Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures little changed at 6,506.00
- Dow Average down 0.6% to 30,981.33
- Aussie up 0.4% to 0.6758 per US$
- U.S. 10-year yield fell 2.1bps to 2.9706%
- Australia 3-year bond yield fell 10bps to 2.88%
- Australia 10-year bond yield fell 9bps to 3.42%
- Gold spot down 0.4% to $1,726.26
- Brent futures down 7.5% to $99.06/bbl
Economic Events
- 11am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$800 Million 1.75% 2032 Bonds
Asian stocks appear set for a cautious start Wednesday amid deepening concerns about the economic outlook and an anxious countdown to US data that may show inflation hit a fresh four-decade high.
Futures edged up for Japan and Hong Kong but Australia’s were steady. US contracts wavered after a near-1% Wall Street drop led by tech and energy.
The 10-year US Treasury yield at one point dropped as much as 12.4 basis points below the 2-year rate — a magnitude unseen since 2007. Such inversions are one of the most widely watched signals of recession risk.
A rapid tightening of monetary policy in the US and elsewhere to fight price pressures is stoking growth worries and roiling markets.
Oil held a tumble to under $100 a barrel. The dollar is at the highest level since March 2020.
Other News
From the comfort of cruise ships, a typical trip to Alaska offers magnificent views of glaciers and untamed national parks, and visits to quaint seaside towns. For years, these draws have made cruises to Alaska the most booked US holiday.
But the journey to those pristine areas, which involves sailing along Canada’s west coast for two or three days, is leaving behind a trail of toxic waste, including within marine protected areas (MPAs), according to new research.
More than 31bn litres (8.5bn US gallons) a year of pollution is estimated to be discharged off the west coast of Canada by cruise ships on their way to and from Alaska, according to a report by the environmental organisations Stand.earth and West Coast Environmental Law (WCEL).
“There’s this perverse incentive to treat Canada like a toilet bowl,” says Anna Barford, Canada shipping campaigner at Stand.earth. “They’re just using us like a highway and tossing stuff left, right and centre.”
Across Canada’s 151,019 mile (243,042km) coastline, ships generate 147bn litres of harmful waste each year, equivalent to 59,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to a March 2022 report by WWF-Canada. Based on data from more than 5,000 vessels, the report found cruise ships were the largest polluters, despite making up only 2% of the marine traffic analysed.
Cruise ship pollution includes large volumes of toxic sewage from toilets, greywater from sinks, showers and laundries, and bilge water – the oily liquid that collects at the lowest part of a ship. By far the largest source of pollution identified in the WWF report was from so-called scrubbers – devices installed to remove exhaust gases such as sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide, as well as particulates, from the heavy bunker oil used as marine fuel. The scrubbers create an acidic wastewater containing a cocktail of chemicals.
(The Guardian)
