Shares of the embattled casino operator Star Entertainment have crashed to a new record low on doubts about whether it has enough cash to survive, while the ASX 200 dropped for the first time in five days and Australian consumers spent a record $37 billion in November, thanks to the Black Friday sales.
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00:00Well, the biggest loser on the markets today was a casino, which is kind of an odd thing
00:06to say.
00:08Shares of Star Entertainment plunged 33% today to a new record low of just 13 cents.
00:13Now, the latest for this scandal plagued company is that it's running out of cash.
00:18In fact, it's only got $79 million left after burning through 100 million in just three
00:24months.
00:25And that was after it was bailed out last month with an emergency loan.
00:30At this rate, the star has only got enough to last a few weeks or months at best.
00:34So there's a real risk it could go into administration unless a miracle happens.
00:40But with its casino license suspended and the fact it's set aside $150 million for potential
00:45fines to do with money laundering offenses, things are not looking rosy.
00:51Meanwhile, everyone else did a lot better today, even Levisa, whose shares dropped ten
00:56and a half percent.
00:57And today's best performer was Arcadium Lithium after U.S. regulators approved the company's
01:03takeover by Rio Tinto in a deal worth $10.7 billion.
01:08But overall, the share market fell slightly by a quarter of one percent.
01:12Overseas, it was a mixed bag with Wall Street up, but Japan's Nikkei suffering a big fall,
01:18while gold and iron ore prices rose slightly and oil slipped.
01:23And the weak Aussie dollar has dipped below 62 U.S. cents, which is around a two year
01:28low.
01:30And finally, a record $36.9 billion was spent at the shops in November thanks to the Black
01:36Friday sales.
01:37Total sales were up 0.8 percent over the previous month, mainly due to our growing population.
01:44But when you look at how much was spent per person, it's clear many of us are feeling
01:48poorer and cutting back.
01:50So that's why the odds of interest rates coming down next month are still around 75 percent,
01:54according to the markets, which is quite high.