Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators:

Australian Dollar: $0.7046 USD (up $0.0036)

Iron Ore Jul Spot Price (SGX): $126.25 USD (down $3.00 USD)

Oil Price (WTI): $116.91 USD (up $1.08 USD)

Gold Price: $1,857.08 USD (up $23.03 USD)

Copper Price (CME): $4.1015 (down $0.0600 USD)

Bit-coin: $20,697.78 (down 5% in the last 24 hours)

Dow Jones: 29,927.07 (down 741.46 points on yesterday's close)

All changes compared to 7am yesterday.

Ukraine President meets with EU leaders in Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia's invasion amounts to aggression against all Europe, and the more weapons Ukraine receives from the West, the faster it will be able to liberate its occupied land.

Zelenskyy told a news conference he had discussed the possibility of further sanctions against Russia, as well as post-war reconstruction during talks with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania in Kyiv.

Ukraine was grateful for arms deliveries to help it against Russia's February 24 invasion and expected to receive heavy weaponry, including modern rocket artillery and missile defence systems, he said. 

"Every day of delay or postponed decisions is an opportunity for the Russian military to kill Ukrainians or destroy our cities," he said.

"There is a direct correlation: The more powerful weapons we receive, the faster we can liberate our people, our land.

"Russian aggression against Ukraine is aggression against all of Europe, against all united Europe, against every one of us, against our values," Mr Zelenskyy said.

After speaking with Mr Zelenskyy, the EU leaders signalled that Ukraine should be granted European Union candidate status, a symbolic gesture that would draw Kyiv closer to the economic bloc.

"Ukraine belongs to the European family," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

Burke's IR agenda: Fix bargaining

The Australian - Page 1 & 5 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Ewin Hannan - PortMac.News Summary

Employment and Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke says legislating to include 10 days of paid family and domestic violence in the national employment standards will be his first priority when parliament resumes in July.

He adds that overhauling the enterprise bargaining system is the key to addressing Australia's "Wages crisis", and he will consider every proposal that emerges from the government's jobs summit with employers and unions in September.

Burke is open to using a single bill to pursue his workplace reforms, which also including criminalising wage theft and equal pay for labour hire workers.

Pay growth tipped to exceed 4%

The Australian Financial Review - Page 9 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by David Marin-Guzman - PortMac.News Summary

Morgan Stanley and Citigroup now expect overall wages growth of 3.7% in 2022, following the Fair Work Commission's decision to increase the minimum wage by 5.2%.

Morgan Stanley has also forecast wages growth of 4% in 2023 as enterprise agreements are renegotiated in the wake of the FWC ruling. Alison Pennington from the Centre for Future Work notes that the average wage increases in approved enterprise agreements in 2021 was just 2.6%.

Morgan Stanley has also upgraded its forecast for the inflation rate.

Red-hot jobs market to push RBA harder on rates

The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 8 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Michael Roddan, Cecile Lefort, David Marin-Guzman - PortMac.News Summary

The latest labour force data has heightened expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia will continue to aggressively tighten monetary policy.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the economy added about 60,000 jobs in May, well above market expectations of 25,000.

The official unemployment rate was steady at 3.9%, and the underemployment rate was down 0.4 percentage points to 5.7%.

There is now widespread consensus among economists that the RBA will increase the cash rate by 50 basis points in July, and some economists anticipate that this will be followed by 50 basis point rises in both August and September.

RBA should go hard & fast on hikes, but won't

The Australian - Page 28 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Robert Gottliebsen - PortMac.News Summary

The US and Australia are both dealing with the crisis of inflation, but their central banks are likely to adopt different approaches to dealing with it.

The US Federal Reserve has shown it is prepared to 'Go hard and fast' by its recent decision to lift rates by 0.75%, along with foreshadowing that a similar rise is likely in the near future.

It hopes its tactics can hopefully avoid a recession, or, if one does occur, that it will be short-lived.

However, the Reserve Bank's likely strategy of smaller rate rises is more likely to cause a recession, with it being more long-lasting and more severe.

Albanese to attend NATO summit, invited to visit Ukraine

The Sydney Morning Herald - Page Online : 17 June 2022 - Original article by David Crowe - PortMac.News Summary

Ukrainian officials have confirmed that President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to visit Kyiv.

Albanese will be in Europe at the end of June to attend a NATO summit as part of Asian support for the defence alliance at a time when it is dealing with the invasion of Ukraine and the 'No limits' partnership between China and Russia.

However, no decision has been made as to whether Albanese will visit Kyiv as part of his visit to Europe.

Marles to visit India to bolster defence ties

The Australian Financial Review - Page 12 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Michael Smith - PortMac.News Summary

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says he plans to visit India on his way to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda in the week beginning 20th June.

Marles says it is important that Australia and India strengthen their defence ties, which already involve the two countries taking part in joint military exercises, including a maritime surveillance initiative.

Commenting on his recent meeting with Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenge, Marles said that it was more "Interactive" and went for longer than he had expected.

Chinese debt a security risk for Pacific nations: Wong

The Australian Financial Review - Page 11 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Andrew Tillett - PortMac.News Summary

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has held talks with New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta in Wellington, while en route to the Solomon Islands.

Wong will meet with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on Friday, and Honaria's recent bilateral security deal with China is certain to be discussed.

Following her talks with Mahuta, Wong reaffirmed Australia's opposition to the practice of developing nations being 'Saddled' with unsustainable loans by countries like China, saying it represents a security risk.

Australian Medical Association calls for overhaul of national cabinet secrecy rules

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Paul Karp - PortMac.News Summary

National cabinet will meet for the first time since Anthony Albanese became Prime Minister on 17 June.

Albanese was critical of its secrecy prior to Labor's election, while he also said that local government should be added to it.

Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid says Australians have a right to know what is being discussed by national cabinet, and that he disagreed with the practice of the previous Coalition government of exempting national cabinet documents from freedom of information laws.

Cost of Australia's aged care system could double

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Christopher Knaus - PortMac.News Summary

Australia's aged care system costs taxpayers $27 billion a year, or roughly 1.2% of GDP.

However, a report by the University of Technology Sydney's Ageing Research Collaborative claims its cost could rise to 2.1% of GDP within 40 years.

The report notes that additional government funding will be needed, but that more money is not the only solution to addressing the system's problems. Work needs to be done on increasing the independence of older people in order to reduce demand, while government subsidies for aged care need to be used more effectively.

NSW treasurer to deliver budget that 'Pushes boundaries'

The Australian Financial Review - Page 2 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Samantha Hutchinson - PortMac.News Summary

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean will deliver his first budget on 21 June, with Kean saying that now is "Not the time for austerity".

He says the NSW government is a reforming one, and one that will continue to push the boundaries in a range of areas that have previously been ignored by governments on both sides of politics.

He claims that the government is effectively rebuilding the state.

NSW's net debt is tipped to reach $110 billion by 2024-25, but Keen says the government is adopting a position to keep spending in order to grow the economy.

NSW given emergency powers to direct coal companies to provide fuel

The Sydney Morning Herald - Page Online : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Alexandra Smith - PortMac.News Summary

The governor of NSW has granted Energy Minister Matt Kean emergency powers that give him the authority to force coal and logistics companies to provide fuel to electricity generators.

The granting of the powers comes a day after Kean urged NSW residents to minimise their use of power between the peak times of 5.30pm and 8.30pm to reduce the likelihood of blackouts.

Meanwhile documents obtained by NSW Labor have revealed that the state government had at one stage considered a deal to keep Origin Energy's coal-fired Eraring power station operating for two or three more years.

The deal would have cost the government $239 million.

Fed goes with jumbo rise to cool economy

The Australian Financial Review - Page 13 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Matthew Cranston - PortMac.News Summary

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell says it is likely to lift interest rates by 0.50 of a percentage point or 0.75 of a percentage point at its July meeting, with his comments coming after it lifted US interest rates by 0.75 of a percentage point at its June meeting.

The June increase was the highest in 28 years, while Powell says the Federal Reserve is hoping its interest rate strategy will cool the US economy, with inflation at its highest for four decades. However, he rejected suggestions that it was trying to induce a recession.

Banks downgraded as house prices fall

The Australian Financial Review - Page 17 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by James Eyers, Ayesha de Kretser - PortMac.News Summary

Factors such as the prospect of falling house prices and the looming expiry of fixed-rate home loan deals weighed on the share prices of Australia's major banks on Thursday.

Data from the Commonwealth Bank shows that some $53bn worth of fixed-rate loans are due to expire in the second half of 2023, while $48bn worth of such loans at Westpac will expire over the same period.

Nearly 40% of all mortgage loans across Australia currently have fixed interest rates, and RateCity warns that borrowers face a sharp rise in monthly repayments when the low-rate deals expire.

Energy markets tipped to return to normal

The Guardian Australia - Page Online : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Peter Hannam, Benita Kolovos - PortMac.News Summary

Former Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott has backed the Australian Energy Market Operator's unprecedented decision to temporarily suspend wholesale electricity trading.

Schott believes that the suspension will remain in place for no more than a week, given that coal-fired generation units in several states are coming back online and the cold weather on the east coast is easing.

The AEMO has advised that its forecast for reserve supply conditions had improved across all national energy market regions; however, the AEMO cautions that it is too soon to determine when the market will resume normal operations.

Co-ops 'Bounce back after Covid-19'

The Australian - Page 28 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Stephen Lunn - PortMac.News Summary

A new report shows that Australia's co-operative and mutual enterprise sector has rebounded strongly in the wake of challenging conditions in 2019-20.

The latest National Mutual Economy Report shows that the combined revenue of the nation's 100 biggest CMEs rose by 10% to $34.4bn in 2020-21.

The sector had been hard hit by natural disasters and the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the previous financial year.

The report is published by the Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals.

BHP abandons sale of Mt Arthur coal mine

The Australian - Page 17 & 20 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Nick Evans - PortMac.News Summary

BHP has shelved plans to sell the Mt Arthur thermal coal mine in New South Wales after the trade sale process did not attract a "Viable" offer for the asset.

The estimated $1bn cost of rehabilitating the site when the mine closes is believed to have been a major deterrent for potential buyers.

Mt Arthur had been slated to close in 2045, but BHP has advised that this will be brought forward to 2030. BHP says that keeping Mt Arthur open for another eight years will provide certainty for the mine's 2,000 workers and the Hunter Valley community.

The problems with China's plan for iron ore price control

The Australian Financial Review - Page Online : 17 June 2022 - Original article by James Thomson - PortMac.News Summary

A report in the 'Financial Times' indicates that China's planning ministry and the China Iron & Steel Association are looking at setting up a group that would centralise the purchase of iron ore, apparently with the goal of reducing iron ore price volatility.

However, before Australian iron ore miners Fortescue Metals Group, BHP and Rio Tinto get too concerned about what appears to be attempts by China to control the way that iron ore it is priced.

It is worth remembering that suggestions that China would form a buying group have been around for some years.

There are also doubts that China could put such a group together, while it is suggested China itself is one of the reasons why the price of iron ore is so volatile.

Sydney house price falls to nudge 20% by 2023 says ANZ

The Australian Financial Review - Page 32 : 17 June 2022 - Original article by Nick Lenaghan - PortMac.News Summary

ANZ Bank economists have become more bearish about the outlook for Sydney's residential property market in response to the latest rise in the cash rate.

ANZ had recently forecast that house prices in Sydney would fall by 7% in 2022 and 8% in 2023.

The bank now expects dwelling prices to fall by nearly 10% in 2022, followed by a 10% decline in 2023.

Likewise, house prices in Melbourne are now forecast to decline by 7% in 2022 and 8% in 2023.

ANZ expects house prices to fall by 5% nationally in 2022 and by 10% in the following year.

ASX Strong jobs numbers stifle recovery

The Australian Financial Review - Page 28 : 16 June 2022 - Original article by Alex Gluyas - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian sharemarket posted a small loss on 15 June, with the S&P/ASX 200 easing 0.1% to close at 6,591.1 points.

The market had rallied early in the trading session after the US Federal Reserve increased official interest rates by a 28-year high of 75 basis points.

However, stronger-than-expected Australian labour force data for May weighed on investor sentiment, amid fears that the strong jobs growth will prompt the Reserve Bank to raise the cash rate more quickly.