Jarden Brief: Bitcoin passes US$20,000 milestone
16 Dec, 2020 08:37 PM
6 minutes to read
Bitcoin has risen 25 per cent in the last month. Photo / 123RF
NZ Herald
New Zealand
The SPX NZ50 was up 0.5 per cent on the day. Smaller stocks outperformed marginally as the NZX Small Cap index rose 0.7 per cent.
Financials and Technology were the best sectors on the day, up 2.3 and 1.7 per cent respectively. Industrials and Energy were the worst performing sectors on the day, down 0.5 and less than 0.3 per cent respectively.
Communications company, Spark, and retirement village operator, Summerset, were the joint top performers on the day, each up 3.0 per cent. Generator retailer, Trustpower, was the worst performer on the day, falling 3.1 per cent. Payments solutions company, Pushpay Holdings, was the next worst performer, falling 2.7 per cent.
A fourth McDonald s has been given the green light to be built in Australia s fattest town. Councillors voted on Tuesday night in support of the development in the country music capital of Tamworth, in northeast New South Wales. The fast food restaurant will be constructed on the corner of Peel and Marius streets in North Tamworth, next to an aged care facility, and includes a McCafe, play area and waiting bays. The site is a walking distance of 2.5km from McDonald s in the regional city centre, 3km from McDonald s Tamworth West and 5.9km from McDonald s Tamworth South. It has an estimated construction cost of $3.34 million and is expected to open late next year.
Australia s iron ore exports to China are still at risk with Beijing possibly devising a way of slapping nasty tariffs on this vital commodity used to make steel.
Australia s biggest trading partner has imposed punitive 212 per cent tariffs on wine and 80 per cent import taxes on barley, and even blacklisted coal this week.
But China hasn t targeted iron ore after buying $70billion of this commodity during the last financial year, making it by far Australia s biggest export among the $150billion worth of goods and services sold to the Communist power.
Government tax revenue is healthy with the iron ore price this month climbing above $US150 ($A200) a metric tonne for the first time in seven years.
Christmas retailers seeing fewer customers but they are spending more
WedWednesday 16
updated
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Online shopping habits taken up during lockdown have remained.
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In the lead up to what s looking to be a COVID-free Christmas, Tasmanians are spending big.
Retailers are reporting Christmas shopping numbers on par or down on last year, but those buying in-store and online are spending more.
Key points:
COVID-19 has made it a tough year for Tasmanian retailers with a lack of tourists leading to a slump in sales
Retailers are reporting good turnout and turnover on par with last year s Christmas season
A similar proportion of arts, recreational service employers in this situation too
Skills shortages are now evident despite double-digit job losses since March
Employers forced to shut down at the start of the coronavirus pandemic now say they are struggling to find staff despite a sharp jobs plunge.
One in three food and accommodation businesses in early December were having trouble finding suitable employees, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed.
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The arts and recreation sector too had a challenge recruiting the right people with 30 per cent of them in this situation even though live theatre productions were banned.