ASX to leap as Dow Jones breaks past 30,000
Good morning.
Here’s Yahoo Finance’s Wednesday morning wrap:
ASX: The Australian stock market is set to be off to a strong start, with all three major US bourses set to close up more than 1.3 per cent.
Wall Street: Dow Jones has tipped past 30,000 points! It’s never done that before. Meanwhile, Nasdaq is up 1.36 per cent and the S&P 500 is up 1.65 per cent at the time of writing.
Let me tell you a bit more about that. Outgoing US President Donald Trump made a brief appearance and bragged about the Dow Jones breaking past this milestone... and then disappeared as quick as he came without taking any questions. It comes just a day after Trump announced he would allow for the transition to take place for President-elect Joe Biden and his administration.
Washington Post’s economics correspondent Heather Long sheds some perspective on the Dow Jones new record high.
This is 2020 in a nutshell:
-Dow hits 30,000 for first time ever (+62% since March 23)
-Meanwhile, thousands wait in line for free food in Houston. Food banks across the US warn of growing need. Over 20 million are on unemployment aid
(photo by @MeridithKohut ) pic.twitter.com/DmA4L9kjpl— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) November 24, 2020
Welfare groups will push for a permanent extension of JobSeeker to a parliamentary committee hearing today. The base rate of JobSeeker is about $40 a day, with the Coronavirus Supplement scheduled to continue only until the end of March. Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers says the rate should be permanently lifted. More here.
In fact, the Reserve Bank’s deputy governor has issued a warning that sounds like it’s on this very issue. There are a few lessons from the global financial crisis that we should learn from, he says, but one that he’d forgotten about until recently. “There was one lesson from the [global financial] crisis I didn't talk about two years ago that is relevant to today,” said RBA deputy governor Guy Debelle. Here’s what that lesson is.
Are you in rental debt? Advocate group Better Renting wants you to be better supported by the government to ensure you don’t become homeless once eviction moratoriums lift. Governments should step in, buy the debts and tear them up, the group believes.
Some good news about H&M. It’s been ranked highest in a study of how top retailers impact wages and working conditions for garment workers. But other brands like Just Jeans, Portmans, Peter Alexander, Mosaic Brands, Noni B, Rivers and Katies have room for improvement. Here’s more about the report from charity group Oxfam.
Have a great day.
–with AAP
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