1. Single-use plastic bags banned in NSW this week
Following similar moves in other states, lightweight plastic bags will be banned in NSW from Wednesday. The ruling will outlaw bags less than 35 microns in thickness at any part, including biodegradable, compostable, and bioplastic bags.

The ban will not apply to bin liners, dog-poo bags, and thin bags for fresh produce and deli items in supermarkets. Bags used for medical items will also be exempt. (The Guardian)

2. Big show and tell week for our economy with latest economic growth numbers out on Wednesday.
These are March quarter figures that had Covid and flood dramas, which were not good for the economy. On Wednesday we get our National Accounts, which is like an economic scorecard and economists are forecasting a 0.6% rise in growth for the quarter or 2.9% for the year, which is down on the December number of 4.2%. Economists will be keen to see the wages story in the data, as this will have implications for inflation concerns and then how high interest rates climb.

3. Billionaire green activist Mike Cannon-Brookes looks like he’s going to stop energy company AGL demerging into clean AGL and dirty, coal AGL
Cannon-Brookes, the founder of tech company Atlassian bought 11.28% of AGL shares to stop the board from splitting the company into a renewables-oriented retailer, AGL Australia, and a coal business called Accel Energy. Cannon-Brookes wants to keep the company as one and progressively close down the coal business to replace it with clean power-creating alternatives. The company needs 75% approval to break up the company and it looks unlikely with only a few weeks till voting starts.

4. Cryptocurrency that lost almost 100% in value releases 2^nd generation project
Terra (LUNA), the cryptocurrency that was in the top 10 by market cap at the start of this month before effectively going to zero, has released a new coin to the market that will also be issued to holders of the original token before it plummeted. However, it may take a long time (if ever) for confidence to restore in Terra’s new coin LUNA (the original being rebranded to Terra Classic (LUNC)), so holders may never make back the majority of their losses.

5. US received some positive news on inflation and stocks surged, so the local share market is poised to spike higher today.
Since early January US and our stocks have been sliding but Wall Street has been far more negative due to higher inflation and the expectation of many more interest rate rises. Then along came lower inflation reading for April and stock buyers came out of their bunkers with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Index up 3.33%, which is huge for one day’s trade. Our market is tipped to kick-off 1.2% higher today.