ASX to lift as AusPost announces historic recruitment drive

Is this the job for you? Image: Getty

Good morning.

Here’s Yahoo Finance’s Thursday morning wrap.

ASX: The ASX will open higher on Thursday after Wall Street was left largely unfazed by a chaotic presidential debate on Wednesday. The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index finished 2.29 per cent lower on Wednesday, down 136.2 points to 5,815.9 points.

Wall Street: Wall Street finished higher on Wednesday US time after both US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said they were hopeful for a breakthrough in stimulus conversations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 329.04 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 27,781.7 on Wednesday, the S&P 500 gained 27.53 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 3,363 and the Nasdaq Composite added 82.26 points, or 0.74 per cent, to 11,167.51.

$1.5 billion plan: Prime Minister Scott Morrison will today announce a plan to spend $1.5 billion on the Australian manufacturing sector, with recycling, defence and space, food and beverage, clean energy, resource technology and medical products among the manufacturing sectors to get a boost.

Credit crisis: Lending rules have been relaxed in a bid to stimulate spending, but finance expert Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon is worried this is a policy change that will “bring families to their knees”.

New $100 bill: Australians will soon have a new banknote, with a fresh $100 banknote design set to enter circulation within weeks. This is when you can expect it.

Shell jobs: Oil company Shell will cut up to 9,000 jobs around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the cuts to be finalised by the end of 2022.

"We have to be a simpler, more streamlined, more competitive organisation that is more nimble and able to respond to customers,” Ben van Beurden, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, said.

"To be more nimble, we have to remove a certain amount of organisational complexity."

Budget deficit: The 2020 Budget is just days away, and will feature a huge deficit of around $200 billion, made even more stunning by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s 2019 promise that the budget would return to surplus.

ABC votes: The ABC has voted against a pay rise freeze the Government has been pushing. Staff voted against deferring a 2 per cent pay increase for all employees, after mass job cuts.

But Communications Minister Paul Fletcher criticised the national broadcaster for the move, claiming foregoing the increase would have “been a fine gesture of solidarity”.

Australia Post: Looking for work? Australia Post will hire 4,000 people across the country to help meet the Christmas delivery rush.

This will include 2,900 Christmas casuals and another 300 fixed-term full- and part-time workers. The postal service is also hiring 900 people across its Post Office and business network.

“This is a record-breaking recruitment drive for what we expect to be a Christmas unlike any we’ve had before in Australia Post’s history,” executive general manager people and culture Sue Davies said.

“In a year that has been incredibly challenging and impacted people in many ways, we are delighted to be inviting people to join us this Christmas as we deliver across the country.”

Here are the jobs on offer.

Property: The Australian property market has slid for the last four months, but not as much as may have been predicted. Here’s why Michael Yardney believes property pessimists are changing their tune.

Reserve Bank: The Reserve Bank of Australia has failed to meet one of its policy targets, writes Stephen Koukoulas. Here’s what it should do instead.

With AAP.

Make your money work with Yahoo Finance’s daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, economy, property and work news.

Follow Yahoo Finance Australia on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.