Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures up 0.4% to 7,019.00
- Dow Average up 0.6% to 32,430.87
- Aussie little changed at 0.6647 per US$
- U.S. 10-year yield rose 15.7bps to 3.5336%
- Australia 3-year bond yield fell 4.3 bps to 2.81%
- Australia 10-year bond yield fell 2.2 bps to 3.19%
- Gold spot down 1.0% to $1,957.73
- Brent futures up 4.2% to $78.12/bbl
Economic Events
- 11:00: (AU) Australia to Sell A$150 Million 0.75% 2027 Linkers
- 11:30: (AU) Feb. Retail Sales MoM, est. 0.2%, prior 1.9%
- 16:15: (AU) RBA’s Connolly-Speech
The S&P 500 rose on Monday, with financial firms in the index up more than 1%. Energy producers also advanced. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 ended the session 0.7% lower capping a two-week advance. The two-year Treasury yield topped 4%.
A gauge of regional lenders climbed roughly 2.5% as First Citizens BancShares Inc. rallied more than 50% after agreeing to buy SVB Financial Group’s Silicon Valley Bank. First Republic Bank jumped on a Bloomberg report that US authorities are considering expanding an emergency lending facility that would give the lender more time to bolster its balance sheet.
The weekend may have brought some relief to the banking sector, but it will continue to be closely watched. A gauge of regional US banks has lost roughly 30% since early February.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to around 3.54% while the interest rate-sensitive two-year jumped to 4.02%. Such an inverted yield curve — where the short-term rate is higher than the long-term — continues to signal a downturn ahead.
Fed Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari warned over the weekend that the strain on the financial sector had the US on the brink of a recession. The usually hawkish Kashkari avoided making a prediction about the central bank’s May meeting.
Other News
A dashboard video captured the heart-stopping moment a vehicle was sent spinning in the air after being struck by a tire that had come off a pickup truck during a freak accident on a busy California freeway.
The wild scene was recorded by a Tesla dashcam last Thursday on the 118 Freeway in Chatsworth and resembled a chase sequence straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster.
The video shows a dark-colored Kia Soul hatchback approaching a white Chevy Silverado pickup truck traveling in the middle lane.
Moments later, the Chevy truck’s front left wheel comes flying off the axle and careens directly into the path of the unsuspecting Kia, sending it flipping in mid-air before it comes crashing down.
Fortunately for the driver, the vehicle landed right side up on its wheels.
Incredibly, the California Highway Patrol said the sole occupant of the mangled Kia Soul suffered only minor injuries, and no one else was hurt, reported the station ABC 7.
According to officials, it appears a lug nut on the pickup truck sheared off for an unknown reason, causing the tire to detach from the wheel hub.
(New York Post)
