1h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 1:43amMarket snapshotASX 200: -1% to 8,712 points (live values below)
Australian dollar: +0.3% to 65.6 US centsNikkei 225: +0.4% to 51,282 pointsWall Street: Dow Jones (+0.8%), S&P 500 (+0.2%), Nasdaq (-0.2%)Europe: FTSE (+0.1%), DAX (+1.2%), Stoxx 600 (+0.7%)Spot gold: -0.3% to $US4,188/ounce
Brent crude: -0.4% to $US62.46/barrelIron ore: -0.2% to $US103.55/tonne
Bitcoin: +0.5% to $US102,418
ASX 200: -1% to 8,712 points (live values below)Prices current around 12:40pm AEDT
Live updates on the major ASX indices:
1m agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 2:48am
It’s important to have right people skilled for right jobs: Employment Minister
The job figures, which Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth called “historically low”, have prompted a question: how does a high level of employment across Australia play into many highly skilled workforce shortages?
“This
historically low unemployment rate means that there are more Australians in jobs,” the minister told the press gallery in Canberra.
“One of the challenges always remains is – how do we make sure that we have the right people skilled for the right jobs.
“That’s critical how we skill up our workforce to get more jobs.
“So not only is it about creating jobs … but it’s preparing Australians for those jobs.”
18m agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 2:31am
Most young Australians struggle with financial security, new Monash research says
Financial insecurity is affecting most young Australians, according to new research from Monash University.
The 2025 Australian Youth Barometer report, which surveyed 527 people and interviewed 30 aged 18 to 24, found that 85 per cent experienced financial insecurity in the past year, with one in four reporting it often.
The top issues on young people’s wishlists for urgent government action are affordable housing, youth employment, and climate change, the research says.
Lucas Walsh, the lead author of the study, said policy- and decision-makers needed to address the challenges facing young people with tailored solutions.
“With young people now making up a historically large share of voters around the country, governments around Australia cannot afford to ignore their pressing concerns,” Professor Walsh said.
“In a cost-of-living crisis, short-term policy debt reductions are welcome, such as lowering student debts like HELP and VET student loans.
“But rising costs of living mean that young people need additional support now, combined with major tax reform to ensure that they have affordable places to live in the future.”
36m agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 2:13am
‘Still some concerns’ about jobs market, despite decline in unemployment
Indeed economist Callam Pickering has a better view of the jobs market than most, with access to data from one of the major employment websites to inform his views.
He says the October ABS data is unambiguously strong, with employment and hours worked both up, and unemployment and underemployment both down.
Many years ago, Pickering used to work as an economist at the RBA, and has no doubt how this data will be received at the central bank.
“Stronger than expected jobs data will offer vindication for the Reserve Bank and guarantees that the next few meetings are unlikely to lead to any change in the cash rate.”
But Pickering adds that there are “still some concerns” around the outlook for the jobs market over the next couple of years.
“Australian employment growth has been sluggish this year. Even after adding another 42,000 people in October, employment has increased by just 160,000 people over the first ten months of the year. That compares to a gain of 325,000 people over the same period last year.”
“The main reason for this slowdown has been reduced hiring in healthcare & social assistance — the industry that drove so much of Australia’s post-pandemic job boom. Thus far the private sector, which has been heavily impacted by a challenging economic environment, hasn’t been able to fill the gap created by reduced hiring elsewhere.”
“Forward-looking measures of labour demand, such as ANZ-Indeed Job Advertisements, remain positive but continue to ease. Job creation continues to be strong enough to keep the unemployment rate relatively low, but each month the number of jobs advertised continues to decline.”
How this all plays out will be a key determinant of whether we see any more rate cuts in 2026 or not.
50m agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 1:59amLiberals formally agree to dump net zero by 2050
The Liberal shadow ministry has agreed to dump net zero by 2050 from the party’s platform.
The group agreed to scrap net zero from the Climate Change Act, and repeal Labor’s 2030 emissions reduction target.
One source said there was agreement on wording that the party would not set long term emissions reduction targets, but that net zero would be a “welcome” outcome.
My colleague Clare Armstrong is reporting from Canberra.
58m agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 1:51am
Today’s job figures paint more positive picture: KPMG
KPMG senior economist Terry Rawnsley has said today’s ABS Labour Force data paints a more positive picture than last month.
“Today’s figures show that the labour market is proving resilient. Despite some challenging economic headwinds, both employment and hours worked have increased significantly,” he said.
“KPMG expects the labour market to remain resilient, maintaining a relatively balanced position through the end of the year and continuing to operate around full employment for the foreseeable future.
“The data continues to provide hope that as public sector employment growth eases, the private sector is beginning to employ more workers.”
However, Mr Rawnsley said the job data was unlikely to change the RBA’s interest rate outlook.
“Unemployment rate reinforces the view that there are still short-term inflationary pressures in the economy.
“The figures aren’t good news for mortgage holders.
“Today’s tightening of the labour market, combined with the recent jump in core inflation, will continue to encourage the Reserve Bank to keep interest rates steady.”
1h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 1:40amHeadline jobs figures positive but still concerns: Indeed economist
Callam Pickering, economist at global jobs site Indeed, says most major metrics of the jobs market improved in October, which will be enough to keep the RBA on the sidelines for a couple of months yet.
“Labour market conditions have clearly eased this year,” Mr Pickering wrote in a note.
“The headline figures in October were all very positive. Employment up strongly, the unemployment and underemployment rates down, hours worked up.”
Despite the bounce back from September’s 4.5% unemployment rate, Mr Pickering says there are still some concerns, as employment growth has been sluggish this year.
“Even after adding another 42,000 people in October, employment has increased by just 160,000 people over the first 10 months of the year.
“That compares to a gain of 325,000 people over the same period last year.
“The main reason for this slowdown has been reduced hiring in healthcare & social assistance — the industry that drove so much of Australia’s post-pandemic job boom.
“Thus far, the private sector, which has been heavily impacted by a challenging economic environment, hasn’t been able to fill the gap created by reduced hiring elsewhere.”
Mr Pickering notes that forward-looking metrics, like job advertisements, remain positive but have eased back.
He says the data will “offer vindication” for the Reserve Bank and guarantees the cash rate will remain on hold for the next few meetings.
“The RBA’s primary focus at the moment is on inflation and they won’t lower rates further until they are convinced that the current outbreak is under control.
“The labour market would have to deteriorate considerably for the RBA to overlook relatively high inflation.”
The central bank’s monetary policy board next meets in early December, and then again in February.
1h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 1:29amUS House votes to reopen federal government
The US House of Representatives has voted to reopen the federal government after the longest shutdown in history.
Stay tuned as we’re gathering more details for you.
1h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 1:27am
DroneShield investor upset by director sell-off
How can DroneSheild directors just sell off and make a profit leaving the rest of us 30% down with no warning.
– Matt Merrington
Hi Matt, FYI, we’ve put in a call and email to DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik, who was one of the directors selling shares over the past week — in his case around 14.8 million shares for $49.5 million, to ask about the sell-down.
We’d also be keen to speak to any DroneShield investors to get your views about the director share sell-down.
Anyone happy to chat on the phone or via email can drop me a line at janda.michael@abc.net.au.
1h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 1:07am
Unemployment has trended higher over the past three years
While all the media coverage tends to focus on the seasonally adjusted jobs number, most economists tend to prefer looking at the trend, which smooths out monthly noise.
That number, seen in red below, shows the jobless rate continuing to gradually step higher from a multi-decade low of 3.5% in 2022.
At 4.4%, it’s almost a full percentage point from that low, but still well below the 5-6% that was typical in the decade or so between the global financial crisis and COVID.
The ABS head of labour statistics, Sean Crick, pointed out that, “The October unemployment rate is in line with June, July, and August 2025.”
This fits with what the RBA has been saying, which is that loosening in the labour market has been very gradual.
However, the trend unemployment rate of 4.4% remains slightly above the unemployment peak of 4.3% that the central bank forecast in its recent Statement on Monetary Policy, which I covered in the analysis below.
1h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 12:51am
Good economic news bad for markets
Why hve favourable unemployment figures caused a significant drop in the sharemarket?
– Troy
Good question Troy.
Quite simply, the strong job creation (42,200) and fall back in seasonally adjusted unemployment (to 4.3%) fits the RBA’s narrative that the labour market is easing only slowly.
If the economy keeps tracking the RBA’s forecasts, it looks unlikely it will cut interest rates again.
No more rate cuts is bad for share valuations (because they are measured against lower risk bond/deposit alternatives), and also bad for consumer-focused stocks.
When you think about it cynically, for consumer-facing businesses, it’s better to have millions of customers with more money in their pockets due to rate cuts than it costs them if tens of thousands of extra people are out of work.
Also, those businesses are employers, and lower unemployment typically makes it harder to find workers and keep wages lower.
In short, it all makes perfect sense from a hard-nosed financial point of view.
No wonder the ASX 200 is now down 1% since the jobs numbers came out.
1h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 12:51amASX extends falls as jobs figures dampen rate cut prospects
Switching over from the Aussie dollar to the ASX and the chart is looking very similar, just in the opposite direction.
As you can see, the ASX 200 took a further leg down at 11:30am AEDT when the jobs data was released, showing an improvement, and coming in slightly better than expected.
ASX 200 (LSEG Refinitiv)
A pretty strong reaction, with the benchmark index now down 1%, as the chances of a further interest rate cut from the RBA are pared back on the data.
According to market pricing on LSEG, the chance of no change to the cash rate at the RBA’s December meeting is sitting at 84%.
2h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 12:46amEmployment increase driven by full-time jobs
The number of employed people increased by 42,200 in October, and the number of unemployed fell by 17,000, according to the latest labour force survey from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The increase in employment was driven by full-time jobs, which rose by more than 55,000, while part-time employment decreased by about 13,000.
The participation rate remained steady at 67% in October, the employment-to-population ratio remained at 64%.
Read more from Gareth Hutchens, who will be updating this story:
2h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 12:38amAussie dollar rallies as unemployment rate improves
The Australian dollar has jumped up from 65.3 US cents to just shy of 65.6 US cents on that labour force data.
AUDUSD (LSEG Refinitiv)
The improvement in the unemployment rate, as well as employment increasing by 42,200 in October, is clearly seen as adding to the case for the RBA to keep the cash rate on hold.
2h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 12:31amBreaking: Unemployment rate edges lower to 4.3%
The unemployment rate has edged lower to 4.3% in October, down from 4.5% in September, according to the ABS.
More to come.
2h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 12:18am
Market snapshotASX 200: -0.2% to 8,784 points (live values below)
Australian dollar: -0.1% to 65.35 US centsNikkei 225: -0.1% to 51,012 pointsWall Street: Dow Jones (+0.8%), S&P 500 (+0.2%), Nasdaq (-0.2%)Europe: FTSE (+0.1%), DAX (+1.2%), Stoxx 600 (+0.7%)Spot gold: -0.3% to $US4,187/ounce
Oil (Brent crude): flat at $US62.71/barrelIron ore: -0.1% to $US103.65/tonne
Bitcoin: -0.1% to $US101,779
Prices current around 11:15am AEDT
Live updates on the major ASX indices:
2h agoThu 13 Nov 2025 at 12:12amTrading in Interprac owner Sequoia Financial paused
Trading in Sequoia Financial shares has been paused, pending a further announcement from the company, an ASX statement says.
Sequoia is the group behind the Interprac financial planning business.
Interprac has been sued by ASIC over alleged oversight and compliance failures related to the Shield and First Guardian schemes.
We’ll bring you across the announcement from Sequoia as it lands, and you can keep across the story from Nassim Khadem:
2h agoWed 12 Nov 2025 at 11:59pmDroneshield shares plummet as directors sell off shares
Shares in DroneShield have tumbled more than 27% in early trade.
The defence tech stock has been a recent market darling, up more than 200% since January.
Several change in director’s interest notices were lodged with the ASX after the close yesterday.
Chief executive Oleg Vornik cashed out more than $49 million in shares, independent non-executive director Jethro Marks sold off around $4.9 million worth of shares and Peter James, the chair, offloaded north of $12 million.
3h agoWed 12 Nov 2025 at 11:17pmASX edges lower as oil price slump weighs on energy stocks
The Australian share market is down 0.2% in early trade, as energy stocks fall heavily after a slump in oil prices on global markets overnight.
Brent crude ended down 3.8% to $US62.68 a barrel, which has sent Australian energy producers lower in early trade, with a 2.2% drop for Woodside and 1.5% fall for Santos typical of the moves.
ANZ Bank also weighed on the market by going ex-dividend today, it’s shares are down 2.7% as investors who buy in no longer have entitlement to its latest payout.
Overall, the ASX 200 is down 0.2% to 8,787 points, with gains for the big miners offsetting a lot of the falls in other areas.
The number of gains (94) and losses (96) among the top 200 firms is roughly evenly split.
3h agoWed 12 Nov 2025 at 11:12pm
🎥 Concerns about major banks oil and gas funding
Concerns have been raised about the major banks’ continued funding of oil and gas financing deals.
Market Forces has raised particular concerns about ANZ and Westpac, claiming greenwashing as the banks have continued funding of fossil fuel expanders.
Market Forces chief executive Will van de Pol says the emissions of 23 companies should be ineligible for further financing under the banks’ own climate plans.
He joined Kirsten Aiken on The Business.
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