Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures down 0.3% to 7,483.00
  • Dow Average down 0.2% to 35,369.09
  • Aussie up 0.8% to 0.7461 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield rose 4.0bps to 1.3223%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield rose 0.7bps to 0.28%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield rose 2bps to 1.22%
  • Gold spot up 1.0% to $1,827.73
  • Brent futures down 0.6% to $72.61/bbl

Economic Events

  • 11am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1 Billion 1.75% 2032 Bonds
  • 11am: (AU) Aug. Melbourne Institute Inflation, prior 0.5%
  • 11am: (AU) Aug. Melbourne Institute Inflation, prior 2.6%
  • 11am: (NZ) Aug. ANZ Commodity Price, prior -1.4%
  • 11:30am: (AU) Aug. ANZ Job Advertisements MoM, prior -0.5%

Asian stocks look set for a boost Monday from Japan, where the planned exit of the prime minister sparked a rally. Traders are also weighing the impact of sharply slower U.S. hiring on the stimulus outlook.
Futures for Japan jumped more than 1%, following a Topix index surge Friday to a three-decade high on hopes of better pandemic management and more spending by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s successor. Futures for Hong Kong inched higher, but slipped for Australia. The dollar was steady.
U.S. contracts fluctuated. The S&P 500 ended little changed Friday, the Nasdaq 100 edged up to a record and Treasury yields rose as investors digested disappointing U.S. payroll growth coupled with faster-than-projected wage increases. U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday and there is no cash trading for Treasuries.

Other News

More than two-fifths of all Americans now believe that some UFOs are alien spacecraft, up significantly since 2019, according to a newly published poll.
According to a Gallup poll conducted between July 6-21, 41 percent of people now believe some UFOs ‘involve alien spacecraft from other planets,’ up from 33 percent in 2019.
Conversely, just half of all Americans, down from 60 percent in 2019, are skeptical, saying these unexplained sightings can be answered via human activity or natural phenomena.Those who had no opinion rose slightly to nine percent in 2021, compared to seven percent in 2019.
‘With more mainstream news coverage of UFOs in recent years, and the government taking sightings more seriously, the idea that UFOs could be alien spacecraft doesn’t seem as far-fetched to Americans as it did even two years ago,’ Gallup wrote in the release.
‘Meanwhile, the government seems more focused on determining if the threat is coming from foreign governments rather than other planets, and half of Americans continue to presume there is an Earth-based explanation for all such sightings.’ Gallup polled 1,007 US adults for the survey approximately two weeks after the Pentagon released its highly controversial report on unidentified aerial phenomena.