World News – UA – Australian Dollar Falls on RBA Indices Regarding Rate Cuts, ASX Slips on Global COVID Concerns

Australian stocks are likely to fall slightly as record number of new COVID-19 infections globally dampen investor sentiment

ASX futures fell 15 points (or 02 percent) before 9.45 a.m. AEDT Market was on a seven-day ‘win streak’ and was trading at its highest level since March, until see you yesterday

This happened as Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe gave a speech on Thursday morning entitled: Recovery from a highly uneven recession

Dr Lowe has made it clear that the RBA may cut interest rates at its next meeting in early November

« With the economy opening up, however, it is reasonable to expect further monetary easing to gain more momentum than was previously the case, » he said

He also confirmed that the central bank « does not plan to increase the cash rate for at least three years »

In economic news, the Bureau of Statistics is expected to confirm rising unemployment when its latest figures are released this morning

Economists polled by Reuters predict that the unemployment rate in September will rise to 71 percent and 35,000 jobs to lose

Unemployment fell to 68 percent in the previous month, with 111,000 new jobs added

The ABS said most of them were not in fact « employees » but « owner-managers », which led economists to speculate that he acted as code for Uber, Deliveroo and other performing economy workers

Overnight, investors took profits in equities and pushed up safe haven assets like gold, fearing that a resurgence of coronavirus infections could lead governments to shut down economies again

Whether you’re worried about the economy or the next time you get to see your family in person, you’re probably wondering when a coronavirus vaccine will be ready Here are the latest developments

« We are concerned that we are going back to a lockdown, not to reopening the economies, » said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York

France will impose a state of public health emergency from Saturday to fight its second wave

It will involve a nighttime curfew, with people in Paris and eight other cities staying indoors between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

Pressure is mounting on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose a brief ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown to contain the spread of the disease in the UK

Amid the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, the price of gold has soared (06p) to $ 1,90097 an ounce

Government bonds also benefited from growing investor cautiousness German bund yields, which move inversely to prices, hit their lowest level since May, while the US Treasury yield at 10 years fell to 07256 percent

« Crude prices are recovering as the [US] dollar slips and demand prospects are boosted by Chinese and Indian refining activities, » said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA

« Despite the general theme of risk aversion, oil prices held on to their gains after OPEC expects compliance to be 102% in September »

Wall Street sentiment was hit after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a budget stimulus deal unlikely to be done until the November 3 election

Australia just had its worst economic contraction on record, so why are we still talking about a recession and not a depression? Michael Janda explains

The larger S&P 500 fell 07 percent to 3489, while the high-tech Nasdaq lost 08 percent to 11,769

« At this point, it would be difficult to do something before the election and execute it, given our situation and the level of detail, » said Mr. Mnuchin, at a conference sponsored by the Milken Institute, an American reservoir economic think tank

For weeks, Wall Street shares had surged on optimism that the US government would provide new impetus to offset the economic damage caused by the pandemic

It seems investors did not fully consider the possibility of a deeply divided Congress failing to reach a deal before the election

« Optimism took root like a rocket last week and now it’s coming back to earth a bit, » said Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management in New York

« It’s just a matter of when the details emerge and when the stimulus kicks in »

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AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time, which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)

Reserve Bank of Australia, Philip Lowe, Central Bank