Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures down 0.1% to 7,022.00
  • Dow Average down 0.5% to 33,980.32
  • Aussie down 1.2% to 0.6938 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield rose 9.6bps to 2.8986%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield rose 5.5 bps to 2.98%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield rose 5 bps to 3.27%
  • Gold spot down 0.8% to $1,762.27
  • Brent futures up 0.7% to $92.95/bbl

Economic Events

  • 10:30: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1 Billion 63-Day Bills
  • 10:30: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1 Billion 98-Day Bills
  • 11:30: (AU) July Part Time Employment Change, prior 35,500
  • 11:30: (AU) July Full Time Employment Change, prior 52,900
  • 11:30: (AU) July Employment Change, est. 25,000, prior 88,400
  • 11:30: (AU) July Participation Rate, est. 66.8%, prior 66.8%
  • 11:30: (AU) July Unemployment Rate, est. 3.5%, prior 3.5%
  • 11:30: (AU) July RBA FX Transactions Other, prior A$555m
  • 11:30: (AU) July RBA FX Transactions Market, prior A$3.14b

Futures fell for Japan and Australia while edging up for Hong Kong. US contracts fluctuated after Wall Street shares declined for the first time in four days, including a more than 1% drop in the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100.

Treasuries sold off across the curve amid a global bond selloff triggered by a surge in UK inflation. Two-year Treasuries sensitive to rate changes trimmed much of their drop after the Fed minutes. A dollar gauge advanced.

Swaps tied to Fed policy meeting dates indicated increased odds of a half-point hike next month rather than 75 basis points. Expectations of slower policy tightening and a pivot to cuts later next year have already contributed to a 12% jump in global stocks from June lows.

Other News

When the maker of a well-known Japanese popsicle lifted the sales price for the first time in a quarter-century a few years ago, dozens of executives and workers bowed deeply in apology in a somber television commercial. The company, Akagi Nyugyo Co., is now planning to raise the price of nearly three dozen other ice cream products. This time there’ll be no displays of contrition.

“We’re suddenly facing tsunami of price increases” for materials, said marketing director Fumio Hagiwara. “We will raise prices in order to survive.”

Apologies have long been an important lubricant for smooth communication in Japan. Conversations between friends, neighbors and co-workers are littered with habitual apologies for trivial inconveniences, such as asking for an elevator door to be held open momentarily. Businesses routinely apologize to customers, even for small issues such as failing to answer the phone quickly. Train operators will broadcast apologies on platforms when train services are as little as a minute late. A price change would typically be accompanied by a serving of humble pie.

When food company Yaokin Inc. raised the price for its flagship umaibo puffed corn snack by 2 yen — about 1.5 cents — to 12 yen in April, it published a message about the change on Twitter that might have seemed too blunt only a few months earlier: “We need to make a profit so that we can continue to ensure the survival of the snack industry.”

The change in etiquette for businesses this year is partly because companies no longer need to worry so much about looking like the lone bad guy, since nearly everyone is charging more.