Economic and market news
New unemployment data show that the rate edged back up to 3.7 per cent in October (this was a return to the rates seen in July and August). The 0.2 percentage points increase (seasonally adjusted), was said to have been a result of 55,000 more people employed coupled with 28,000 more unemployed people.
The average increase in jobs over the last two months has been is slightly lower than the average growth of 35,000 people a month seen since October 2022. However, the employment-to-population ratio increased by 0.1 percentage points to 64.5 per cent, and the participation rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 67.0 per cent.
Other new data on the labour market show that wages growth accelerated in the September quarter to a 14 year high. It was said that this uptick in the quarter to 1.3 per cent (4 per cent annually) was due to aged-care employees and low-paid workers receiving large one-off pay rises. Economists were reported to be downplaying the significance of the wage growth figure, saying this likely represents a high-point as the economy softens in the face of the full impact of the rapid interest rate rises.
In overseas news, inflation in the United States eased further in October and was said to be showing ‘tell tale signs’ that monetary policy tightening is making progress. Annual inflation was 3.2 per cent in October, down from the 3.7 per cent in September and August. More tellingly, prices in the month of October were flat, for the first time since July 2022.
In a similar vein, annual UK inflation fell to 4.6 per cent in October from 6.7 per cent in September. Monthly inflation in October was just 0.1 per cent, down from 0.5 per cent the month before.
Australian indices
ASX 200: Was up by 1.02 per cent this week, to close at 7078.2 points on Tuesday.
All Ordinaries: Also rose, 1.14 per cent, over the week, closing at 7289.3 points on Tuesday.
Government Bonds
Government Bond Yields (Source: Bloomberg)
|
NAME |
COUPON |
PRICE |
YIELD |
1 DAY |
1 MONTH |
1 YEAR |
|
GTAUD2Y:GOV Australia Bond 2 Year Yield |
0.25
|
92.60 |
4.15% |
-3 |
-12 |
+105 |
|
GTAUD5Y:GOV Australia Bond 5 Year Yield |
2.75 |
93.76 |
4.14% |
-4 |
-22 |
+79 |
|
GTAUD10Y:GOV Australia Bond 10 Year Yield |
3.00 |
88.42 |
4.44% |
-6 |
-30 |
+86 |
|
GTAUD15Y:GOV Australia Bond 15 Year Yield |
3.25 |
84.52 |
4.65% |
-7 |
-37 |
+69 |
Reserve Bank of Australia (Source:RBA)
|
RBA CASH RATE TARGET (RBATCTR:IND) CURRENT (per cent) |
MOST RECENT DECISION (percentage points) |
MOST RECENT CHANGE (percentage points) |
1 YEAR PRIOR (per cent) |
|
4.35 |
+0.25 (7 November 2023) |
+0.25 (7 November 2023) |
2.85 |
Currencies (source:RBA)
As at the close on 21 November, the AUD/USD had risen 3.22 per cent over the week to 0.6577. The AUD/RMB also rose, up 0.95 per cent in the period, closing at 4.6916 on Tuesday.
Venture Capital
Stoic Venture Capital’s investment partner Uniseed made an exciting announcement this week. Five years ago Stoic and Uniseed started a partnership journey to help fund the commercialisation of life science and deeptech university start-ups. The announcement that Monash University and a consortium of NSW universities (consisting of the University of Newcastle, University of Technology Sydney, Western Sydney University and Macquarie University) will join the five current members (the universities of Queensland, NSW, Melbourne and Sydney, and the CSIRO), means the group will cover institutions that are producing over 50 per cent of Australia's total R&D annually. It is expected that Uniseed will now examine about 750 research commercialisation opportunities each year, up from 500 at the moment.
Lenexa Medical
Stoic investee Lenexa Medical announced that Valley View Residence will be the first aged care provider in Western Australia to use its pressure injury prevention technology.
Morse Micro
This week, the Australian Financial Review carried a feature on Stoic investee Morse Micro. It discussed the progress the company has made in the last two years in preparing itself to scale up production of its energy-efficient, long-range Wi-Fi HaLow semi conductor chips. It also explained how investors in deep tech start-ups like Morse Micro understand it may take more patience in these sectors, compared to software-based startups, but that there is the chance of a ‘bigger payday from commercialising scientific breakthroughs’.
Property
New data show that auction clearance rates fell this week. The second-busiest weekend of the year saw more than 3,000 homes go to auction. However, the national clearance rate fell to 68 per cent, down from 69 per cent the previous week. This was off the back of relative weakness in both Sydney and Melbourne.
