Yahoo Finance ASX to rise; 2 million Aussies drop off JobKeeper
Good morning.
Here’s Yahoo Finance’s Monday morning wrap:
ASX: The Australian share market is expected to open on a strong note as Wall Street closed up last week at record highs.
Wall Street: The Nasdaq and S&P500 both reached new record highs last week, while the Dow Jones breached the 30,000 milestone for the first time. Investors were cheered by the end-of-year shopping season despite record-high Covid-19 hospitalisations.
China-Australia trade spat continues: You’ve no doubt heard a lot about it in the last few weeks and months. Now, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham reckons the next step is taking China to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after a series of tariffs on Aussie products, including wine and barley. And 60 ships full of Australian coal have been refused permission to enter into Chinese ports. The Guardian has a neat summary here.
More than 2 million Aussies have dropped off JobKeeper. That’s a result of the Morrison Government’s tightening of the eligibility rules. This is a sign of economic recovery, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says.
“The economic recovery across the country is well underway,” he told Seven this morning. “Australia is actually gaining momentum with our economic recovery.”
Meanwhile, thousands of Victorian workers are heading back into the office after nine months. From today, workplaces are welcoming 25 per cent of its workers back on site. More here.
The RBA will make its monthly decision tomorrow, and it’s widely expected the board will leave the record-low national interest rate of 0.10 per cent alone. And on Wednesday, we’ll expect GDP figures for the third quarter to be released. More here.
If you’re a home owner, you need to read this. There’s a reason why you need to beware of fixed rates right now – and why you should only ever fix half of your home loan. Mortgage expert and Yahoo Finance contributor Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon breaks it down.
Want to turn $15 into $40,000? If you’ve been pocketing the new income tax rates (about $47 a week), making this one small weekly change could make a serious difference to your nest egg.
–with wires
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