Wednesday, 12 March - We love to boogie

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, 12 March. In your Squiz Today…

• Trump’s hint of a US recession has sent world markets into a panic

• Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested

• And King Charles has made a playlist…🕺

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said Reverend Al Sharpton at the “Celebration of Life” service for American singer Roberta Flack, who passed away at 88yo last month. You can stream the service here, which featured artists like Stevie Wonder and Lauryn Hill paying musical tribute to an all-time great. Vale…

A big stock market slide

The Squiz

It’s been a hectic couple of days for investors as the world reacts to President Donald Trump’s comments that things might get worse in the US before they get better, money-wise. That caused a sizable dip in the US stock market… The S&P Index, which tracks 500 of the biggest listed companies, dropped by 2.7% when the market opened on Monday - the biggest drop of any day this year. Then yesterday, the Aussie stock market wiped out $26 billion of its own, with companies like Xero and WiseTech copping it particularly hard.  

What did Trump say?

On Sunday, the President was asked by Fox News if the US could expect a recession this year, and he didn’t say yes - but he also didn’t say no. Quick reminder - a recession is generally defined as 2 consecutive financial quarters of a drop in Gross Domestic Product, aka the value of what a country produces. While he didn’t say the R word, Trump did say there would be a period of “transition”. When the US stock market opened the next day, it went south, fast. Elon Musk’s EV company Tesla recorded one of the biggest drops, falling 15.4% - he was cheerful about it, but things aren’t looking bright yet… US markets dropped sharply again this morning in the wake of Trump announcing steep tariffs on Canadian electricity, steel and aluminium, which are set to begin immediately. 

Why such a big reaction?

Economists reckon Trump's comments, as well as the range of tariffs he's announced, are creating uncertainty in the market - and uncertainty tends to mean investors start ditching things they think are risky. On Wall Street, there's something called the Volatility Index, which measures how unpredictable the stock market is. It’s heading sharply upwards… As far as how all this is affecting us here, economists reckon it might not be too bad for the Aussie economy at large (paywall) as long as confidence stays high  - but Aussie investors might be in for a wild ride. And just on those tariffs, news has broken this morning that Trump has rejected Australia’s bid for an exemption on our steel and aluminium exports, so expect to hear more about that today…

Wine that you won’t whine about

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Squiz the Rest

Duterte is taken into custody

The former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has been arrested for crimes against humanity after an investigation by the International Criminal Court (aka the ICC - which has the power to prosecute world leaders…). It issued the arrest warrant for Duterte over the former president’s “war on drugs” during which humanitarian groups say tens of thousands of Filipinos were executed without fair trials. The 79yo, who was president from 2016 to 2022, was taken into custody after returning from a trip to Hong Kong yesterday. His lawyers were surprised by the move, despite Duterte - who's denied claims he ordered police to kill drug offenders - saying he was ready to be arrested if the ICC issued a warrant. It did, and he's now en route to The Hague.

*If you'd like to know more about how the ICC works, this Shortcut will help you out…

Cleaning up after Alfred

It’s official - all ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred-related emergency alerts have been cancelled in Queensland, with Premier David Crisafulli saying ​​”the rainfall is easing, rivers are receding and the threat of heavy rainfall is disappearing”. To give you some idea, Crisafulli said Upper Springbrook, south-west of the Gold Coast, has recorded 1,146mm since last week, while Tallebudgera, another Gold Coast suburb, received 835mm. With the rainfall emergency over, thousands of properties are still without power. In northern NSW, farmers are keen to get back to their properties to survey the damage to crops and livestock - but some are having trouble getting through - and residents in several towns are still waiting for floodwaters to recede.

Charges laid over antisemitic attacks

Police have charged 14 people with various offences over a spate of high-profile antisemitic attacks in NSW in recent months - including an arson attack on a childcare centre and several graffiti incidents. Most of the people charged were arrested on Monday, and several have made their first court appearances. As for yesterday’s update on the caravan found in Sydney’s north-west, there’s been some fallout… To recap: the Australian Federal Police (AFP) now says it was a “fake” terrorist plot to distract from other criminal activity. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has accused Coalition leader Peter Dutton of making “reckless” comments about the plot publicly while “deliberately” avoiding police briefings - but Dutton denied that, saying he was briefed on 30 January after requesting it.

Brown becomes a Dyl-lionaire

Dylan Brown, the five-eighth for the Parramatta Eels, is off to the Newcastle Knights in what is said to be the biggest deal in rugby league history. Reports say the 24yo will be paid around $14 million over 10 years, which would beat the $12 million over 10 years that Gold Coast Titans star Tino Fa’asuamaleaui is said to have signed for in 2023 (NRL contracts aren’t public, so we don’t exactly know what these guys are on, but it’s a lot…). Brown will leave the Eels at the end of the season, but some league experts reckon the Knights have overpaid for the star. If you’re not familiar with his work, here’s a video of some of the reasons they’re forking out so much cash… 

The King’s Playlist

You never know where your next great music recommendation might come from - it could be right from the top. King Charles has offered up a new playlist of bangers to celebrate Commonwealth Day (which was Monday, if you missed it…). You can take a look at the full playlist on Apple Music, but to give you an idea… He rates our Princess of Pop Kylie Minogue highly, having included his favourite of her tracks, The Loco-Motion, describing it as “music for dancing”. Other songs that made the cut include Bob Marley’s I Shot the Sheriff, and Michael Bublé’s Haven’t Met You Yet. And now we’re off to imagine the King jamming out to Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Crazy in Love through the halls of Buckingham Palace…

Apropos of Nothing

If you’re a Disney+ subscriber, you’ll soon be able to watch some US sport alongside your movies and TV shows - the streaming service has announced that ESPN will be part of the package come March 26th in Australia and New Zealand. And no price increase - yet… 

In NSW, roadside cameras with AI are being trialled to see if they can reduce the number of koalas getting hit by cars. How it works is that ‘smart’ signs will spot the koalas wandering in a danger zone, and then flash to let drivers know they need to be on alert. Beary clever…

And a Wisconsin mum knew she’d crossed a line when her 4yo called the police and asked for her to be put in jail for eating his ice cream so he could “teach her a lesson”. After a welfare check, officers turned up with a sweetener a couple of days later: a double scoop with blue sprinkles. Lesson: don’t mess with kids’ ice cream…

Squiz the Day

9.00am (AEDT) - Sport NXT conference, Asia-Pacific’s leading sport business summit, kicks off (until 14 March) - Melbourne

9.15am (AEDT) - Motorsport: F1 fan festival ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix with Aussie hopefuls Oscar Piastri and Jack Doohan expected to greet fans mid-afternoon - Melbourne

10.00am (AEDT) - ASIC chair Joe Longo will address the AICD Australian Governance Summit - Sydney

12.00 noon (AEDT) - Simon Holmes à Court, Founder of Climate 200, will address the National Press Club on "Climate 200 - past, present and future" - Canberra, and watch on ABC24

7.00pm (AEDT) - Boxing: Aussie boxer Brock Jarvis takes on American Keith Thurman in the super-welterweight - Sydney, and watch on Kayo (pay per view)

7.30pm (AEDT) - NBL: Grand final series game 2, Melbourne United vs Illawarra Hawks - Melbourne, and watch on Kayo

NAPLAN begins for school kids in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 (until 24 March)

ABS data release - Industrial Disputes, December

Anniversary of:

• the Foundation Stone being laid in Canberra (1913)

• Moscow becoming the capital of Soviet Russia (1918)

• the wedding of Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman (1969)

• the deaths of Sun Yat-sen (1925), Anne Frank (1945), and Terry Pratchett (2015)

Thursday
G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (until 14 March) - Charlevoix, Canada