1. Trump’s Florida residence raided by FBI
In a statement released on Monday, former US President Donald Trump said the FBI had raided his resort in Florida.

“My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.”

“They even broke into my safe!” He did not indicate what they were seeking yet it is alleged that the raid is part of an investigation into whether Trump took classified documents from the White House after he was voted out of office. Such developments would severely damage hopes of re-running for the presidency in 2024.

“Monday’s raid is related to a request from the National Archives and Records Administration to the Justice Department to look into the transfer of presidential documents to Mar-a-Lago, including classified materials. The Archives in January retrieved 15 boxes of records from Mar-a-Lago. Mr Trump turned those documents over only after facing possible legal action over their removal.” (AFR)

2. RBA takes further strides in establishing national digital currency
In collaboration with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) on a year-long project, the RBA has made its intentions clear for exploring the digital future of currency in Australia. The program will ask market participants to suggest potential use cases for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Australia. The most promising options will be selected to progress to a “limited-scale CBDC pilot that will operate in a ring-fenced environment,” the RBA said on Tuesday. (AFR)

Andreas Furche, CEO of the DFCRC, encouraged market participants to think of CBDC as a piece of financial infrastructure that could help create “risk-free settlement products”.

“Ultimately, you want to trade and settle all of this not into something volatile like bitcoin but into a national currency - and CBDC could provide that functionality,” Dr Furche said.

“If you have an opportunity to settle in real time, and make an exchange transaction contingent on that settlement happening, you can build risk-free exchange protocols which could allow new marketplaces to be built by participation of people who can prove they hold a product, not people who can prove they have a pre-cleared line of credit.”

Trump has solicited for political donations from his supporters following the event.

3. CBA profits shine despite rate rises, up 11% to $9.6bn
Australia’s largest bank has reported an 11% rise in full-year profit to $9.6 billion in the face of a rising interest rate environment, with its success riding on strong home lending and a lower number of bad debts.

“CBA said over the 12 months to June it had lifted its mortgage lending by $36.4 billion or 7.4 per cent, just below the growth in the system. Analysts expect that mortgage volumes will fall this financial year as higher interest rates bite. CBA grew retail transaction accounts by 24 per cent while credit card approvals jumped by 29 per cent,” the AFR reports.

However, CBA chief executive Matt Comyn was quick to flag that times are changing in a high inflationary environment. “We expect consumer demand to moderate as cost of living pressures increase,” he said.

4. Alibaba to make Hong Kong primary listing for shares
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has announced it will make Hong Kong a “primary” listing for shares in the company by the end of 2022, affording investors in mainland China to trade the stock directly in what’s known as a stock connect program.

“We expect that the Primary Conversion will allow us to broaden our investor base and facilitate incremental liquidity, and in particular expand access to China- and other Asia-based investors,” Alibaba said in Monday’s filing.

5. ASX to slip on Wall St numbers
ASX futures were down 39 points or 0.56% to 6892 near 6.30am AEST, with the AUD -0.3% to 69.64 US cents.

On Wall St: Dow -0.2 % S&P 500 -0.4% Nasdaq -1.2%.

In Europe: Stoxx 50 -1.1% FTSE +0.1% CAC -0.5% DAX -1.1%.

10-year yield: US 2.78% Australia 3.18%.