Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures up 1.0% to 8,427.00
- Dow Average up 1.2% to 43,945.18
- Aussie up 0.2% to 0.6516 per US$
- US 10-year yield rose 2.3bps to 4.4336%
- Australia 3-year bond yield rose 2.6 bps to 4.10%
- Australia 10-year bond yield rose 1.9 bps to 4.58%
- Gold spot up 0.7% to $2,669.29
- Brent futures up 2.1% to $74.32/bbl
Economic Events
- 09:00: (AU) Nov. S&P Global Australia PMI Compo, prior 50.2
- 09:00: (AU) Nov. S&P Global Australia PMI Mfg, prior 47.3
- 09:00: (AU) Nov. S&P Global Australia PMI Servi, prior 51.0
- 11:00: (AU) Australia to Sell A$700 Million 2.75% 2028 Bonds
Stocks ended the day higher as traders contemplated a new US administration keen on deregulation. Bitcoin blew past $98,000 while the dollar gained and Treasury yields rose.
The S&P 500 advanced 0.5% after a choppy morning session spurred by swings in Nvidia Corp. and angst about the war in Ukraine. The Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.4% after dropping more than 1% earlier in the day. The fierce rally in Nvidia hit a speed bump following outlook that missed Wall Street’s high expectations. The stock resumed its climb in the final hours of trading to end the day in the green but shy of its latest all-time high.
Bitcoin extended its post-election run and is rapidly approaching $100,000 on bets President-elect Donald Trump’s support for crypto and looser regulation will usher in a boom for the industry. The planned departure of Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler is expected to give a boost to deregulation and digital assets. A report suggested Chris Giancarlo, a former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was being weighed as the first “crypto czar” under the incoming administration.
Trump’s pick to overhaul the Justice Department, Matt Gaetz, withdrew himself from consideration of the post amid sexual misconduct allegations. Uncertainty over who Trump will name to the top spot at the Treasury remains up in the air and weighed on US bonds.
“The contest for the Treasury Secretary appears to have come down to Bessent, Rowan, and Warsh – all of whom fall into the category of qualified adults in the room,” according to BMO’s Ian Lyngen. Though, “clarity is always preferable from the market’s perspective.”
Yields on the 10-year Treasury steadied at 4.42% and the dollar rebounded after mixed labor data. Jobless claims came in lower than expected while continuing claims, a gauge of the number of people receiving benefits, rose to a three-year high.
Among notable stock movers, Snowflake Inc. surged more than 30% while shares of MicroStrategy Inc., the largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin, sank on a short-seller report from Andrew Left’s Citron Research.
