Yahoo Finance ASX to fall as jobless rate set to hit lowest since 1974
ASX: The local market is expected to fall at the open after a negative session on Wall Street overnight.
This comes after the ASX gained ground for a fourth consecutive session yesterday, with the mining giants leading the way after iron ore prices rebounded due to China’s plans to reopen from its harsh COVID-19 lockdowns.
Wall Street: US stocks sank on Wednesday after a series of disappointing quarterly results from some major retailers weighed on the broader markets.
Investors also further digested remarks from Federal Reserve officials reaffirming their aim to rein in inflation.
Crypto: It's been a frosty year for crypto, which turned bitter cold during last week's stablecoin meltdown.
As Bitcoin flirts with levels not seen since late 2020, one institutional trader is making a bold call for a new "consequential bull market”.
Jobs: The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the labour force report for April today, the final major economic report before voters go to the polls on Saturday.
Economists expect the report will show the jobless rate fell to 3.9 per cent, its lowest level since 1974, and down from 4 per cent in March.
Employment is expected to have risen by 30,000 in the month.
Labor costings: Federal Labor is set to reveal how its election promises will be funded, as the campaign breaks into the final sprint.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said the promises would be partly funded by winding back $750 million in government grants Labor linked to "waste and rorts" under Scott Morrison.
Major player: Woodside shareholders will be asked at the annual general meeting to approve the company's $41 billion all-stock merger with BHP's petroleum business.
If successful, this would more than double Woodside's production, transforming it from a company mostly focused on LNG production off the coast of WA to a truly global player with assets on four continents.
Clean what?: A new poll shows four out of five Australians don't know or incorrectly define "clean hydrogen", as a report casts doubt on the official emissions-reduction estimate for a $500 million project.
The Australia Institute, found just over a fifth (22 per cent) of Australians knew the government-backed definition of "clean hydrogen".
Denied: Viagogo will have to pay a $7 million penalty for misleading consumers when it resold concert and sports tickets five years ago, after its appeal against a prior court decision was tossed.
Rainforests: Climate change has taken a devastating toll on Australia's rainforests, killing trees at a faster rate since the 1980s, a new study confirmed.
The average death rates of tropical trees in Australia doubled in the past 35 years, as global warming increased the drying power of the atmosphere.
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