| Good afternoon, Telstra has become the first of Australia’s big corporates to outline a program of massive cuts, signalling an end to the “jobs banking” that until now has kept Australia’s jobs market so tight, writes Eric Johnston. The Reserve Bank board considered the case for a 14th interest rate hike at its meeting earlier this month, as members repeated their resolve to ‘do what is necessary’ to bring inflation back under control. The Australian sharemarket closed slightly lower , as sharp falls in James Hardie, Telstra and Sonic Healthcare were mostly offset by gains in BHP, ANZ and Qantas. The ASX 200 fell 0.2 per cent to 7,851.7 on Tuesday, while the All Ordinaries also slipped 0.2 per cent to 8,120.2 points. | 