1. Jobless figures and the number of workers being stood down due to Victoria lockdowns is predicted to be at least 250,000 with offices, retail shops and building and construction all being impacted.

2. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has approved $1500 pandemic disaster payments that will be given to Victorians who run out of sick leave and need to stay home for two weeks due to COVID-19.

3. Australia's gold exports have been predicted to hit $40 billion if gold keeps rallying. 

4. Microsoft has shown interest and is in discussions about purchasing popular social media app, TikTok in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, from Chinese company ByteDance. President Trump threatened to ban the app, but is open to negotiations of Microsoft purchasing the app if they consider "reimbursing" the United States. Trump says the app will be banned in the US if Microsoft do not purchase TikTok by September 15.

5. The ASX is set to open higher after a strong tech rally on Wall Street yesterday. The Dow rose 0.89% to 26,664.40, the S&P 500 jumped 0.72% to 3,294.61 and the Nasdaq soared 1.47% to 10,902.80.