FPG Overnight Headlines 17/10/2022 

Overnight headlines 

This week, as the national statistics office releases its monthly jobs figures, the status of the Australian labour market will be under the spotlight. 

The unemployment rate increased slightly to 3.5% in August as more people began looking for jobs after many withdrew from the labour force due to winter ailments. 

President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis James Bullard defended policymakers’ practise of “front-loading” increases and claimed that despite the central bank’s aggressive interest-rate hikes to date, the financial markets have barely noticed them.  

When questioned about the most recent data, which showed that inflation remained persistent in September, Bullard responded, “The front-loading strategy is the right one,” at a gathering on Saturday that was held in conjunction with this week’s annual meetings of the World Bank and Global Financial Institutions. He expressed his gratitude that the 75 basis-point rate increases by the Fed had not resulted in any serious market turbulence. 

Bullard noted that there has been little financial strain during this process. 

Market movements 

• AUD unchanged at US62.01 

• Bitcoin is up 0.1% to US$19,148 

• Dow -1.3% S&P 500 -2.4% Nasdaq fell 3.1% 

• Gold fell 1.3% to $1644.47 USD per ounce 

• Brent oil fell by 3.1% to $91.63 per barrel 

• At $US96.15 per tonne, iron ore is up 2.1% 

Today’s agenda 

Consumer Price Index – EU Harmonized CPI