Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures down 0.1% to 7,426.00
  • Dow Average up 0.4% to 33,774.93
  • Aussie up 0.3% to 0.7050 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield fell 4.7bps to 3.4674%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield rose 0.5 bps to 3.05%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield rose 1.4 bps to 3.46%
  • Gold spot up 0.4% to $1,938.20
  • Brent futures down 2.3% to $86.16/bbl

Economic Events

  • 10:30: (AU) Dec. Westpac Leading Index MoM, prior -0.13%
  • 11:30: (AU) 4Q CPI Trimmed Mean QoQ, est. 1.5%, prior 1.8%
  • 11:30: (AU) 4Q CPI Trimmed Mean YoY, est. 6.5%, prior 6.1%
  • 11:30: (AU) 4Q CPI Weighted Median QoQ, est. 1.4%, prior 1.4%
  • 11:30: (AU) 4Q CPI Weighted Median YoY, est. 5.5%, prior 5.0%
  • 11:30: (AU) Dec. CPI YoY, est. 7.7%, prior 7.3%
  • 11:30: (AU) Dec. CPI Trimmed Mean YoY, est. 5.8%, prior 5.6%
  • 11:30: (AU) 4Q CPI QoQ, est. 1.6%, prior 1.8%
  • 11:30: (AU) 4Q CPI YoY, est. 7.5%, prior 7.3%

Wall Street saw some buyer fatigue after a solid equity rally, with investors scouring a batch of earnings for clues on the outlook for Corporate America amid mounting fears about a recession.

A combination of mixed earnings and economic numbers is making investors hesitant to take on more risk particularly after an equity surge that drove the S&P 500 up more than 10% from its mid-October low. US business activity contracted for a seventh month, though at a more moderate pace, while a measure of input prices firmed in a sign of lingering inflationary pressures.

The swap market is pricing around 48 basis points of rate hikes over the next two policy meetings. That implies a small chance — approximately 8% — that if the Fed raises its benchmark rate by a quarter point next week, it could be the central bank’s final move in a tightening cycle that has marked the most aggressive action against inflation in several decades.

Other News

Correctly predicting the first touchdown scorer of an NFL game is really hard. Doing it for every game played in a single weekend is almost impossible.

Parlaying those incredibly long odds will get you even longer odds that can turn a few bucks into a huge payday. For a bettor named Cameron Craig on Twitter, that meant turning a $5 free bet into $72,795.

After nailing the first players to score in each of the first three games of the divisional playoffs – Travis Kelce, Dallas Goedert and Ja’Marr Chase – Craig just needed Dalton Schultz to score first in Sunday night’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers. The clip below shows the incredible moment it actually happened.

To illustrate how improbable this was, San Francisco had the first crack at scoring, which would’ve killed this bet on its last leg. Dak Prescott threw a first-quarter interception from his own 21, but Dallas’ defense held strong with a short field and forced the Niners to kick a field goal.

Schultz scored on the next Cowboys possession, reaching the end zone before other threats such as CeeDee Lamb, Ezekiel Elliott, Tony Pollard, or even Prescott himself, could ruin the parlay.

The first touchdown scorers weren’t the only right calls Craig made. He also declined taking an early payout of $1,393 before the Schultz touchdown.

Craig might have considered the payout if it was a little more, but $1,400 wasn’t enough to sway the temptation of winning more than $72,000. The early payout likely would have been more if the initial stake wasn’t a free bet, but it still seemed a little skimp.

(USA Today)