1. Aussie stocks tipped to surge today
After weeks and months of stock market sell-offs driven by inflation, interest rates and recession concerns, local stocks are tipped to surge today, but why? It could be too early to crow that market negativity is over but US stock market indexes rose strongly on Friday on fewer concerns about inflation and recession and, therefore, too many damaging interest rates rises from central banks. If Wall Street’s heavy players are right, then it’s good news for interest rate worriers here as well, despite the fact that rates could easily be increased next Tuesday by another 0.5%.

Our stock market is tipped to open up 103 points today.

2. China’s economy improves in June
From its lockdown-induced slump in previous months, China’s economy found some spark this month as covid restrictions begin to ease, although according to Bloomberg, “the recovery remains muted”.

“Economic activity picked up in June after financial hub Shanghai lifted its lockdown, allowing businesses to restart and most residents to leave their homes. That can be seen in a rebound in small business confidence, which started growing again after contracting for two months.”

A survey of more than 500 smaller firms showed that “demand and production recovered strongly among manufacturing,” and export-oriented smaller firms outperformed, according to Hunter Chan and Ding Shuang, economists at Standard Chartered Plc. 

3. Interest rate rises spook property sellers
The Reserve Bank’s interest rate rises are spooking home sellers with 30% of properties listed for auction last week withdrawn. With the Reserve Bank expected to raise the cash rate by another 0.5% next week, nervous home sellers don’t want to be rejected at auction so they’ll either sell via private treaty, or put off their sale altogether. Predictions of many rate rises and home prices falling by 30% mean the RBA’s scare campaign to stop us from spending to lower inflation is starting to work. The only pay-off for us being frightened to spend means we should see fewer rate rises.

4. For sale: Suncorp Bank
Suncorp Bank is up for sale and is looking for a buyer with a likely price tag of $5 billion, but who could buy it? The AFR says Suncorp wants to concentrate on its insurance business and has talked to the likes of AMP, Macquarie Group and Bank of Queensland in the past, and there are suggestions that NAB could be an interested buyer. But the ACCC would prefer a smaller bank to buy it to improve competition in the banking space.

5. Canadian gold miner uncovers mummified 35,000-year-old woolly mammoth
In none other than the Eureka Creek of northern Canada, a young gold miner struck a foreign object with his front-end loader in the Klondike gold fields.

This foreign object turned out to be “one of the most incredible mummified ice age animals ever discovered in the world,” according to the region’s palaeontologist.

“She’s perfect and she’s beautiful,” said Grant Zazula, the paleontologist for the Canadian territory of the Yukon.

“She has a trunk. She has a tail. She has tiny little ears. She has the little prehensile end of the trunk where she could use it to grab grass.”

He described the find as the “most important discovery in palaeontology in North America”. With much of the skin and hair intact, officials said the find ranks as the most complete mummified mammal found on the continent.