rate to just zero point one percent.

But the NHG after the pandemic, it started raising the cash rate barely rapidly to raining inflation. They increased it from point one percent to four point three five percent in just over eighteen months.

If but now jazz. The RBA has met for the sixth time this year and for the sixth time it's paused the cash rate at four point three five percent.

And actually that's despite the fact that other central banks like the US Federal Reserve have already started to drop their cash rate the good years.

It was the first time this year that the Reserve Bank hasn't actually considered raising the rates.

So surely there's only down from here.

Especially given we've diverged from many other central banks around the world. So what's the key learning here?

The rate cut trend is sweeping across economies, but not all a jumping on the bandwagonz.

Interestingly, the RBA has become one of the few central banks to not make moves yet.

Yeah. I mean, if we look back in June this year, we saw the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada cut their cash rate for the first time since twenty twenty two.

In August, the Bank of England announced its first cash rate cut since March twenty twenty.

Early this month, we saw the Central Bank of New Zealand cut their.

Rates, but the big move was when the US Federal Reserve cut their rates zero point five percent.

So other central banks are dropping rates to restimulate their economy.

But the RBA is staying cautious so that we don't compromise on sustainable growth, and.

It looks like the RBA and maybe the Bank of Japan they just stay away from the rate cut party for now.

Sounds like it. For our third and final story, Intel has received a five billion US dollar investment offer from an alternative asset manager, just after a potential takeover offer from Arrival.

Looks like Intel's finally becoming popular in NHGD, but not for the chips. So what is going on here?

Well, Intel is one of the world's largest com few to chip makers, with a market cap of ninety three billion US dollars.

And while that sounds big, at its peak in two thousand, Intel was valued at a opping five hundred billion US dollars for the dot com bubble burst.

And before its competitors like TSMC and Nvidia entered the.

Chat And actually since then, despite Intel's best efforts to recreate those glory days, it's lagged behind its competitors.

But now ja Intel's having its moment as it's just received an investment offer of five billion US dollars from asset management company Apollo Global Management.

And this news sent Intel share price up more than four percent.

But that's not the only offer Intel's got on the table.

Oh no. A rival chip maker called Qualcom has reportedly approached Intel for a potential takeover as well, which, if it.

Was to go through, it would be the biggest tech merger of all time.

It's pretty weird to hear a company as large as Intel was and kind of still is on the acquiree side of the deal. But sometimes roles do flip.

So what's the key learning here?

In business? Just like in nature, the predator can also become the prey.

You see, ja. Intel was quite the heavy hitter back in the day.

We're talking one hundred and eight acquisitions over its lifetime, with an average acquisition value of over one and a half billion US dollars.

But the market for traditional PC chips, which was Intel's jam, has been declining.

When the AI boom here, Intel hadn't developed advanced enough AI chips to compete with the likes of Nvidia.

Yeah. So, while Intel was at one point the largest chip maker in the world, today it's about half the size of its potential acquirer, Qualcom.

And it's gone from being a global tech behemoth to an attractive acquisition target. Guess you could call it the circle of life or the circle of tech companies Floxam. With the RBA pausing the cash rate at four point three five percent, again, there's a little bit of hope that the future might be cash rate cart We have it all covered in the Flux app. Why the cash rates being paused, what's holding the RBA back, and what

Thanks for listening and we'll see you on Friday.