Aussie Dollar Pulls Back
China’s widened trade deficit and revised growth forecast, along with confirmation that Italy is in recession, have conspired to push the Aussie dollar to seven week lows overnight.
Still well above parity with the US dollar, the Aussie fell overnight to a low of 104.74 US cents in a welcome change of direction for Australian businesses. A strong Aussie dollar has the double edged effect of making imports cheaper for consumers and our exports more expensive, hurting Australian business.
At 8:45am AEDT the dollar was trading at 105.26 US cents.
Labor Battle Takes Its Poll
The latest Newspoll has shown a four point drop in Labors primary vote, from 35% pre-leadership face-off to 31% this week.However that’s not to say Tony Abbott's still in the the box seat as Julia Gillard is now the nation's preferred PM with 39% support over Abbott's 37% vote. A fortnight ago Abbott was ahead by 2% as preferred PM.
Wild Weather Continues
As NSW and Victoria begin the long recovery from a week of intense flooding in parts of the states it looks as though the NT and WA are in for some nasty weather too.
Darwin and surrounds have been put on cyclone watch as the Bureau of Meteorology indicated they were odds on to see a cyclone form tomorrow. Strong winds are set to buffet the area between Cape Hotham, near Darwin, and Kalumburu, northern WA, today before a chance the cyclone forms tomorrow.
Meanwhile South Western WA is battling bushfires as intense heat continues to bake the state.
Smokers Battle Tobacco Giants
Nearly two million Canadians have filed for $27 billion in compensation from three leading tobacco companies. The claimants say the companies failed to adequately warn them of the dangers of smoking.
The first class of claimants include 90,000 former smokers in Quebec who say they got sick with a range of smoking related illnesses and are seeking $105,000 each. The second suit filed by 1.8 million current smokers say they are unable to quit and deserve $10,000 each to compensate for (and possibly fund) their habit.
In Canada’s biggest ever civilian lawsuit, Imperial Tobacco Canada, LTI-Macdonald and Rothmans Benson & Hedges are to defend the allegations.
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