1. Federal government welfare bill halved
The Coronavirus has a surprise gift, with the Finance Minister tipping that our welfare bill will be significantly reduced. Finance Minister Simon Birmingham told The Australian that the nation’s $32 billion COVID-19 welfare bill will be more than halved over the next four years, as the number of JobSeeker recipient returned to pre-pandemic levels, thanks to a big jobs rebound. But he has warned that the Government won’t jeopardise the economic recovery with a rush to re-open international borders amid global outbreaks and uncertainty about the speed of the vaccine rollout and its effectiveness.
2. ASIC alleges Westpac complicit in insider trading
After announcing a 256% rebound in profits earlier this week, Westpac is again in trouble with the regulator. Last year Westpac had to pay a $1.3 billion fine from AUSTRAC for not monitoring money laundering properly. And now ASIC alleges the bank was complicit with insider trading and unconscionable conduct involving two big clients — Australian Super and IFM — when the two groups bought a controlling interest in electricity supplier Ausgrid. This could get ugly and costly for the bank.
3. Why has the sell off of tech stocks on Wall Street been reversed?
Yesterday tech stocks like Apple, Tesla and so on were sold off heavily after US Treasury boss, Janet Yellen, said interest rates might have to rise. Clearly, someone gave the US Treasury Secretary a stern talking to as she quickly went public saying she was misinterpreted and rates didn’t have to rise any time soon. That’s Presidential butt-kicking in action.
4. French wine aged in space expected to fetch $1.3 million
A bottle of the French wine Petrus 2000 that spent 14 months on the International Space Station is expected to sell for around US$1 million ($1.29 million). 12 bottles were sent into space in November 2019 as part of a research project into the effects of zero gravity on wine.
5. Dow and S&P 500 up as Nasdaq falls again
The Dow Jones rose by 97.31 points or 0.29% to 34,230.34 on Wednesday, a new record-high close for the index. The S&P 500 was up 2.93 points or 0.07% to 4,167.59, while the Nasdaq fell for the fourth day in a row, dropping 51.08 points or 0.37% to 13,582.42.