Australia put ahead of the pack on jobless

THE Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says Australia's unemployment rate has stabilised and will not reach either the peak of 8.5 per cent predicted in the May Budget or the lower peak of 6.75 per cent forecast in this month's mid-year budget review.

Tracking the Economy

US retail sales for October will be released today and market watchers will use the result to gauge how the US economic recovery is faring. In September, retail sales fell 1.5 per cent as the government's "cash for clunkers" car program wound down. For October, economists are expecting sales to gain 1.2 per cent, but if car and gasoline components are excluded, retail sales probably rose by just 0.3 per cent in October.