Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators:

Australian Dollar: $0.6960 USD (down $0.0028 USD)

Iron Ore Sep Spot Price (SGX): $110.30 USD (down $1.05 USD)

Oil Price (WTI): $90.54 USD (up $0.14 USD)

Gold Price: $1,794.61 USD (up $5.13 USD)

Copper Price (CME): $3.5880 (up $0.0015 USD)

Bit-coin: $23,180.31 (down 2.97% in the last 24 hours)

Dow Jones: 32,774.41 at 5.13pm NY time (down 58.13 points on yesterday's close)

All changes compared to 7am yesterday.

Zelenskyy says ‘We will return’ to Crimea after blasts rock Russian base

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared Tuesday that the war with Moscow “began with Crimea and must end with Crimea,” after explosions rocked a Russian air base on the peninsula, killing one and injuring others.

“Today, there is a lot of attention on the topic of Crimea. And rightly so. Because Crimea is Ukrainian, and we will never give it up,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram video.

“This Russian war against Ukraine and against all of free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea — with its liberation. Today it is impossible to say when this will happen. But we are constantly adding the necessary components to the formula of liberation of Crimea … I know that we will return to the Ukrainian Crimea.”

Ban Russian visitors, Zelensky urges West:

President Zelensky has called on Western countries to ban all Russian visitors - and the Kremlin has responded with scorn.

Russians should "Live in their own world until they change their philosophy", Mr Zelensky told The Washington Post.

Such a ban, he argued, would be more effective than the current sanctions, which bar Russian airlines and officials linked to the Kremlin.

Russians can still get EU and US visas.

On Tuesday, Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas tweeted: "Stop issuing tourist visas to Russians. Visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right."

U.S. giving Ukraine $89M in new humanitarian demining assistance:

The U.S. Government has announced US$89 million in assistance to embattled Ukraine in order to help the nation clear its territories of mines and other explosives planted by Russian invaders.

“On August 9 the Department announced its intention to provide $89 million of FY 2022 funding to help the Government of Ukraine address the urgent humanitarian challenges posed by explosive remnants of war created by Russia’s brutal war of aggression,” the statement reads.

Follow the Australian way : Taiwan

The Australian - Page 1 & 2 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Will Glasgow - PortMac.News Summary

Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu has praised Australia, the US and Japan for condemning China's military aggression against the island nation.

However, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has accused Australia of violating the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and interfering in China's internal affairs.

Wang has warned that Australia's stance on Taiwan is creating further obstacles to improving the strained relations with China. Meanwhile, China has signalled that its military drills near Taiwan will continue indefinitely.

Australian unemployment increases to 8.5% in July as workforce swells to 14.7 million

Market Research Update - Page Online : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Roy Morgan - PortMac.News Summary

The latest Roy Morgan employment series data shows that 1.25 million Australians (8.5% of the workforce) were unemployed in July, up 121,000 (0.7%) from June.

The number of Australians looking for full-time work was up 85,000 to 494,000 in July, and the number of people looking for part-time work was up 36,000 to 752,000.

Some 1.27 million Australians (8.6% of the workforce) were under-employed - working part-time but looking for more work - up 44,000 from June.

In total, 2.52 million Australians (17.1% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed in July, up 165,000 on June.

Meanwhile, employment increased by 74,000 to 13,440,000 in July, driven by an increase in full-time employment (up 8,000 to 8,884,000); part-time employment rose by 66,000 to 4,556,000. R

oy Morgan's unemployment figure of 8.5% for July is more than double the ABS estimate for June of 3.5%.

Port Macquarie Feral deer plague spreading across northern NSW

Deer have become a seemingly incongruous regular sighting in suburban communities around NSW, particularly in Port Macquarie.

Locals have even reported seeing the animals walking in streets in the CBD during the night, while further north in Coffs Harbour there have been reports of deer on the busy Pacific Highway.

There are growing concerns about the increased spread of feral deer across northern and central New South Wales, particularly in suburban areas.

Invasive Species Council's conservation director James Trezise said the feral deer herd have expanded across the state over the past 10 years.

Cost-of-living crisis leaves Australians spending more than they were last year

News.com.au - Page Online : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Ellen Ransley - PortMac.News Summary

Household spending in June was up more than 10 per cent compared with the same time last year, as Australia struggles through skyrocketing cost of living.

The latest monthly spending figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that household spending increased 10.2% through the year, with a 15.9% increase on services and a 5.0% increase on goods.

Both discretionary and non-discretionary spending increased, not surprising given the rate of inflation is 6.1%.

Discretionary spending rose by 10.8%, driven by spending on recreation and cultural activities, while non-discretionary spending on essentials rose 9.8% due to the rising cost of transport.

The most significant area of spending was on transport, up 22.7%, driven by higher petrol prices due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and the demand for air travel.

RBA deliberately setting up for a recession: ACTU

The Australian Financial Review - Page 4 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Michael Read, David Marin-Guzman - PortMac.News Summary

The ACTU has released a policy paper which argues that full and secure employment should be the top macroeconomic priority for the Jobs and Skills Summit.

The report was written by Jim Stanford from the Centre for Future Work; he argues that the Reserve Bank's "Whatever it takes" approach to returning inflation to its target range means it is willing to cause a recession and massive job losses in order to do so.

The ACTU wants the summit to consider a fairer and more comprehensive inflation-reducing policy, and greater regulation of labour markets to ensure that real wages growth is in line with productivity.

Dutton declines summit invitation

The Australian - Page 4 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Rosie Lewis - PortMac.News Summary

The federal government will invite around 100 people to its upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit, including politicians and representatives of employers' groups, unions and community organisations.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has formally invited Opposition leader Peter Dutton to attend the summit, stating that it is a "Genuine invitation made in good faith".

However, Dutton has described the jobs summit as a "Talkfest" that unions will use to demand more from the government; he add that they will succeed because unions "Own" the current government.

One Nation, unions hit labour hire

The Australian Financial Review - Page 1 & 4 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Phillip Coorey - PortMac.News Summary

One Nation's industrial relations spokesman Malcolm Roberts intends to introduce a private members' bill in the Senate which will aim to ensure that casual labour hire workers receive the same pay as full-time workers.

The move means that the federal government's own 'same job, same pay' policy for labour hire workers is likely to pass the Senate when a bill is eventually put before the upper house.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has urged the government to follow the example of South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas in ceasing to accept donations from the CFMEU.

Wharfies threaten to pursue inflation-linked pay deals

The Australian - Page 4 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Ewin Hannan - PortMac.News Summary

Tug boat operator Svitzer Australia has defended its push to terminate an enterprise agreement, stating that it merely wants to remove or change legacy conditions that put it at a disadvantage.

Svitzer argues that it is losing market share to a new entrant whose employees are covered by the modern award.

The Maritime Union of Australia's national secretary Paddy Crumlin says the dispute with Svitzer was not initially about wages.

However, he says unions may seek a inflation-linked pay rise for Svitzer workers, given that inflation has risen sharply since negotiations began two years ago.

Shell forced to postpone Prelude refit

The Australian Financial Review - Page 5 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by David Marin-Guzman- PortMac.News Summary

The Fair Work Commission has rejected Shell's application to suspend industrial action that has halted production at its Prelude floating LNG facility off the coast of Western Australia.

Shell contended that it will have to put upcoming maintenance work at Prelude on hold if the work bans and stoppages continue.

However, the FWC's deputy president Melanie Binet said the workers would have no bargaining leverage until at least 2023 once the two-month maintenance program began.

Shell says it will have to put the maintenance program on hold until mid-2023, adding that it would have created up to 650 jobs for local workers.

Business collapses spike but local recession still unlikely, say economists

The New Daily - Page Online : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Matthew Elmas - PortMac.News Summary

Data from CreditorWatch shows that the number of Australian companies appointing external administrators rose by 46% year-on-year in July.

There has also been a 50% increase in companies going into administration since April.

Economist Saul Eslake says the Australian economy is nearing a "Turning point", although he believes that the chance of a recession is around one in four.

Sean Langcake of BIS Oxford Economics says Australia's low unemployment rate means a recession is unlikely.

Worst of Covid over, experts say

The Australian - Page 5 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Natasha Robinson - PortMac.News Summary

Infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon believes that Australia's winter COVID-19 wave has peaked.

Infectious diseases modeller Romain Ragonnet says barring the emergence of major new variants, future waves are likely to be smaller and less severe, and COVID-19 will eventually become a seasonal event like influenza.

Just 26,746 new COVID-19 cases were reported nationwide on Tuesday, compared with 35,659 a week earlier. NSW reported 10,043 new cases and 25 deaths, while there were 6,380 new infections and 44 deaths in Victoria.

Meal delivery services now used by over 7 million Australians

Market Research Update - Page Online : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Roy Morgan - PortMac.News Summary

New research from Roy Morgan shows that over 7 million Australians aged 14+ (33.4%) now use a meal delivery service in an average three months, up from 3.6 million (16.9%) in early 2020.

Uber Eats is again the clear market leader used by 3.5 million Australians, up from 2.3 million in early 2020.

The use of meal delivery services grew rapidly over the last two years of extended lockdowns around much of the country - and especially in the two largest States of New South Wales and Victoria.

A look at the different generations shows that Millennials (born 1976-1990) and now aged from 31-46 years old, are the most likely to use a meal delivery service.

Now 45.8% of Millennials use a meal delivery service in an average three months, more than doubling their usage since early 2020 (+24% points).

Just behind is Generation Z (born 1991-2008), with 43% (up 17% points from early 2020) now using meal delivery services in an average three months.

Some 29.6% of people in Generation X now use meal delivery services, more than doubling from 14.4% in early 2020.

The use of meal delivery services drops off sharply in the older generations aged over 60.

Under one-in-six Baby Boomers (15.9%, up 8.5% points from early 2020) and only 12.3% (up 7.4% points) of Pre-Boomers used one of the services.

Sports would be nuts to risk walking away: Foxtel CEO

The Australian Financial Review - Page 13 & 19 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Max Mason, Mark Di Stefano - PortMac.News Summary

News Corporation has posted revenue of $US10.4bn for 2021-22, an increase of 11%, while EBITDA rose 31% to $US1.67bn.

The Dow Jones financial news division's EBITDA was up 30% at $US433m, while the real estate services division's EBITA rose 12% to $US574m.

News Corp Australia contributed $US109m to the media giant's growth in profitability, while Foxtel's total subscriber base rose to 4.5 million.

Foxtel will seek to renew its AFL broadcasting rights deal, and CEO Patrick Delany says factors such as its audience reach and capacity to pay means that sporting bodies should not risk shifting their broadcasting rights to another company.

Streaming puts Foxtel on a roll

The Australian Financial Review - Page 40 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Tony Boyd - PortMac.News Summary

Foxtel has been transformed under CEO Patrick Delany over the last four years. He notes that it was very much an "Old school pay TV company" in 2018, with falling revenue and subscribers, a fixed cost base and massive capital expenditure.

Its traditional pay-TV business is still losing subscribers, but streaming video now accounts for 61% of its paid subscriber base.

Kayo in particular has performed well, but retaining the sporting rights that have been the key to its success will be a challenge for Delany.

Meanwhile, it is uncertain as to whether Foxtel's turnaround will allow its long-mooted IPO to proceed later this year.

REA chief eyes opportunity in home price falls

The Australian Financial Review - Page 19 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Max Mason, Mark Di Stefano - PortMac.News Summary

REA Group has posted a 2021-22 net profit of $408m, which is 28% than previously. Revenue was up 26% at $1.1bn and EBITDA rose 20% to $674m.

CEO Owen Wilson says property listings remain strong at REA, despite four rises in official interest rates since May. He contends that tightening of monetary policy was necessary as the house price growth of recent years was unsustainable.

He adds that the downturn in the housing market is benefitting REA, as real estate agents who were previously able to sell properties without the need for advertising are now returning to its realestate.com.au platform.

One in five mortgagors will struggle to pay 3% rate rise

The Australian Financial Review - Page 29 & 30 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Nila Sweeney - PortMac.News Summary

Comparison site Finder estimates that the average mortgage interest rate would rise to 5.85% if the cash rate reaches 2.5%.

Finder's Richard Whitten says recent home buyers in particular will struggle to make mortgage repayments if the cash rate continues to rise.

A survey by Finder has found that one in five people with a mortgage would find it hard to make repayments if their interest rate increased by 3%, while many would consider selling their home.

SQM Research MD Louise Christopher cautions that selling in a downturn would be an added challenge for distressed home owners.

ASX Green energy helps exchange to two-month high

The Australian Financial Review - Page 26 : 10 August 2022 - Original article by Tom Richardson - PortMac.News Summary

The Australian sharemarket closed slightly higher on 9 August, with the S&P/ASX 200 adding 0.1% to close at 7,029.9 points.

Lithium stocks were bolstered by the passage of climate legislation in the US Senate, with Lake Resources rising 15.3% to $1.24 and Liontown Resources up 5.3% at $1.69.

However, Mesoblast was down 7% at $0.865 and National Australia Bank shed 2.9% to end the session at $29.81.