Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures down 1.5% to 6,660.00
- Dow Average down 1.3% to 29,634.83
- Aussie down 1.4% to 0.6212 per US$
- U.S. 10-year yield rose 7.6bps to 4.0184%
- Australia 3-year bond yield rose 8.3 bps to 3.54%
- Australia 10-year bond yield rose 0.5 bps to 4.01%
- Gold spot down 1.3% to $1,644.47
- Brent futures down 3.1% to $91.63/bbl
Economic Events
Australia’s government will pledge to spend A$9.6 billion on infrastructure projects as part of its Oct. 25 budget, the Australian Associated Press reported.
Projects worth $2.6 billion will be funded in the state of Victoria, while $1.5 billion will be allocated to Queensland and New South Wales will get about $1 billion, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“It’s about making journeys quicker, but also making sure people can get home to their families safely,” the AAP quoted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying on Sunday. “Sound and planned infrastructure investment in Australia creates jobs, builds opportunity and unlocks economic growth and productivity for our cities and our regions.”
On Oct. 25, the Labor government will deliver its first budget since taking power against a backdrop of spiraling inflation and rising interest rates around the world. The fiscal blueprint will aim to provide relief for households from inflation without adding further demand to the economy.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said on Sunday that the government’s infrastructure pledge won’t add to inflationary pressure as the spending had already been “factored into the budget.”
“We are not going to be adding to inflation through this program,” she told Sky News. “We have been managing responsibly.”
Other News
A team of students from the University of Stuttgart in Germany broke the Guinness World Record for fastest accelerating electric vehicle when their car accelerated from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour — nearly 62 mph — in just 1.461 seconds. Known as the GreenTeam, the group previously achieved the title in 2012.
“On Friday September 23, 2022, the record was broken by 20 students from the University of Stuttgart with their self-built electric racing car, on a racetrack at the Bosch site in Renningen in the district of Böblingen in Baden-Württemberg,” the university said in a news release.
Thanks to its light weight, the EV can achieve a peak acceleration “which is roughly equivalent to the force experienced by astronauts when a rocket re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere,” it stated.
The claims held up when the car went from 0 to 100 kph in 1.461 seconds to earn a Guinness World Record.
Stuttgart’s GreenTeam managed to break the record once in 2012, when their car clocked an acceleration time of 2.681 seconds and again in 2015. However, it has been topped multiple times ever since – now including their most recent attempt.
