Good morning, team. Welcome to Monday, and I hope your Halloween weekends were suitably spooky.

1. National donut day! Australia yesterday recorded its first day of zero cases of community transmission since June. Give yourselves a pat on the back, and we’ll see if we can maintain it.

2. And things are looking good on that front. The DHHS numbers for Victoria just landed, and we’re staring at another big fat zero. Allow me to be the first to say this: we love to see it.

3. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt also said Australia was “on track” to see internal borders open by Christmas. It did sound a little more like a threat to states like Queensland than an actual assurance, though. “I am very hopeful that now the [Queensland] election is over that this will continue to be a medical decision. If it is a medical decision the very low case numbers … will provide the strongest possible basis for moving to the next step,” Hunt said.

4. Queensland has joined South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory in having more advertised positions now than before the pandemic. New South Wales, ACT and Victoria are still behind, however, in part due to their reliance on a professional sector recovery that has yet to appear. Advertised construction, public service and industrial jobs meanwhile are well above typical levels, as job competition dies down.

5. Westpac reported a 62% plummet in full-year cash profit to $2.6 billion. As they indicated last week, a big chunk of that comes from a write-down in its insurance and auto financing businesses, while more than $400 million was paid as part of its AUSTRAC fine.

6. Atlassian released its latest earnings results at the end of last week, reporting $US459.5 million in revenue during the first quarter of the 2021 financial year, but still reported a loss of $US21.6 million. However, the company reported a loss of $US21.6 million during the quarter, compared to a net income of $US69.3 million during the same period last year. “In this time of great uncertainty, one thing we are sure of is the direction we’re headed,” the co-founders said. “Atlassian has never shied away from making bold decisions in service of our customers and our own long-term success, and we don’t intend to stop now.

7. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new national lockdown restrictions, starting on Thursday. The lockdowns, which resemble a milder version of Melbourne’s, will last for four weeks. Johnson has succumbed to the advice of his science experts, hoping that the national measures could “save Christmas from the coronavirus.” European countries including Germany, France, and Belgium all reported record numbers of new daily infections this week.

8. Where do Biden and Trump stand in the polls two days out from the election? In the Real Clear Politics national polling average, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden maintains a steady 7.2% national lead over President Donald Trump (51.1%-43.9%). Biden led in the final New York Times/Siena College surveys for the tipping point states of Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

9. Washington DC is bracing itself ahead of the 2020 presidential election on Tuesday. Three people who live in the capital told Business Insider that while Washington is still pretty quiet, there’s a “tension in the air” and an atmosphere of “uncertainty” as more people fear post-election violence. Some businesses in the capital have started boarding up, while law enforcement officials are planning for confrontation as several groups have already applied for demonstration permits.

10. Aussie Mexican fast food chain Guzman Y Gomez is planning to open up more stores in Australia and the U.S. over the next 18 months. But CEO Steven Marks remains mum on the possibility of a public listing for the company. But if it did happen, it’d happen here. “We’re an Australian company – it would be an Australian listing,” Marks said.

BONUS ITEM

Not bad.

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