Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures little changed at 6,891.00
  • Dow Average down 0.3% to 32,726.82
  • Aussie up 0.3% to 0.6968 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield fell 1.5bps to 2.6883%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield rose 7.8 bps to 2.84%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield rose 7 bps to 3.14%
  • Gold spot up 1.5% to $1,790.97
  • Brent futures down 3.6% to $93.33/bbl

Economic Events

  • 11:00: (AU) Australia to Sell A$700 Million 4.75% 2027 Bonds
  • 11:30: (AU) RBA-Statement on Monetary Policy

Stocks in Asia look set for a cautious start on Friday as traders evaluate the latest batch of earnings and choppy economic prospects amid a global wave of monetary tightening and punishing inflation.

Treasuries mostly made modest gains, leaving the 10-year yield at 2.69%. The inversion between two-year and 10-year yields remained around the deepest since 2000, indicating worries about a recession.

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester reiterated the US central bank’s determination to quell price pressures. Earlier Thursday, the Bank of England unleashed its biggest interest-rate hike in 27 years and warned of a prolonged economic contraction.

Tighter policy is stoking economic angst and sapping assets like oil, which extended a plunge below $90 to levels last seen before Russia’s war in Ukraine. Gold, meanwhile, held an advance in part because of US-China tension over Taiwan.

Other News

An Italian priest is being investigated for holding Sunday Mass at the beach in his swim trunks on a floating mattress as an altar.

Photos of Bernasconi holding Mass in his swim trunks, with his arms outstretched over a floating air mattress in the sea soon surfaced online. The incident prompted warnings from Catholic authorities and an investigation from the Crotone Prosecutor’s Office.

The Archdiocese of Crotone-Santa Severina released a statement, saying that it was “necessary to maintain the minimum decorum and care for the symbols necessitated by the very nature of liturgical celebrations.”
It added, “In some special cases, during retreats, school camps, in vacation spots, it is also possible to celebrate Mass outside of a church. However, it is always necessary to contact the ecclesial leaders of the place where you are, to advise on the most appropriate way of carrying out a Eucharistic celebration of this kind.”

Bernasconi apologised for his actions. He told Corriere della Sella, “It was absolutely not my intention to trivialise the Eucharist or use it for other messages of any kind.”

The priest added that he believed the service was appropriate and respectful enough given the “simplicity and the poverty of the means.”