1. A good day at the markets

The local stock market is in for another great day following a strong lead from Wall Street  Our stock market is expected to open up 92 points or 1.3% and we can thank economic data pointing to a possible significant fall in US inflation. The reading for that comes out next week but this week the Americans get their latest jobs report and they’re hoping it’s not a good one for employment. That would mean the economy is slowing, which should help bring down inflation and interest rates but push stock prices up.

2. Interest rate rise tomorrow

On interest rates and the Reserve Bank will decide on our next rise tomorrow on Cup Day but how big will it be? Until last week’s big 7.3% rise in inflation for the September quarter, nearly all economists would’ve tipped a quarter percent rise or even a pause on rises. But now Westpac’s chief economist, Bill Evans and others tip a half-a-percent rise! For those worrying about a 0.5% jump in their mortgage, the majority of economists and the futures market have 0.25% as the favorite to get the nod from the RBA. The decision comes out 30 minutes before the race that stops a nation!

3. Voters give Budget the thumbs down

According to a newspoll conducted by The Australian, nearly 50% of Australian voters think they’ll be worse off over the next 12 months following Labor’s recent Federal budget. And the number who think it will be good for the economy is at the lowest levels on record. However, the majority believed the Coalition would not have done any better.

4. Big insurers lock in payouts for Covid business interruption

Even though big insurers had allocated $1 billion for potential lawsuits and Covid related payouts,  a series of recent court cases culminating in the High Court rejected any future pandemic-related insurer appeals. This has muddied the water on the amount paid out to businesses that either closed or saw turnover affected because of the pandemic. John Berrill of Berrill & Watson said his firm knew of several clients who recently were offered settlements from insurers in an attempt to head off potentially higher claims payouts. Many claims are yet to be lodged by businesses affected.

5. Optus losing customers

Following its data breach problems, Optus has lost 10% of its mobile phone customers but this might only be early days. That’s right, the EFTM Mobile Phone Survey found that 56% of Optus customers were thinking about switching telcos because of the data breach. Right now, Telstra, along with its other related brands such as Aldi has 45% of the mobile market, while Optus, the second biggest carrier, has 24%.  TPG/Vodafone now has 15% but that could soon grow unless Optus comes up with a great offer to keep affected customers.