Region absorbs US crash
RECENT steep falls in the United States stock market are unlikely to have a lasting negative effect on the Far North’s tourism industry.
Cairns economist Bill Cummings said the current drops were a correction rather than a crash despite the Dow Jones undergoing its worst week since January 2016.
“It’s a correction in response to interest rates being raised by the Federal Reserve, rather than any collapse of the US financial institutions or the American economy,” Mr Cummings said.
“The most important thing is the effect on the Australian dollar, and the effect has so far been positive in that it has put downward pressure on the dollar, also against the euro and yen.”
Mr Cummings said tourism operators had been concerned about the high exchange rate with the Australian dollar creeping up over $US0.80.
“We’ve seen a drop in recent days which gives us a bit of comfort,” he said.
“If the Australian dollar goes up very strongly, as we’ve seen in the past, it can have a particular effect on our industries – tourism is the most vulnerable, but also our other export industries.”
It will not be all plain sailing for Australian businesses, workers and retirees.
“There will be some impacts locally as the rest of the country from the Australian Stock Exchange coming down,” he said. “That will mainly be on superannuation and that sort of thing, but that is something we share with the rest of Australia.”
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WHOEVER said dance wasn’t a sport clearly hadn’t met the dedicated dance troupe from Turning Pointe Dance Studios.
The team of young dancers attended Cairns’ Biggest SignOn Day on Saturday to show the people of Cairns that dance stacks up against some of the city’s hardest sports.
Poppy Derrington, 14, said she had been dancing seriously since she was eight and always had to be on top of her game.
“In eisteddfods you do about 10 different solos, and they’re all three-minute routines,” she said.
“You need stamina to do that. You need to have cardio. A lot of people think that dance is not a sport but you need to be fit for dancing.”
She said girls who wanted to get fit but also have the chance to get on stage and look glamorous should give dance a go.
“I love getting costumes and putting pretty makeup on, so that’s an exciting part of dancing for me. If you want to give it a go, then do so because you never know,” she said.