Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures up 0.3% to 7,440.00
- Dow Average down 0.5% to 36,252.29
- Aussie down 0.6% to 0.7379 per US$
- U.S. 10-year yield fell 5.7bps to 1.4323%
- Australia 3-year bond yield rose 2bps to 0.88%
- Australia 10-year bond yield rose 3bps to 1.78%
- Gold spot up 0.3% to $1,830.22
- Brent futures up 1.7% to $84.81/bbl
Economic Events
- 10:30am: (AU) Nov. Westpac Consumer Conf Index, prior 104.6
- 10:30am: (AU) Nov. Westpac Consumer Conf SA MoM, prior -1.5%
- 11am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$10 Billion 1.5% 2031 Bonds
- 11:30am: (AU) Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia (for Oct. 9)
U.S. stocks halted the longest rally since 2017, sending major indexes lower from all-time highs as Treasuries surged.
The S&P 500 fell for the first time in nine sessions, led by a drop in financial shares that came under pressure as the 10-year yield slumped to the lowest level in seven weeks.
Fresh consumer price data on Wednesday could add to the debate over monetary policy, which saw another wildcard Tuesday with news that Fed Governor Lael Brainard was interviewed by President Joe Biden as he contemplates whether to tap Fed Chair Jerome Powell for a second term or not. Meanwhile, shifts in positioning have fueled gains in long-end Treasuries, taking the 30-year yield down to its lowest level since July. The yield on the U.S. 10-year note fell to 1.44%.
Other News
Instagram has responded to a viral campaign that promised to plant a tree every time someone shared a picture of their pet.
The post began as a sticker that became hugely popular on Monday. It promised that “we’ll plant 1 tree for every pet picture” and included an emoji of a dog.
It quickly flew around Instagram stories, as people shared images of their pets. It has since been shared by more than 4 million people.
Soon it became clear, however, that the sticker was not attributed to any campaign or organisation, and that it did not look likely that any trees would actually be planted – let alone 4 million and counting.
Later, a company called PlantATreeCo took credit for the original post. It claimed that it had started the sticker as a genuine campaign – but realised within 10 minutes that it was likely to prove so popular that it would not be able to honour the commitment to plant trees.
As soon as it realised, the company deleted the sticker. But that simply removed its name from the sticker, rather than deleting the sticker from the site entirely.
That meant that it now had even less context and so there was no way to check whether or not the trees would actually be planted.
Many Instagram users called on the company to plant some trees itself, given the vast amounts of engagement the sticker had generated.
Now Instagram has said that the post demonstrated the power of its platform. But it also distanced itself from it.
