The rocketing price of housing and rapid inflation in prices for unavoidable goods, such as food and fuel, have created a cost-of-living crisis. And this has gone on to fuel a generational split in income.

Read this analysis from Business Reporter Daniel Ziffer.

Business Council of Australia Council president Geoff Culbert uses BCA annual dinner to slam the PM over unfriendly policies where “success is taboo” and profitable businesses are being made scapegoats for economic woes. Mr Albanese says “we’re proudly pro-business and pro-worker”.

More analysis from the ABC’s Senior Business Correspondent Peter Ryan.

Motorists can expect further reprieve at the petrol bowser with analysts predicting continued falls in the price of oil and thereby petrol.

For years, China has been the single biggest driver of oil demand expansion as its economy rapidly grows. But this month, both the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) lowered their growth forecasts for global oil demand, citing weaker Chinese consumption.

That caused the price of Brent Crude to fall below $US70 a barrel this month, its lowest level in almost three years. The price is now hovering around $US73 dollars, but analysts expect the price to fall as low as $US65 dollars a barrel in coming weeks.

That would see a fall in what consumers pay at the bowser. The average national price of petrol is expected to fall between $1.65 to $1.70 over the coming weeks.

The big risk to that forecast is an escalation of tensions between Iran and Israel. Should they escalate, and should that spark a regional war in the Middle East, that would hurt oil supply and could see petrol prices rise again.

Economists say while falling prices are good for consumers, it won’t lower underlying inflation as much as Reserve Bank wants it to. They say interest rate cuts are still not likely until next year.

Read more from Business Reporter Nassim Khadem.

US stocks closed nearly unchanged overnight, giving up earlier gains that had vaulted the S&P 500 and Dow Industrial Average to record highs as investors braced for the first Federal Reserve rate cut in 4-1/2 years.

The benchmark S&P 500 index touched 5,670.81 earlier in the session, after fresh economic data eased worries of a sharp slowdown in the US economy.

The latest report from the US Commerce Department showed retail sales rose unexpectedly in August, after a decline in auto dealership receipts was offset by strength in online purchases, suggesting the economy was on solid footing through most of the third quarter.

“Expectations were pretty well entrenched before calling into today’s economic data and what they showed was generally a growth environment, but a relatively slow-growth environment,” said Russell Price, chief economist at Ameriprise Financial Services in Troy, Michigan.

Price said the size of the cut could either stoke inflation fears or increase worries the Fed is moving too slowly to avoid a recession.

“What you’re seeing in this afternoon’s trading is the way we pulled off of the all-time high … because tomorrow somebody’s going to be disappointed,” he said.

Markets are pricing in a 65% chance the Fed will cut borrowing costs by 50 basis points at the conclusion of its two-day meeting on Wednesday, according to the CME’s FedWatch Tool. Market expectations on the cut’s size have been volatile in recent days, with only a 34% chance of a 50-bps cut priced in as of last week.

Microsoft, up 0.88%, was the biggest lift to the S&P 500, as shares rose after the AI frontrunner’s board approved a new $60-billion share-buyback program and hiked its quarterly dividend by 10%.

The blue-chip Dow hit a record intraday high for a second-straight day. The Russell 2000 index tracking small caps, which investors view as likely to benefit from a lowe- rate environment, outperformed the three major indexes, climbing 0.74% on the session.

Good morning and welcome to Wednesday’s markets live blog, where we’ll bring you the latest price action and news on the ASX and beyond. 

A lacklustre session on Wall Street overnight sets the tone for local market action today.

The Dow Jones index was down 0.04 per cent, the S&P 500 was up 0.02 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2 per cent.

ASX futures were down 39 points or 0.5 per cent to 8,111 at 7:00am AEDT.

At the same time, the Australian dollar was flat at 67.57 US cents.

Brent crude oil was up 1.5 per cent, trading at $US73.82 a barrel.

Spot gold dropped 0.6 per cent to $US2568.18.

Iron ore gained 1.4 per cent to $US92.50 a tonne.