Australian PM Morrison: JobKeeper wage subsidy cut to $1200 a fortnight, split into two tiers

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

According to the latest story carried by the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is likely to announce a cut in the JobKeeper wage subsidy at the end of September.

The subsidy will be slashed to $1200 a fortnight for full-time workers and to $750 for part-time workers, down from the current single rate of $1500.

Morrison said: "We made the conscious decision to have a flat rate payment [when introducing JobKeeper] because we understood at that time that people were losing second and third jobs."

Additional comments

"Ensuring we had one flat payment across the entire labor force ensured that we were protecting our social security system and you will also remember the great strains that that system was under early during the crisis."

“There was the capacity to have a two-tiered system of payments.”

Market reaction

AUD/USD slipped about 10-pips from multi-day highs of 0.7035 on the above comments and RBA minutes but quickly regained ground to now trade at 0.7026. Focus remains on Governor Lowe’s speech.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

GBP/USD stays below 1.3600 on modest USD strength

GBP/USD is consolidating near the lower end of its weekly range, below the 1.3600 mark, during European trading hours on Thursday. The pair's downside, however, remains cushioned as traders await Fed Chair Warsh's speech on Friday for more cues about the US central bank's interest rate path before placing fresh directional bets.

EUR/USD drops to fresh weekly lows below 1.1650

EUR/USD stays on the back foot and trades at its lowest level in a week below 1.1650 on Thursday. The European Central Bank's policy meeting accounts fail to help the Euro stay resilient, while the cautious market mood supports the USD and weighs on the pair. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday will be critical for the pair's next direction.

Gold holds steady around $4,600 as traders eye Fed's Warsh for rate cues

Gold languishes near the $4,600 mark through the first half of the European session on Thursday and remains close to the weekly low it touched the previous day. The downside, however, seems limited as traders opt to wait for US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday for cues on the future policy path. The outlook, in turn, will play a key role in influencing the US Dollar price dynamics and provide some meaningful impetus to the non-yielding bullion.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP bulls regain strength amid steady capital inflows

Cryptocurrency prices are broadly edging higher on Thursday, led by Bitcoin’s uptick near $80,000. Altcoins mirror Bitcoin’s short-term bullish outlook, with Ethereum trading above $2,500 and Ripple hovering above its key $1.40 support.

Diesel’s record $100 warning: The oil shock hiding in plain sight

The Oil market may look calmer than it did a few months ago, but diesel is sending a very different message. The US diesel crack spread, the premium of ultra-low sulphur diesel futures over WTI, recently surged above $100 per barrel for the first time, reaching an intraday record of just over $102.00.

Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole dilemma: Say too much, too little, or just enough

Kevin Warsh is preparing to deliver his first Jackson Hole speech as Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair on Friday, and expectations extend well beyond whether interest rates will be raised or left unchanged in September.