Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures down 1.3% to 7,038.00
- Dow Average down 1.1% to 34,099.42
- Aussie down 1.0% to 0.6416 per US$
- U.S. 10-year yield rose 4.4bps to 4.2372%
- Australia 3-year bond yield fell 5.8 bps to 3.81%
- Australia 10-year bond yield fell 7.9 bps to 4.12%
- Gold spot little changed at $1,916.82
- Brent futures little changed at $83.13/bbl
Economic Events
Asian stocks were set to follow a selloff on Wall Street, with bond yields rising as traders comb through remarks from a slew of Federal Reserve officials and await Jerome Powell’s speech for clues on the interest-rate outlook.
Equity futures for Japan, Hong Kong and Australia pointed to declines after the S&P 500 almost wiped out its weekly advance, while losses in the Nasdaq 100 topped 2%. Treasury two-year yields, which are more sensitive to imminent policy moves, climbed above 5%. The greenback advanced against all of its G-10 peers on Thursday, with the Australian and New Zealand dollars falling the most in more than three weeks.
Traders are keeping a close eye on the annual gathering of top central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming — where Powell is scheduled to deliver a speech at 10:05 a.m. Washington time Friday. The Fed chief will likely use his platform to outline how officials will assess whether rates should go higher and determine when it’s time to start cutting them.
Other News
Qantas Airways Ltd. and Air New Zealand Ltd. have both snapped up new planes to boost previous multibillion dollar aircraft orders, suggesting aviation’s lucrative post-Covid travel boom is far from over despite concerns about sky-high fares.
Australian national carrier Qantas on Thursday purchased 12 Boeing Co. 787s and 12 Airbus SE A350s jets to replace its fleet of aging Airbus A330s that shuttle to Asia and the US. The airline has options to buy even more of the aircraft over the next decade.
In Auckland, Air New Zealand said it was buying two 68-seat propeller-driven ATR72s to ply short domestic routes, along with two more Airbus A321s — capable of flying more than 200 people to Australia and the Pacific Islands.
The rival airlines, whose bases are separated by a three-hour flight across the Tasman Sea, announced their race to get more planes in the skies as each returned to profit following the pandemic. Underpinning the earnings — and soaring ticket prices — is an enduring mismatch between travel demand and available seats.
It’s a similar picture in many parts of the world. From India’s IndiGo to Ryanair Holdings Plc in Europe, airlines are lining up jet deliveries stretching into the next decade as an insatiable appetite for international flights collides with a shortage of new planes.
