Yahoo Finance ASX to start flat as ScoMo faces pressure to increase JobSeeker
Good morning.
Here’s Yahoo Finance’s Wednesday morning wrap:
ASX: The Australian share market is set to open flat after Wall Street overnight appeared for another strong day in the green – until investor hopes for further stimulus evaporated.
Wall Street: The three major US bourses actually touched fresh record highs before turning negative after US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked an attempt by Democratic lawmakers to increase stimulus payments from US $600 to $2,000 for most Americans. Yahoo Finance US reporter Emily McCormick has live updates on Wall Street here.
Thinking of buying property next year? House prices are expected to rise – but there are some suburbs in particular that offer a very good deal for home buyers – and they’re not in areas you’d expect. Here’s where they are, according to sales data crunched by Hotspotting.com.au.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Morrison Government is facing renewed calls for a permanent increase to JobSeeker’s base rate, which comes to about $40 a day. On 1 January, the Coronavirus Supplement – currently $250 – will drop again by $100 to $150. But this is not enough to live on, many groups believe. More here.
$50 million. The Federal Government is spending just shy of this amount to assist disadvantaged young people in getting a job. The funds will double the number of headspace sites to 50. More here.
Amazon buys a city, blockchain kills fake news, the price of silver skyrockets. Thought 2020 was a wild year? Saxo Bank has released its annual ‘10 Outrageous Predictions’ report for 2021 – and some of them are pretty interesting. Our contributing editor Samantha Menzies summarised them for you here.
ICYMI: What’s up with Brexit? If you’ve been totally out of the loop about Brexit’s divorce from the European Union, and the trillion-dollar deal that the two parties at long last agreed on, I wrote an explainer about it yesterday. You can read it here.
What’s Trump up to? US President-Elect Joe Biden is still dealing with an incumbent leader that isn’t cooperating with a smooth transition of power, and it puts America’s security at risk, he believes. Here’s what Biden said.
“Right now we just aren't getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It's nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.” More here.
Have a great day.
–with AAP
Want 2021 to be your best (financial) year yet? Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to the free Fully Briefed daily newsletter here.
