1. Watch the key data this week
This week’s key economic data is bound to influence not only what the stock market does but how high interest rates go both here and in the US.

We get our latest unemployment data on Thursday. On the same day, we’ll see how high US inflation has gone. If the local jobless rate falls, it could mean more interest rate rises for us. And if inflation keeps getting bigger in the US, it will also push interest rates even higher and pull the stock market down again, after a good 3% rise last week.

2. Covid variant on the rise
Employers are expecting a bad month for absences from the workplace with the new Covid variants BA.4 and BA.5 on the rise. The AFR says absences are already 50% higher than the average and the two sectors feeling the loss of workers the most are retail and aged care. This news is bad for small businesses that have recently lost the $750 pandemic payments for workers forced to isolate.

3. CBA says their customers are OK
Despite all this worrying news about inflation, interest rates, falling stock markets and more Covid concerns, big business bosses say the economy is strong. A survey that included the likes of Harvey Norman’s Gerry Harvey, the CBA’s Matt Comyn and others found that the economy remains strong. Matt Comyn says the three rapid rate rises haven’t caused significant problems for the nation's biggest bank’s customers. He says many CBA customers had a ‘natural buffer’ with $260 billion in aggregate savings nationally, and three-quarters of borrowers were approximately two years ahead on their repayments, on average.

4. Nick Kyrgios bows out in Wimbledon final
The at-times controversial and headline-grabbing Nick Kyrgios, unfortunately, could not cap off an incredible grand slam tournament at Wimbledon with a finals victory, falling short to World No. 3 Novak Djokovic in a four-set match. Kyrgios took out the first set 6-4, but the grand slam veteran Djokovic kept his cool and brought it home, winning the next three sets straight, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

“Hats off to him,” Kyrgios said. “That was a hell of a match. I thought I served well. I put myself in a position to win, but I just wasn’t able to play those clutch points well at all today.”

5. ASX to crawl higher
ASX futures were up 20 points or 0.3% to 6597, with the AUD +0.3% to 68.61 US cents.

On Wall St: Dow -0.2% S&P 500 -0.1% Nasdaq +0.1%.

In Europe: Stoxx 50 +0.5% FTSE +0.1% CAC +0.4% DAX +1.3%.

Brent crude +2.3% to $US107.02 a barrel. Iron ore -0.7% to $US114.05 a tonne.

10-year yield: US 3.08% Australia 3.47%.