Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures up 0.8% to 7,347.00
  • Dow Average up 1.6% to 33,826.16
  • Aussie up 0.4% to 0.6630 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield rose 7.2bps to 3.5204%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield rose 6.7 bps to 3.02%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield rose 6.5 bps to 3.37%
  • Gold spot little changed at $1,987.90
  • Brent futures up 0.8% to $78.29/bbl

Economic Events

  • 11:30: (AU) March Private Sector Credit MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.3%
  • 11:30: (AU) March Private Sector Credit YoY, prior 7.6%
  • 11:30: (AU) 1Q PPI YoY, prior 5.8%
  • 11:30: (AU) 1Q PPI QoQ, prior 0.7%

Asian equity markets were poised to rise on Friday after solid earnings from technology companies led to gains on Wall Street, offsetting the impact of a report showing slowing US economic growth and higher-than-forecast inflation that caused Treasuries to dip.

Treasuries fell, with the policy-sensitive two-year yield trading at 4.07%, as the unexpectedly high inflation data could prompt the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer. The US central bank is expected to raise rates by a quarter percentage point at its meeting next week.

Futures for benchmarks in Hong Kong, Japan and Australia all pointed to advances, with the latter two poised to notch monthly gains. The S&P 500 on Thursday jumped 2%, the most since January, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 2.8% as a surge in advertising revenue helped Meta Platforms Inc. beat analyst estimates for profit, pushing the company’s shares 10% higher.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan is expected to leave overall monetary stimulus unchanged in its first policy decision under new governor Kazuo Ueda, with investors focused on what might be his opening changes after the BOJ’s first leadership transition in a decade.

 

 

Other News

A Royal Marine who ran the London Marathon carrying a fridge has set a world record, the Royal Navy says. Cpl Sam Hammond, 30, completed the 26.2-mile route with the appliance, dubbed “Fridget Jones”, on his back on Sunday in four hours and 52 minutes.

The Royal Navy said he beat the previous world record by 57 minutes. The record attempt will now be verified by Guinness World Records. The Cornwall-based marine was raising money for armed forces charity SSAFA.

Cpl Hammond, based at RNAS Culdrose, Helston, had only scooped his first Guinness World Record for running a half-marathon with his fridge, weighing in at 57.9lb (26.3kg), in Brighton in February.

The record comes under the category of “marathon carrying a household appliance (white goods)”.