THE NEWS WRAP: Twitter shares jump 80.7% upon listing

Twitter listed on the New York Stock Exchange overnight, with shares in the social networking giant immediately surging by 80.7%.

The company has lost over $US440 million since 2010, but claims its user base of 232 million has put it on track to reach profitability through sponsored tweets.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us. All the capital raised by this is going into the company,” chief executive Dick Costollo says.

“It’s all about making it very simple and easy for new users to come to the platform … we all have examples of why this service can be useful to everyone on the planet.”

ABS September unemployment rate revised upwards

The official unemployment rate for September has been revised upwards slightly to 5.7%, despite the participation rate standing at a seven-year low.

The participation rate was also revised down from 64.9% to 64.8%, with many job seekers giving up looking for work.

Meanwhile, youth unemployment fell 0.5% during the month, but still remains at a relatively high 17.1%.

Hunt says carbon tax repeal will immediately cut power bills

Environment Minister Greg Hunt has claimed repealing the carbon tax will lead to an immediate reduction in power bills.

“It should happen immediately,” Hunt says.

“We’ll look through our discussions with the electricity suppliers, but the statement from the Electricity Supply Association yesterday was clear and categorical, so I think their words are the strongest words.”

Hunt’s comments come despite a warning from the Business Council of Australia, which says any price cut will take time to filter through to consumers.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 0.95% to 15596.74. The Aussie dollar is down to US94.49 cents.