Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures little changed at 6,516.00
  • Dow Average down 0.7% to 30,772.79
  • Aussie little changed at 0.6757 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield fell 3.4bps to 2.9336%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield fell 0.8bps to 2.87%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield fell 3bps to 3.39%
  • Gold spot up 0.6% to $1,735.50
  • Brent futures up 0.3% to $99.77/bbl

Economic Events

  • 10:30am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1 Billion 56-Day Bills
  • 10:30am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$500 Million 133-Day Bills
  • 10:30am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1 Billion 98-Day Bills
  • 11am: (AU) July Consumer Inflation Expectation, prior 6.7%
  • 11:30am: (AU) June Part Time Employment Change, prior -8,700
  • 11:30am: (AU) June Full Time Employment Change, prior 69,400
  • 11:30am: (AU) June Employment Change, est. 30,000, prior 60,600
  • 11:30am: (AU) June Participation Rate, est. 66.7%, prior 66.7%
  • 11:30am: (AU) June Unemployment Rate, est. 3.8%, prior 3.9%

Stocks finished lower as a shockingly hot US inflation report rattled financial markets, boosting bets the Federal Reserve could get even more aggressive with its belt-tightening campaign.

Amid unnerving swings, the S&P 500 failed to hold gains after reversing a 1.6% slide. Swap markets shifted to price in a full-point hike as more likely than a 75-basis-point increase in July. Treasury two-year yields, which are more sensitive to imminent Fed moves, climbed.

The biggest surge in US consumer prices since 1981 showed that an inflation peak may still be out of reach.

Other News

Delta Air Lines Inc. passengers who lost their luggage due to operational chaos at London’s Heathrow Airport got extra help in reuniting with their belongings when the carrier deployed a wide-body aircraft to bring 1,000 bags back to the US.

Delta’s “creative solution” came after it canceled regularly scheduled London-to-Detroit Flight 17 on July 11 because of passenger limits imposed by Heathrow, the Atlanta-based airline said Wednesday. Travelers were shifted to other flights, and Delta used the empty Airbus SE A330-200 to retrieve the lost bags.

The luggage was returned to Detroit and forwarded to customers from there, Delta said Wednesday.

“We’ve gone as far as recently we had a separate charter just to repatriate bags back to customers that have been stranded because of some of the operational issues,” Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said on a conference call to discuss quarterly financial results.

Heathrow has struggled to keep up with bags over the past few weeks because of understaffing and a surge in travel. The crisis has led luggage to pile up after some passengers were forced to leave the terminals without their bags.