1. Several Sydney suburbs evacuated following immense rain forecast
Residents in suburbs across Sydney were evacuated on Sunday as the region experienced over 150mm of downpour, with the Warragamba Dam overflowing. Authorities have called the conditions potentially life-threatening in some circumstances, with winds up to 90km per hour along the coast.

The weather bureau’s hazards preparation and response manager Jane Golding said a coastal trough lingering since Friday deepened while an east coast low-pressure system formed off the mid-north coast.

“That’s produced some extraordinary rainfall rates over the last 24 hours ... many locations have seen up to 200 mm and some close to 300 mm,” she said. The volume of rainfall is almost half of Sydney’s annual average.

2. Our market set for a big rise
Futures markets are predicting a big positive day for the local stock market with a 96-point gain at the start of trade. But why? It’s ironic but US economic data is now pointing to the possibility of a recession so bond market interest rates or yields are now falling, and lower interest rates are a plus for stocks. Some market experts are now tipping that the US central bank will be cutting interest rates next year because of recession concerns.

3. Will interest rates still go up tomorrow?
Could these US recession worries encourage our Reserve Bank to ease up on their interest rate rise program, with a half-a-percent rise tipped at tomorrow’s Board meeting? That’s not likely because our RBA is behind the curve in trying to bring down inflation. Although our last reading was 5.1% compared to the US rate of 8.6%, the Reserve Bank thinks our inflation rate is heading towards 7%. That’s why they need to scare us into less spending to slow down price rises. Only last week we learnt that retail sales were up a big 10.4% for the year to a record high of $34.2 billion.

4. Is the US heading for a deep recession?
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, thinks the US economy faces the worst recession in recent history! With TikTok cutting into Facebook’s and Instagram’s businesses, the plan was to hire 10,000 more IT engineers, but Zuckerberg last week announced those plans have been shelved because he expects the US to enter a serious recession. This is at odds with what the US central bank thinks. So the question is: do online businesses like Facebook and Instagram know more about consumers and the economy than economists and central banks? Time will tell.

5. 22-year-old Danish man suspect of shooting in Copenhagen
Several people have been shot dead with more injured on Sunday in a busy shopping centre in Denmark’s capital city, Copenhagen. Authorities have not ruled out an act of terrorism as they hold a 22-year-old male in custody.

“The number or condition of all the people struck by shots was not immediately available amid confusion over what had occurred at one of Scandinavia’s biggest malls,” The Guardian reports.

The capital’s main hospital, Rigshospitalet, has called in extra staff, including surgeons and nurses, a spokesman said.