Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures little changed at 7,198.00
  • Dow Average down 0.2% to 32,580.75
  • Aussie up 0.4% to 0.6754 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield rose 7.2bps to 3.9945%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield fell 8.7 bps to 3.51%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield fell 6.5 bps to 3.79%
  • Gold spot up 0.6% to $1,838.30
  • Brent futures up 1.1% to $84.33/bbl

Economic Events

  • 10:30: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1 Billion 84-Day Bills
  • 10:30: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1 Billion 140-Day Bills
  • 10:30: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1 Billion 161-Day Bills
  • 11:30: (AU) Jan. Private Sector Houses MoM, est. -2.1%, prior -2.3%
  • 11:30: (AU) Jan. Building Approvals MoM, est. -7.0%, prior 18.5%

US stocks dropped for a second session as investors revisited their wagers on peak rates after economic data highlighted persistent inflationary pressures and Federal Reserve officials continued to sound hawkish.

The S&P 500 closed the day at its lowest level in nearly six weeks. The Nasdaq 100 dropped to its lowest since January 30. Both indexes remained lower for most of the session after a gauge of manufacturing improved for the first time in six months and investors balked at prices-paid measures also rising.

Treasury yields stayed higher, with the 10-year rate piercing the closely watched 4% level. Fed swaps are now pricing in a peak policy rate of 5.5% in September, with some traders betting that the benchmark interest rate could reach 6%.

Other News

The Twitter executive who was seen in a viral photo sleeping on the floor at headquarters as Elon Musk imposed his “extremely hardcore” work culture has been fired, according to reports.

Esther Crawford, a holdover from the old regime who reportedly gained Musk’s trust and elbowed her way into the reclusive mogul’s tight inner circle, was given the boot over the weekend, according to the Information.

Sources told the tech news site that Crawford and several other product leaders learned they were fired after they were locked out of their company systems over the weekend.

Crawford took to social media late Sunday and responded to the torrent of criticism from Twitter users who noted that she got the ax despite her loyalty to her new boss.

“The worst take you could have from watching me go all-in on Twitter 2.0 is that my optimism or hard work was a mistake,” Crawford tweeted.

“Those who jeer & mock are necessarily on the sidelines and not in the arena,” she said, referencing a famous quote by Theodore Roosevelt.

“I’m deeply proud of the team for building through so much noise & chaos.”

Several Twitter users accused Crawford of being “sycophantic” while others snarked that it was a “real shocker that sleeping in the office wasn’t enough.”

Crawford, who was entrusted to oversee the Twitter Blue subscription service, stood out because she was one of the few of Musk’s trusted lieutenants who was not brought over from one of his other companies — Tesla, SpaceX, and The Boring Co.

Crawford was one of the dozens of engineers, product managers, data scientists, and team heads who were let go, according to the tech-centered news site.

At least 200 employees were laid off in the latest round of cuts, according to reports.

Martijn de Kuijper, a senior product manager based in Holland, tweeted that he too learned of his dismissal when he was unable to log into his corporate computer system.

“Waking up to find I’ve been locked out of my email. Looks like I’m let go,” tweeted de Kuijper, who founded the Revue newsletter platform, which was later bought by Twitter.

“Now my Revue journey is really over.”

Revue was shut down by Twitter in January.

The latest job cuts at Twitter appear to be a sign that Musk is having difficulty meeting his goal of breaking even.

Musk has culled his workforce at least eight times since taking the helm of the San Francisco-based microblogging site last fall.

Before Musk bought the firm, Twitter employed roughly 7,500 people. As of Monday, that number has been whittled down to around 2,000 — an astounding 73% cut.

Musk’s social media company, which he acquired for $44 billion last year, must make a $1.2 billion annual interest payment as per the terms of the mogul’s heavily leveraged buyout of the firm.

Musk said in November that the service was experiencing a “massive drop in revenue” as advertisers pulled spending amid concerns about content moderation.

Twitter recently started sharing revenue from advertisements with some of its content creators.

(New York Post)