It’s October and, as Spring delivers a bracing mix of weather events from rain and wind to snow and hail in some parts, we’re looking forward to the longer, warmer days ahead. October brings with it a couple of important dates to make note of:
1. Daylight Saving Time kicks off on Sunday, 6th October 2024, at 2am (Eastern Standard Time) with our friends in ACT, NSW, SA, TAS, & VIC rolling their clocks forward by 1 hour.
2. The King’s Birthday Public Holiday is set for Monday, 7th October 2024. The Centaur office will be closed with our team returning on Tuesday, 8th October 2024.
Interest rate speculation is rife after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept rates on hold at 4.35% last month. Economists are now predicting it may be several months before rates fall. It’s a different story in the United States where the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by half a percentage point in September and forecast two more cuts before the end of the year.
Australia’s inflation rate fell to 2.7% in August, down from 3.5% the previous month in the lowest reading in three years. Falling petrol prices and energy bill relief helped drive the slowdown. The jobless rate remained steady in August at 4.2% with the number of unemployed people falling by 10,500 in seasonally adjusted terms. Spending may be down but our net worth rose for the seventh consecutive quarter. Total household wealth was 9.3% higher than a year ago, largely thanks to rising house and land values. Consumer confidence is also positive with an increase in the ANZ-Roy Morgan index on last year’s figures.
The S&P/ASX 200 index hit an all-time high near the end of the month at 8862 points and a low of 7687 a few weeks earlier. It closed the month at a respectable 8266, up 2.2% for the month and 7.89% for the year. China’s plan to stimulate its economy has led to stronger commodity prices with mining and energy stocks the main beneficiaries.
Want to read the full October 2024 Newsletter? See below.
