Yahoo Finance ASX down, RBA to hike and 5 other things to start your day
ASX: The local share market is expected to fall this morning after a negative session on US markets overnight.
RBA day: The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to inflict more pain on mortgage holders with another interest rate rise today, but a pause has not been ruled out.
The RBA has been lifting interest rates since May to tackle rising inflation - if another 0.25 per cent rise is passed down today it would take the cash rate to 3.1 per cent.
Energy prices: Calls are growing for federal and state governments to cap surging electricity and gas prices to protect Aussies from further bill shock.
Ahead of a meeting of energy ministers in Queensland today, the Clean Energy Council released a six-point plan. Rather than subsidies to power plants to help with rising fossil fuel costs, the peak body has called on governments to fast-track new solar, wind and battery projects to replace coal and gas generation.
Worried: Financial executives are apparently growing increasingly concerned about the state of the economy, but can see light at the end of the tunnel for their own businesses.
New research from Deloitte revealed a gap between how well chief financial officers thought the economy was doing versus how well their own businesses were holding up.
Rent woes: Renters would have had thousands of dollars extra to spend on the holiday season if rents had been frozen in place for the past 12 months.
The Greens have been calling for a nationwide two-year rent freeze to protect renters from surging housing costs.
Hybrid: More Aussies are choosing eco-friendly vehicles for their next ride, with sales figures revealing low-emission cars are soaring in popularity.
It's not the high-profile electric cars racking up the greatest sales though, but hybrid vehicles that combine battery and fuel technology.
Hybrid vehicles have become so popular in Australia they now make up more than one in every three cars sold by Toyota.
Vast array: One of humanity's biggest-ever scientific endeavours has begun in remote Western Australia.
After decades of planning, construction of the world's largest radio astronomy observatory, the $3 billion Square Kilometre Array, was launched yesterday.
- With AAP
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