Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures up 1.0% to 7,176.00
  • Dow Average up 1.6% to 32,637.19
  • Aussie up 0.1% to 0.7099 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield little changed at 2.7416%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield fell 0.7bps to 2.72%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield fell 4bps to 3.20%
  • Gold spot down 0.1% to $1,850.75
  • Brent futures up 3.2% to $117.65/bbl

Economic Events

  • 11am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$800 Million 1.5% 2031 Bonds
  • 11:30am: (AU) April Retail Sales MoM, est. 1.0%, prior 1.6%

Stocks in Asia may be buoyed Friday by a rebound on Wall Street after earnings suggested the US economy still remains resilient despite inflationary pressures.

Futures climbed in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. US contracts were steady in early Asian trading. The S&P 500 extended a bounce from its lowest level in more than a year after retailers including Macy’s Inc.lifted forecasts. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 gained more than 2%.

Treasury yields were steady and the dollar slid as traders shunned safe havens on the improved risk sentiment. Oil held gains above $114 a barrel after being bolstered by the broad-based market rally and on signs of declines in US stockpiles. Copper and aluminum led a slide in metals on concerns China’s slowdown will sap demand.

China’s efforts to balance Covid controls and economic growth will remain in focus as investors look for concrete policy measures to revive the economy battered. Policy makers are grappling with how to balance virus controls with economic growth.

Other News

An 86-gallon bottle of scotch—the largest in the world, and equivalent to 444 standard-size bottles—sold for $1.4 million at an online auction on Wednesday, making it among the most expensive bottles ever sold.

At nearly 6 feet tall and more than twice the width of the average man, the bottle—dubbed “The Intrepid”—was certified by Guinness World Records as being the largest bottle of scotch, whisky or whiskey in the world when it was filled last year.

The Intrepid contains 32-year-old single-malt scotch whisky from Macallan that matured in two casks at the distillery’s warehouse in Speyside, Scotland.

The bottle was snapped up by a private international collector who wishes to remain anonymous, Edinburgh-based auction house Lyon & Turnbull said in a statement.

The winning bid fell short of the world record for the most expensive bottle of whisky ever sold at auction: a bottle distilled at Macallan in 1926 that fetched $1.9 million in 2019.

(Forbes)