ASX rallies and the most expensive city for education revealed
ASX: Australian shares rallied to close just shy of a fresh nine-month high yesterday amid indications of a slowdown in inflation, bolstering investor hopes that a peak in interest rates is nearing.
Wall Street: US stock indexes fell after industry bellwethers 3M, Johnson & Johnson and GE beat expectations for profit but warned of a challenging year ahead.
The fourth-quarter earnings season is keenly watched as companies are expected to feel the full effect of the Federal Reserve's rate-hike campaign.
Economy slows: A slight pullback in labour costs and other business expenses suggests inflation is starting to stabilise according to NAB’s December business survey.
Despite slowing cost growth, price pressures are still robust and likely to feed into another strong inflation print today.
Expensive education: Melbourne, Australia's most liveable city, is now also the most expensive for public school education.
As more families tighten their belts due to inflation, the cost of education is soaring, with some parents set to spend upwards of $100,000 just to send their child to school in the Victorian capital.
Flood victims targeted: Flood victims in Western Australia's Kimberley region are being targeted by scammers.
The scam uses an image of a Serbian politician and contains a link to a phoney Facebook page promising victims $20,000 but it actually intends to steal personal information.
Pokies losses: Gamblers are losing almost $1 million every hour on NSW pokies, new data has revealed. Data released to Wesley Mission showed daily losses increased to $23.7 million in the September quarter, up 11 per cent on previous figures.
Wesley Mission CEO and gambling reform advocate Rev Stu Cameron said the losses were obscene and cemented the need for real and urgent reforms.
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