Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures up 0.1% to 7,375.00
- Dow Average little changed at 33,976.63
- Aussie up 0.4% to 0.6728 per US$
- U.S. 10-year yield fell 2.4bps to 3.5756%
- Australia 3-year bond yield rose 9.7 bps to 3.09%
- Australia 10-year bond yield rose 10 bps to 3.47%
- Gold spot up 0.5% to $2,005.16
- Brent futures little changed at $84.79/bbl
Economic Events
- 10:30: (AU) March Westpac Leading Index MoM, prior -0.06%
Stocks were little changed as traders weighed earnings from some of the largest American banks and comments from two Federal Reserve officials who favor continued rate hikes to fight inflation.
The S&P 500 added 0.1%. The Cboe Volatility Index hit its lowest since January 2022, remaining below 17. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell as its results showed traders failed to capitalize on Wall Street’s fixed-income boom, contributing to firmwide revenue that trailed estimates. Bank of America Corp. rose after profit beat expectations.
Two-year US yields, which are more sensitive to imminent policy moves, edged higher. Fed Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic told CNBC he favors raising rates one more time and then holding them above 5% for some time to curb inflation. His St. Louis counterpart James Bullard separately told Reuters that he favors getting rates into a 5.5% to 5.75% range. The benchmark currently sits between 4.75% and 5%.
Other News
A custom license plate in Dubai sold at auction earlier this month for a world record-setting $15 million, according to the auction house.
Emirates Auction, a Dubai-based auction house that sells luxury vehicles and properties, announced that it had sold “the most expensive [license plate] number in the world” at a charity auction on April 8.
The license plate features just two characters — the letter “P” and the number “7,” according to the auction house.
Emirates Auction released a photo of the plate attached to a white Bugatti with blue accents.
The auction house claimed that the plate sets a new Guinness World Record, however the organization has yet to confirm.
“The Most Noble Numbers charity auction has once again demonstrated the remarkable generosity of the UAE community in supporting charitable causes,” said Omar Matar Almannaei, the executive director of Emirates Auction, in a statement.
The previous record for the most expensive car registration was held by a Abu Dhabi license plate that cost over $14.2 million that was sold at an Emirates Auction event in 2008, according to Guinness.
That plate included a single digit, “1.”
(New York Post)
