1. Victoria and South Australia prepare to exit lockdown
SA Premier Steven Marshall confirmed yesterday that the state was on track to exit lockdown at 11:59 tonight with some restrictions remaining in place. Victoria is also on track to exit lockdown tonight as planned after all 11 new cases reported yesterday were in isolation while infectious.
2. Treasurer says it's too early to tell whether Australia will avoid a technical recession
In an interview with The Australian, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that while negative growth during the September quarter wouldn't be surprising, it was "too early to tell" if the December quarter will also be negative. "We have seen the economy rebound strongly from prior lockdowns and have good reason to expect it will do so again. But Covid has taught us we never know what’s around the corner," Frydenberg said.
3. Ariarne Titmus could go for gold again
Following her gold medal win in the 400m freestyle final yesterday, Ariarne Titmus will compete in the 200m semi-finals today alongside Madi Wilson. The two Australian swimmers posted the fourth and third fastest times in the heats respectively, behind the USA's Katie Ledecky and Canada's Penny Oleksiak.
4. Boat blocks start of men's triathlon
Almost half of the 56 competitors in yesterday's men's triathlon at the Tokyo Olympics were unable to enter the water when the starting buzzer went off because a media boat remained directly in front of them. The first ever false start for an Olympic triathlon event was called before the race successfully restarted about ten minutes later.
5. Wall Street begins the week with new record highs
The S&P 500 rose by 10.51 points or 0.24% on Monday to 4,422.30, a new record-high close for the index. There were also new record for the Dow Jones, which moved up 82.76 points or 0.24% to 35,144.31, as well as the Nasdaq, which rose by 3.72 points or 0.03% to 14,840.71.