Finance news you need to know today

ABU Dhabi’s Etihad Airways, citing “an increasingly competitive landscape,” says it is making an unspecified number of lay-offs.

HERE are six things making news in business and finance today.

1. SYDNEY — The Australian dollar has fallen again as the US Federal Reserve looks to tighten policy again next year. The local currency was trading at 72.99 US cents at 0700 AEDT, down from 73.59 US cents on Friday.

2. SYDNEY — The Australian share market is poised to open lower, following falls on Wall Street after US investors turned to bonds with rising yields and the stronger US dollar. At 0645 AEDT on Monday, the local SPI 200 futures contract was down four points, or 0.07 per cent, at 5,489 points.

3. CARACAS — Venezuela’s president said Sunday that the sudden decision to scrap the country’s most-used currency bill was an economic triumph over the country’s enemies even as the government sent troops and police to cities where riots and looting broke out over the measure.

4. ABU DHABI — Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways, citing “an increasingly competitive landscape,” says it is making an unspecified number of lay-offs.

5. MADRID — Several thousand workers have taken to the streets of Madrid to protest the Spanish government’s labour policies as the country emerges from a long economic downturn.

6. BEIJING — The smog-shrouded Chinese city of Tianjin has cancelled 35 airline flights due to poor visibility on the second day of a pollution alert across the country’s north.