Morning folks, Rich Henderson in Bloomberg’s Melbourne Bureau. Out today is a new documentary from Bloomberg Originals on the sinking of the Gulf Livestock 1, which was the worst disaster in the history of the live-export trade, watch it here:

Today’s must-reads:
• Trump’s AUKUS review
• Rental vacancy rate hits record low
• Consumer confidence sinks

What's happening now

The Trump Administration is reviewing the affordability of the AUKUS pact with Australia and the UK and whether the agreement fits its foreign policy goals. The evaluation will take into account “the state of our submarine industrial base,” said John Noh, Trump’s pick for assistant secretary for Indo-Pacific security affairs, touching on a key point of tension with Canberra.

Consumer confidence slumped to a six-month low in October. The decline is a sign Australian households are worried about elevated interest rates given the strength of recent inflation.

Australia’s rental vacancy rate sank to a record low in the third quarter. The tightening rental home market is a setback for inflation prospects and hopes for interest-rate cuts.

A dry spell in Victoria and South Australia has taken the edge off a bumper wheat harvest. Less rain than usual has trimmed supplies and doused earlier hopes it would be one of the country’s largest harvests on record.

Australia’s communications minister summoned the country’s three major mobile network providers following outages that included failures in the country’s emergency call system. Speaking on Bloomberg Television’s Australia Ahead, Helen Bird of Swinburne University discusses key reforms required across the telco sector. Click image to play.

Bloomberg

Fewer New Zealand businesses were upbeat about the economic outlook in the third quarter. The waning sentiment raises the risk of another recession and deeper interest-rate cuts.

What happened overnight

Here’s what my colleague, market strategist Mike “Willo” Wilson says happened while we were sleeping…

US stocks fell after a series of all-time highs showed signs of buyer exhaustion. Treasuries rose after a strong 3-year note auction. The dollar gained as investors continue to fly blind in the absence of official data being posted due to the shutdown. This sent gold toward $4,000 on haven demand. Aussie and kiwi fell with the latter looking fragile into today’s RBNZ interest rate decision where a 50 basis point cut is a serious consideration. ASX futures point to a somber start for local equities.

President Donald Trump floated the idea of blocking backpay for certain federal workers when the government reopens. Trump said some workers “don’t deserve to be taken care of,” speaking with reporters at the White House.

New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange plans to invest as much as $2 billion in crypto-based betting platform Polymarket. The transaction values the company, which lets traders wager on sports and elections, at roughly $8 billion.

Oracle shares fell sharply following a report suggesting the tech giant’s profit margin in cloud computing was lower than Wall Street estimates.  The company’s stock fell as much as 7.1% on Tuesday.

Robust demand for sovereign debt in Japan has calmed market jitters. The auction of 30-year sovereign debt drew robust support, calming concerns following the surprise victory of Sanae Takaichi, a pro-stimulus lawmaker, in the ruling party leadership race.

What to watch

• 12:00 p.m.: RBNZ Official Cash Rate
• 4:30 p.m.: Australian Foreign Reserves

One more thing...

Cricket stars including England’s Test captain Ben Stokes and fast bowler Jofra Archer were among participants in a $4.5 million seed funding round for a startup that helps people in the UK get medical treatment in India. Nexus Venture Partners led the round to invest in the Medical Travel Company. The company plans to expand to the US, Canada, Australia and the rest of Europe in the next three to four years, it said in a statement.

Ben Stokes Photographer: Stu Forster/Getty Images