Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures up 0.7% to 6,906.00
  • Dow Average up 1.0% to 32,845.13
  • Aussie down 0.2% to 0.6977 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield fell 2.5bps to 2.6487%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield fell 19 bps to 2.66%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield fell 15 bps to 3.06%
  • Gold spot up 0.6% to $1,765.94
  • Brent futures up 2.1% to $103.97/bbl

Economic Events

  • 09:00: (AU) July S&P Global Australia PMI Mfg, prior 55.7
  • 11:00: (AU) July Melbourne Institute Inflation, prior 0.3%
  • 11:00: (AU) July Melbourne Institute Inflation, prior 4.7%
  • 11:30: (AU) July ANZ Job Advertisements MoM, prior 1.4%
  • The Reserve Bank of Australia will lift its key interest rate by 50 basis points for a third consecutive month on Tuesday to 1.85%, according to all but one of 23 economists surveyed. Home prices in Sydney fell 2.2% in July while Melbourne dropped 1.5%, CoreLogic Inc. said in a report.

Stocks in Asia face a mixed start Monday as the economic and regulatory challenges swirling around China temper some of the optimism sparked by a recent rebound in risk appetite.

Futures rose for Japan and Australia but fell for Hong Kong following the best month for global shares since 2020, which pared their slump this year to 16%. Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 dipped.

Weekend data indicated a surprise contraction in Chinese factory activity, illustrating the cost of Beijing’s preference for mobility curbs to tackle Covid.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. sank in Wall Street trading Friday after being addedto a list of firms facing US delisting for failing to provide access to audits. That pushed down the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index.

Treasuries begin August with the 10-year yield at 2.65%, down from June’s peak near 3.50%. A slowing economy has cooled expectations for the scale of the Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes needed to tame high inflation, encouraging July’s rally in both stocks and bonds. Equities also got a fillip from resilient US earnings — over 70% of firms have so far beaten expectations.

Other News

An all-female rowing team broke a world record by rowing from California to Hawaii in 34 days, 14 hours and 11 minutes – a distance of more than 2,400 nautical miles.

Also known as the Lat35 crew, the all-women team of Libby Costello, Sophia Denison-Johnston, Brooke Downes and Adrienne Smith, set off from San Francisco in June and reached Honolulu Tuesday morning.

The quartet broke the world record for the fastest time to row from California to Hawaii unassisted for an all-female team.

“I think something that I want people to take away is that these women are so incredible but we’re not superhuman,” Downes told Good Morning America after arriving in the archipelago.

“There’s nothing that we were born with that makes us any different than anybody else.”

The rowing team’s world record-setting voyage raised money for the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

Sharing their achievement on Instagram, lat35 said in a post: “Ocean rowers have been under 18 and over 70 years old, some began as ultra athletes, but some began as a bunch of mom’s that weren’t very sporty. Rowing an ocean will push you to your limits, but whilst it is an extreme project, it is a realistic project, and a life-changing experience for anyone that takes it on.”

In 2021, a four-man team rowed from San Francisco to Honolulu in 30 days, 7 hours and 30 minutes, setting the record for the men’s category, according to UPI.

Speaking on unassisted expeditions, a man from Hawaii who lost his left arm and leg after he was hit by a drunk driver, completed the first solo voyage around the world by a double amputee to set a one-of-its-kind Guinness World Record.

Dustin Reynolds, the “Single-handed sailor”, set sail on a seven-year solo trip around the world from Kaliua Kona in 2014 and returned to his home state in December 2021.