Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures up 0.5% to 7,412.00
- Dow Average down 0.2% to 34,894.12
- Aussie down 1.2% to 0.7148 per US$
- U.S. 10-year yield fell 1.9bps to 1.2400%
- Australia 3-year bond yield fell 3bps to 0.19%
- Australia 10-year bond yield fell 6bps to 1.08%
- Gold spot down 0.4% to $1,780.69
- Brent futures down 2.0% to $66.89/bbl
Economic Events
- 9:05am: (AU) RBA’s Kent Speech to Conference
- 11am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$700 Million 3.25% 1336-Day Bills
Asian stocks look set for a cautious open Friday as the delta virus strain and the prospect of reduced central bank stimulus weigh on the economic outlook, hurting commodities and bolstering the dollar.
Futures were modestly higher in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 rose overnight in a choppy session, while Treasuries climbed and the dollar hit a nine-month high. Commodities extended a slump, flashing a warning about the impact of Covid-19’s resurgence on the global recovery.
Chinese stocks listed in the U.S. tumbled further as Beijing deepens a regulatory crackdown on private industry, including declines of more than 6% in Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
Other News
Alati — who, coincidently is a trained snake catcher — said the snake’s head came to within 8 inches of her own. “Thankfully, I have a background in snakes so I was pretty calm about it. It definitely shocked me a little bit because I wasn’t expecting it,” she said. Supermarket chain Woolworths confirmed in a statement that a “slippery and rare customer was spotted in the spice aisle” on Monday morning at its store in the suburb of Glenorie on Sydney’s northwest outskirts. “Once it was sighted, our team members reacted quickly and calmly to cordon off the area for the safety of customers,” the statement said. Alati said she used her phone to video the snake as it extended its body from the shelf into the aisle before reporting the intruder to supermarket staff. “I said: ‘I’ll go get my snake bag.’ I think they thought I was a bit crazy to be honest. I don’t think they knew what to say when I said, ‘There’s a 10-foot python in your aisle,’” Alati said. She retrieved the snake-catching bag from her nearby home and caught the snake, which had by then retreated back into the shelf. She then released it into nearby woodlands. It’s unclear how or when the snake entered the supermarket. “Only in Australia!” Hilary Leigh wrote in a Facebook post while sharing a video of the snake. “Lucky there was a lovely person who was very familiar with this type of species and safely looked after the good looking culprit.” Alati, who was trained to catch venomous snakes when she was a volunteer working for a Sydney wildlife rescue organization several years ago, suspected the snake was a male looking for a mate. “I knew straight away it was non-venomous, it was non-aggressive, it wasn’t going to be a problem for anyone,” Alati said. “If anything, I think everyone was a little bit excited. We’re all in lockdown so it was kind of like the most excitement we’ve had for a while,” she said. According to the Australia Zoo, diamond pythons are black in color with cream or yellow, diamond-shaped blotches covering the entire length of their body. “They constrict their prey in order to kill it and then consume it whole,” the zoo said.
