Here's how things looked as of 4:20pm AEDT:

• ASX 200: -0.7% at 7,058 points (final figures below)
• Australian dollar: -0.5% at 64.69 US cents
• Nikkei: -0.4% to 33,394 points
• Hang Seng: -1.4% to 17,818 points
• Shanghai: -0.6% to 3,055 points
• Dow Jones: +0.5% to 34,991 points
• S&P 500: +0.2% to 4,502 points
• Nasdaq: +0.1% to 14,103 points
• FTSE: +0.6% to 7,486 points
• Spot gold: +0.2% at $US1,963/ounce
• Brent crude: -0.8% at $US80.52/barrel 
• Iron ore: $US129.70 a tonne
• Bitcoin: -0.7% at $US37,381

Updates on the major ASX indices:

Thanks so much for your company throughout a busy business news day.

We'll be back to do it all again tomorrow for the final day of the traditional working week — and it's shaping up to have an eventful start, with Optus boss Kelly Bayer Rosmarin to face a grilling at the Senate inquiry into the telco's nationwide outage last week at 9am AEDT.

Until then, you can catch up on today's developments below, or download the ABC News app and subscribe to our range of news alerts for the latest news.

The local share market has fallen at the close to finish down 0.7% at 7,058 points on Thursday.

After a flat start, the majority of sectors finished in the red, with only utilities and consumer non-cyclicals in positive territory (they were up 0.6% and 0.4% respectively).

Academic and educational services led the sector losses (-1.6%), followed by energy (-1.2%), financials (-0.8%), real estate (-0.8%), healthcare (-0.7%), basic materials (-0.7%), technology (-0.4%), consumer cyclicals (-0.1%) and industrials (-0.1%).

Markets are also eagerly anticipating the full outcome and reaction from the meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco.

The top five performers for the day were:

• Cromwell Property Group +6.2%
• Iress +3.4%
• IPH +3%
• LendLease +2.9%
• Bega Cheese +2.4%

As for the bottom five performers:

• AMP -15.8%
• Life360 -7%
• Chalice Mining -5.9%
• Alumina -5.8%
• Evolution Mining -4.8%

If you're after more business and finance news, you're in luck: here's what's coming up tonight on The Business with Rachel Pupazzoni:

• David Chau takes a look at why the unemployment rate went up as 55,000 jobs were added
• NAB's chief economist Alan Oster calls it "one more and done" on interest rates, as Australia's sticky inflation takes longer than the UK and US to come closer within its range
• And as the Origin board waits with bated breath for shareholders to approve a $20 billion takeover from international consortium Brookfield and EIG partners, M&A law expert Sandy Mak from Corrs Chambers Westgarth says we should expect more international takeovers in 2024.

You can catch The Business on ABC News at 8:45pm, after the late news on ABC TV, and anytime on ABC iview. 

If you're an avid crypto watcher, you'll have spotted Bitcoin having a very good day in the US.

Earlier this morning, Bitcoin rose by more than 5.3%, taking it close to a one-week high of $US37,978.

So far this year, the cryptocurrency has risen by about 125%.

Sure, it's a far cry from the fever pitch Bitcoin experienced towards the end of 2021, but the crypto sector in general has been riding the highs of a rally in recent weeks.

The cause of that rally? Investors expecting the end is nigh for central banks and their rate-hiking cycles — which draws cash back into high-risk assets like crypto.

Since that high earlier today though, it's been steadily dropping. Currently, it's down 0.7% to be hovering around the $US37,337 mark.

Just last week we heard from the RBA that they want to see our tight job market show signs of easing to allow inflation come back down to its target range of 2-3%.

Australia's jobless rate is still close to its lowest level in 50 years, but the RBA is predicting it will rise towards 4.2% by the end of next year.

So with unemployment edging up to 3.7% in October, will this have any impact on the central bank's next rates meeting in December?

The short answer: it's unlikely to be helpful, but they'll be waiting for other data.

Here's how KPMG's chief economist, Brendan Rynne interpreted the stats:

"Today's data provides some signals that the labour market is returning back to its natural level, albeit slowly – and slower than the RBA has been predicting," he wrote.

"This data, reaffirming the continued tightness in the labour market, combined with yesterday's WPI data showing the highest quarterly growth since the index's first release, is unlikely to be helpful for the RBA to looking for reasons to pause further increases in the cash rate.

"The December cash rate decision will therefore be highly contingent on the degree of stickiness in the inflation rate, which we will see in the week before the next meeting."

If you missed it yesterday, wages grew by the fastest pace on record in the September quarter, but many workers aren't feeling better off.

Low-paid workers on award wages and aged care staff were given one-off big pay rises, and private sector workers are taking home more than government employees.

But even though some salaries have ticked up, real wages keep going backwards.

You can watch the full story from my colleague Daniel Ziffer below:

Alternatively, you can read more about the big boost to wages below:

Yes, you read that correctly — McDonald's has lost its bid to sue rival fast food chain Hungry Jack's, with a court finding its Big Jack burger was not "deceptively similar" to the Big Mac.

McDonald's had claimed that people would confuse the Big Jack with the Big Mac, which would eat into their profits.

But in the Federal Court earlier today, Justice Stephen Burley ruled that claim by McDonald's didn't cut the mustard, and the Big Jack burger didn't infringe on McDonald's trademark.

Both the Big Mac and Big Jack look similar, with a sesame seed bun, two beef patties, lettuce, gherkins, cheese, sauce and a third slice of burger bread in the middle — but it was the trademarks that were argued over in court.

So how did the court come to its decision? It required two experts being called in to compare the two burgers across restaurants in Brisbane and Melbourne to test marketing claims made by Hungry Jack's — including whether the Big Jack had more beef than the Big Mac.

If you're hungry for more information about this unusual story, you can read more below — but unfortunately I'm unable to help with any burger cravings this may have caused.

Sorry to be the bearer of some sad news — the company behind Ferrero Rocher, Nutella and Kinder Surprise is abandoning its multi-million-dollar hazelnut farm in southern NSW as the long-term climate is not commercially viable.

The Australian arm of the Italian-based confectionary company Ferrero Group says it will be removing the million hazelnut trees planted at its farm near Narrandera since 2013, and the 2,600-hectare property has been listed for sale.

Ferrero said the decision to give up on its $70 million farm wasn't made lightly.

"Given recent adverse weather conditions, the pilot study found that the region's climate in the long term is not conducive to hazelnut farming," it said.

"Over the duration of the 10-year project hazelnut yields have fallen below expectations making the project, unfortunately, no longer commercially viable."

You can read more about the decision from ABC Rural's Emily Doak below:

After a subdued start, the ASX trading lower, down 0.5% to 7,072 points as of 1pm AEDT.

(For the latest figures, head to the top of the blog.)

Looking at the sectors, seven are in the red: academic and eduational services (-1.6%), energy (-0.8%), real estate (-0.6%), financials (-0.5%), basic materials (-0.3%), technology (-0.2%) and consumer cyclicals (-0.1%).

In terms of sector gains, consumer non-cyclicals and utilities are both up 0.4%, followed by industrials at 0.2%. Healthcare is flat.

The biggest mover in either direction is AMP, which has fallen by 15% so far today after it downgraded its margin expectations.

Graincorp is continuing to rally throughout the session, after announcing a $50 million buyback and reporting a smaller profit of $250 million in the year to September 30.

The top movers so far:

• A2 Milk Company +4.1%
• Graincorp +3.8%
• Cromwell Property Group +3.7%
• IPH +3.4%
• Aristocrat Leisure +3.3%

And the bottom movers:

• AMP -15%
• Life360 -5.7%
• Sonic Healthcare -4.4%
• Alumina -4.2%
• Nufarm -4.2%

Here's how things are faring as of 12:45pm AEDT:

• ASX 200: -0.4% at 7,081 points (live figures below)
• Australian dollar: -0.3% at 64.88 US cents
• Nikkei: -0.4% to 33,396 points
• Hang Seng: -0.2% to 18,046 points
• Shanghai: -0.2% to 3,068 points
• Dow Jones: +0.5% to 34,991 points
• S&P 500: +0.2% to 4,502 points
• Nasdaq: +0.1% to 14,103 points
• FTSE: +0.6% to 7,486 points
• Spot gold: -0.1% at $US1,957/ounce
• Brent crude:-0.6% at $US80.67/barrel 
• Iron ore: $US129.70 a tonne
• Bitcoin: -0.1% at $US37,609

Live updates on the major ASX indices:

A little earlier in the blog (before unemployment and Qantas), I mentioned we'd find out the potential 82 infrastructure projects that would face the federal government's funding chopping block — and now the Infrastructure Minister has shared which projects will be going without.

Commuter car parks, fast rail projects and highway upgrades around the country are among the 50 infrastructure projects that will no longer receive funding from the federal government.

Some of the projects are:

• The Geelong Fast Rail
• Sydney to Newcastle faster rail upgrade
• Truro Bypass
• New England Highway project
• Commuter car parks in NSW and Queensland

Funding for a number of projects has been unaffected, including:

• The Melbourne Airport Rail Link
• The Milton-Ulladulla Bypass
• The Tasman Bridge

The government is also tipping in extra funding for 11 projects, including:

• South Australia: North-South Corridor
• Queensland: Logan-Gold Coast Faster Rail
• WA: Metronet

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King said the projects that were cut did not have a realistic chance of being delivered with the available funding, had made little or no progress, or did not fit in with national priorities.

"From now on, the Australian government's investment infrastructure will focus on productivity, sustainability and liveability," she said.

Already state premiers aren't thrilled at the decision, with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk criticising the cuts in state parliament — you can read more on that below:

With the unemployment rate increasing to 3.7% in October, we're now looking at employment data similar to what we saw back in July and August this year.

So what's behind the increase? Here's an explanation from Bjorn Jarvis, who is the head of labour statistics with the ABS:

"With employment increasing by 55,000 people, and the number of unemployed people increasing by 28,000, the unemployment rate rose to 3.7% in October," he said.

"The large increase in employment in October followed a small increase in September of around 8,000 people.

"Looking over the past two months, these increases equate to average employment growth of around 31,000 people a month, which is slightly lower than the average growth of 35,000 people a month since October 2022."

The participation rate also rose by 0.2 percentage points to 67% — suggesting there are more people who are actively looking for work.

Mr Jarvis also said there could be signs that the labour market is starting to slow, with a much smaller gap between the growth rate of hours worked and employment growth.

"Compared with the labour market just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth in hours worked was still greater than employment, at 10% and 9.2%," he said.

"However, the gap between them had recently narrowed, having been much higher for most of the period from October 2022 to August 2023.

"The recent slowdown in the growth of hours worked may suggest that the labour market is starting to slow, following a particularly strong period of growth."

Qantas has just released a statement in response to the NSW District Court's ruling.

A spokesperson for the company says it acknowledges the ruling and will review the judgment in full before making any further comment.

Here's the complete statement they've issued:

"Qantas acknowledges the findings of the NSW District Court, which upheld one of three charges brought by SafeWork NSW, and will review the judgment before commenting on it further.

"We recognise that the initial stages of the pandemic caused a lot of uncertainty for our people, customers and the business more broadly.

"Our medical and safety teams worked tirelessly to provide daily updates to employees and to put effective controls and procedures in place to help protect our people and customers."

Australia's unemployment rate has risen back to 3.7% in October, despite the creation of an estimated 55,000 jobs last month.

A rebound in the participation rate back to 67% caused the increase in unemployment.

Staying on the Qantas court decision for a moment, the Transport Workers Union has applauded the "fantastic result"  of the verdict.

The TWU — which urged SafeWork NSW to prosecute the case against Qantas — says the district court's ruling is the "first-ever criminal prosecution from the safety regulator against Qantas" for "the targeting and the standing down of Health and Safety Representative Theo Seremetidis".

Secretary for the NSW and Queensland divisions of the TWU, Richard Olsen, said Mr Seremetidis was a "workplace hero" who has been "vindicated" by the court's decision.

"When the TWU urged SafeWork NSW to prosecute this case, Theo courageously took on one of Australia's biggest corporate bullies and won," Mr Olsen said.

"Theo always acted diligently to protect his colleagues, and the evidence brought in this case proved that he thoroughly researched the risks, asked the right questions of his employer, and requested protective equipment and training for workers cleaning planes from COVID hotspots.

"Qantas not only ignored the concerns of Theo and his colleagues, but set out to punish and silence him for acting in his role as a highly trained HSR [health and safety representative].

"We congratulate Theo and SafeWork NSW for leading this unprecedented prosecution which has inspired others to come forward."

Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Sally McManus, echoed the "hero" calls.

"As far as the union movement is concerned, Theo is a hero for standing up at great cost to himself to keep the whole of the community safe from a deadly virus at a time where no vaccines were available and when hospitals around the world were being overwhelmed," she said in a statement.

"Congratulations to the TWU, who stood by Theo in the dark times and can finally see him win justice."

Qantas has been found guilty of a criminal charge after it stood down a health and safety representative during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The verdict was delivered by a judge in the NSW district court a short time ago.

The case relates to a matter raised by SafeWork NSW, which accused Qantas of breaching part of the Work Health and Safety Act and discriminating against the representative, Theo Seremetidis.

Mr Seremetidis was stood down by the airline in early 2020 after he directed colleagues to not follow instructions and not to clean planes that had arrived from COVID-19 hotspots without proper PPE, COVID-safe training or disinfectant.

After a SafeWork inspection, it was confirmed workers were being made to clean multiple tray tables with only water and a single rag.

At the hearing on Thursday, the court ruled that the case brought by SafeWork NSW had established elements of the offence "beyond reasonable doubt".

Other charges relating to additional matters were dismissed by the court. Hearings for determining sentencing and costs will be held at a later date.

The Australian share market has had a flat start to trade, as investors wait for the latest unemployment data to come in from the ABS in about an hour's time.

Taking a look at the sectors, it's a mixed bag.

Those picking up in the early trade are consumer non-cyclicals (+0.6%), industrials (+0.5%), utilities (+0.4%), healthcare (+0.3%) and energy (+0.1%).

The sectors trading slightly lower are academic and educational services (-0.4%), real estate (-0.4%), technology (-0.3%), basic materials (-0.3%), and financials (-0.1%).

Consumer cyclicals is the only sector seeing no movement at the moment.

The top five movers so far:

• Graincorp +4.7%
• Aristocrat Leisure +2.4%
• Iress +2.3%
• A2 Milk Company +2.1%
• Credit Corp +1.9%

And the bottom five movers:

• AMP -11.6%
• Sonic Healthcare -3.4%
• ANZ -3%
• Genesis Minerals -2.9%
• Nufarm -2.9%

Here's how things are shaping up as of 10:20am AEDT:

• ASX 200: flat at 7,314 points (live figures below)
• Australian dollar: +0.1% at 65.10 US cents
• Dow Jones: +0.5% to 34,991 points
• S&P 500: +0.2% to 4,502 points
• Spot gold: +0.1% at $US1,960/ounce
• Brent crude:-1.7% at $US81.07/barrel 
• Iron ore: $US129.70 a tonne
• Bitcoin: steady at $US37,661

Live updates on the major ASX indices:

There's been a lot of talk this morning around the federal government's plans to scrap funding for 82 "high risk" infrastructure projects around the country, in response to a review of infrastructure funding.

The names and locations of those 82 projects will be made public later today when Infrastructure Minister Catherine King releases the government's response to the independent review.

The review found the existing list of projects for the decade could not be delivered under the current $120 billion budget, with some of those projects were found to have lacked merit and strategic rationale, and others were deemed to have been allocated funding without a complete business case.

Ms King says the budget for delivering the projects remains, but discontinuing some will allow those remaining to be delivered.

Before the list is made public, you can get up to speed on the background of this story from political reporter Nicole Hegarty below: