Live updates: Australia’s banks join forces to tackle rise in scams, ASX inches higher after Wall Street shuts for Thanksgiving

Good morning and happy Friday — it’s November 24 and you’re reading the ABC’s markets and business blog.

If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you know we normally start with the US, but Wall Street was closed overnight because of Thanksgiving.

While investors and traders were enjoying turkey and pie and everything else we associate with the US holiday, European markets saw some gains — but as CommSec’s senior market analyst Tom Piotrowski told ABC News Radio, it’s “not the sort of things you’d be mentioning in letters home”.

Overnight though, the European Central Bank (ECB) released the minutes of its most recent monetary policy decision, which mentioned that they will need to keep interest rates higher for longer.

And speaking of interest rates, both the Swedish and South African central banks left theirs on hold. (And a very warm welcome to both central banks who don’t often get a look in here on the blog!)

But it does speak to a wider trend we are seeing when it comes to rates, as Tom Piotrowski pointed out:

“That’s not the sort of thing that we normally talk about all that much, [but] the point is that you’ve got central banks now, having raised rates quite aggressively in recent history, they’re trying to plot a course into the future,” he said.

“That might involve a few more rate hikes, or it could potentially see them on hold for a while.

“The view that they might be on hold or even potentially cutting rates over the slightly longer term is what’s sustaining stock markets at the moment.”

So, what can we expect to happen at home without Wall Street’s lead in?

By all accounts it’s looking like a quiet day — at least to start with, with futures up slightly this morning.

Outside of the markets though, Australia’s banks are set to announce a joint partnership to tackle scams by adopting new rules and sharing technology that will provide better protection for their customers and stop them from getting ripped off.

The deal will be officially unveiled later this morning at an event in Sydney.

I’ll bring you the latest from that announcement when it happens, plus other business and markets news throughout the day.

You know the drill — get a coffee, settle in, and let’s see where Friday takes us.