Yahoo Finance ASX higher, Medibank hacks continue and 3 other things to start your day
ASX: The ASX finished higher on Friday, as did Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index in a choppy US trading session as gains in defensive shares overshadowed energy declines, and investors shrugged off hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials about interest rate hikes.
Budget on track: Treasurer Jim Chalmers said his Budget was calibrated not to add to inflation, despite an upward revision to government tax revenues in the following years.
Chalmers said households would be buckling under higher inflation and mortgage repayments, had the Albanese Government given handouts in the Budget to offset cost-of-living pressures.
"If we had spent all the extra revenue it would have caused more pain in the long run for Australian households and for the economy," he said.
Medibank hack: The Russian cybercriminals behind the Medibank hack have been branded "grubs" after releasing more stolen data as they continue to play games with the customers of Australia's biggest health insurer.
The ransomware group dumped a fifth tranche of customer-sensitive information on the dark web overnight after Medibank refused earlier this month to pay a $US10 million ($A15 million) ransom to get the data back.
Free rides: Sydney Commuters will enjoy free travel on trains until Friday as the state government looks to settle a dispute with the union.
Passengers will still be asked to tap on and off, but will not be charged for taking the train between 12:01am on Monday and 11.59pm on Friday.
Wage push: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will address the fifth World Congress of the International Trade Union Confederation in Melbourne today.
He is expected to issue a rallying cry to global trade unions, saying the movement must push against those who have "ingrained ideological" objections to fair pay.
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