Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures down 0.9% to 6,915.00
- Dow Average down 1.1% to 35,232.15
- Aussie little changed at 0.7132 per US$
- U.S. 10-year yield rose 4.7bps to 1.8235%
- Australia 3-year bond yield fell 2bps to 1.31%
- Australia 10-year bond yield fell 5bps to 1.87%
- Gold spot little changed at $1,805.54
- Brent futures up 1.8% to $91.07/bbl
Economic Events
- 11am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1 Billion 0.25% 2025 Bonds
- 11:30am: (AU) RBA-Statement on Monetary Policy
The worst selloff in technology shares since fall 2020 sent U.S. equity indexes reeling, halting a four-day rebound.
The Nasdaq 100 shed 4.2% and the S&P 500 fell 2.4% as Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc. suffered a historic rout that wiped more than $250 billion from its value.
The dour mood lifted some in late trading after Amazon.com Inc.’s results sent shares in the online retailer soaring 15%. The third biggest company in the S&P 500, Amazon’s roughly $1.5 trillion market capitalization is more than double Meta’s. The biggest exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.3% as of 4:15 p.m. Snap Inc. also buoyed sentiment with results that propelled its shares higher by more than 30%
The declines came as investors also digested concerns about persistently high inflation from the European Central Bank with hawkish comments from Christine Lagarde. The euro spiked higher along with European bond yields. U.S. Treasuries followed the euro zone lower and the dollar fell.
Other News
A South Korean company has released a new mask designed to help people feel more comfortable dining indoors by covering just their nose while they are eating or drinking. Behold: The “kosk.”
The mask has gone viral on social media and in various online forums, after it was recently unveiled by a South Korean company, Atman. It can be used folded up when eating just to cover the nose, and unfolded to cover the both the nose and the mouth after eating. It is available on an online shopping website for about $8 for a box of 10.
The new mask is called “kosk,” or a nose mask — a portmanteau of “mask” and “ko,” the Korean word for nose. “Kosk” is typically used to describe people who wear their masks over their mouth, with their nose revealed.
Another popular invention is the “tuksk,” a combination of “mask” and “tuk,” the Korean word for chin. It describes people who wear their masks on their chin, with their nose and mouth revealed.
The two terms are often used to criticize people who are not wearing their masks properly. Mask-wearing is widespread in South Korea, which is among the East Asian countries that quickly implemented mask-wearing and social distancing as a well-known public health response to previous respiratory viruses.
The reveal of the new “kosk” drew curiosity and criticism online. Some users mocked the company, noting that an uncovered mouth can still spread the virus and that it is essentially the inverse of the original use of the term “kosk,” which only covers the mouth and not the nose.
