Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures down 0.1% to 7,385.00
  • Dow Average down 0.1% to 35,772.92
  • Aussie down 0.5% to 0.7194 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield fell 2.4bps to 1.6427%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield fell 3bps to 0.99%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield fell 0.8bps to 1.86%
  • Gold spot down 0.2% to $1,785.33
  • Brent futures down 0.2% to $82.18/bbl

Economic Events

  • 10:30am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1.5 Billion 91-Day Bills
  • 10:30am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$2 Billion 56-Day Bills
  • 10:30am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1.5 Billion 119-Day Bills
  • 11:30am: (AU) Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia (for Oct. 30)
  • 11:30am: (AU) 3Q Private Capital Expenditure, est. -2.0%, prior 4.4%

Stocks climbed to session highs as investors shrugged off tapering concerns highlighted in minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting. The dollar climbed and the Treasury yield curve flattened as short-end rates rose.

Other News

In the latest instance of the U.S. federal government showing it considers UFOs a very real threat, the Department of Defense late Tuesday announced plans for a new group to look into reports of unidentified aerial phenomena, as speculation grows over what is actually out there.

The new program, called the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, will examine reports of UFOs in special use airspace (SUA), such as military operation areas, to “assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security,” the Pentagon said in a news release.
The announcement comes just over five months after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report on 144 UFO sightings by Navy pilots since 2004, with intelligence officials unable to explain 143 of the sightings, but concluding they are likely real objects that could pose a threat to national security.
Pressure has mounted for the government to ramp up its research to come up with some sort of explanation, with Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) saying this summer: “When you have this much visual and radar evidence that there is something … we’ve got to get an answer.”

In January, the CIA released thousands of documents that it claimed amounted to all of its UFO research, but—much like the June report—it failed to provide an answer to the phenomena.
Public interest in UFOs also reached a fever pitch this year, with Google Trends data showing spikes in searches like “UFO” and “UFO sightings” through much of the year, though it has tapered off a bit in the fall.
A massive rise in sightings by the general public has coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic—sightings reportedly increased nationwide by 16% in 2020, with sightings in New York doubling.