Australia is set to confront the biggest budget deficit since World War 2, according to economists, Australia's gross debt is anticipated to blow out to approximately A$852 billion. It is expected to get much harsher for the current financial year, with nearly A$184.5 billion of deficit. Australia Treasury disclosed that its previously projected A$5 billion surplus has turned into a ~$86 billion shortage for the previous financial year. Moreover, unemployment in the country is projected to peak at 9.25% in December.
The ACCC has started Federal Court proceedings against Decathlon (Australia) Pty Ltd for supposedly offering sports and recreation items that did not fulfill the product safety standards. The ACCC claims that during the period October 2016 to December 2019, Decathlon proposed 14 models of basketball rings and backboards along with five models of portable swimming pools which failed to carry the safety labelling, customer warnings and use instructions that are necessary under applicable product safety standards. In that time frame, Decathlon sold over 400 basket ball rings and backboards plus 300 portable pool via online mode or at store. The company was also charged for making misleading representation related to a few of the basketball rings and backboards which were safe to connect to brickwork.
The United States jobless claims rose unexpectedly for the week ended 18 July 2020, rising for the first time in nearly four months. The U.S. weekly jobless claims rose to 1.416 million from 109,000 in the period prior. As per the data from the United States Labor Department, nearly 32 million people were collecting unemployment checks in early July. Furthermore, the labor market weakness is putting pressure on the Congress to extend the USD 600 weekly jobless supplement ahead of 31 July 2020.
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There is no investor left unperturbed with the ongoing trade conflicts between US-China and the devastating bushfire in Australia.
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