Yahoo Finance ASX flat, home prices fall and 6 other things to start your day
Good morning!
ASX: The local share market is expected to open flat this morning after US stocks had a lazy start to the week.
Rates day: As Aussies prepare for the race that stops the nation, the Reserve Bank (RBA) is preparing for what’s widely tipped to be another interest rate hike.
This would be the seventh rate hike from the central bank in as many months, with experts predicting a 0.25 lift, taking the cash rate to 2.85 per cent.
Housing market: Property prices have continued to drop, but a new surprising capital is leading the downturn.
Brisbane saw home prices fall the most in October, beating out Sydney and Melbourne, which had kicked off the downturn.
Worker shortage: Australia will need at least 16,000 new early-childhood educators to meet increased demand after the Budget pledged billions of dollars in childcare subsidies.
And while encouraging women to return to the workforce is great, early childhood centres have already been struggling to find workers and they’re worried it’s going to get worse.
Scandal: Senior public servants who helped design and implement the disastrous Centrelink ‘robodebt’ scheme, will have to front a royal commission into its failures.
The scheme was rolled out in 2015 and recovered more than $750 million from nearly 400,000 people after falsely accusing them of owing the government money.
Single-use ban: If you have a picnic coming up, you’re going to have trouble finding plastic plates and cutlery if you’re in NSW.
As of today, all single-use plastic items are banned, including straws, plates, plastic-stemmed cotton buds, cups and anything containing microbeads.
iPhone shortage? The production of iPhones could drop by 30 per cent next month as China continues to aim for a COVID-zero approach.
The near-impossible-to-achieve policy has shut down factories and put intense pressure on supply chains around the world.
Locked out: Tried to scroll through your Instagram feed this morning and were told you were locked out? You’re not alone.
Instagram said it was working on an issue that had left a large number of users locked out of their accounts.
Some receive the message but are still able to continue scrolling, but others seem to be completely locked out.
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