Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures down 0.6% to 6,909.00
- Dow Average down 1.9% to 33,063.61
- Aussie little changed at 0.6879 per US$
- U.S. 10-year yield rose 4.8bps to 3.0201%
- Australia 3-year bond yield rose 10 bps to 3.20%
- Australia 10-year bond yield rose 11 bps to 3.52%
- Gold spot down 0.6% to $1,736.04
- Brent futures little changed at $96.68/bbl
Economic Events
- 09:00: (AU) Aug. S&P Global Australia PMI Servi, prior 50.9
- 09:00: (AU) Aug. S&P Global Australia PMI Compo, prior 51.1
- 09:00: (AU) Aug. S&P Global Australia PMI Mfg, prior 55.7
- 11:00: (AU) Australia to Sell A$150 Million 0.25% 2032 Bonds
Stocks in Asia look set for a downbeat open Tuesday after worries about Federal Reserve monetary tightening saddled US shares with their worst drop in two months while boosting bond yields and the dollar.
Futures slid for Japan and Australia but Hong Kong’s were steady after a gauge of US-listed Chinese shares bucked the slumps in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100.
China has cut borrowing costs and plans special loans for developers worth as much as 200 billion yuan ($29.3 billion). These moves to tackle a property crisis may be a prop for sentiment on the mainland and in Hong Kong.
The Fed’s brake on the US economy to ensure high inflation keeps cooling remains the key wider driver in global markets. Traders are bracing for hawkish talk at the central bank’s Jackson Hole retreat later this week.
Shorter maturities led a Treasuries selloff against that backdrop, pushing the 10-year yield above 3%. The dollar rose and the euro weakened to a fresh two-decade low. Recession fears are dragging on the euro as Russia foments an energy crisis by choking gas supplies in the fallout from its war in Ukraine.
Other News
A British teenager flying who is attempting to become the youngest person to fly around the world solo has revealed that he was forced to touch down because of poor weather during his world record attempt.
Mack Rutherford, 17, said he landed on an abandoned Pacific island during a “hairy moment” as he travelled from Japan to Alaska.
Speaking from Biggin Hill airport in London as he prepares for the final stages of his journey, he said: “I think the hairiest moment was on the Pacific flight. After ten hours, I arrived at this small island, it was starting to get dark so I landed and it was quite low cloud, it was raining, it was getting quite dark, no lights on the runway.”
“It’s actually an uninhabited island, so if anything had gone wrong I would be on my own, on that island, so really important that nothing went wrong. I landed there and had to sleep in a small shed on the side of the runway because it was completely abandoned for over ten years.”
Rutherford, who has British and Belgian citizenship, took off from Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, on March 23 and flew to Italy and Greece, before navigating Asia, Africa, the United States, and two oceans. He visited Scotland last weekend and made his first return to England today, touching down at Biggin Hill. He is in the final stage of his journey back to Sofia, where his key sponsor is based, and hopes to arrive on August 24.
Rutherford is aiming to beat the Guinness World Record for the youngest person to fly around the world solo in a small plane. It is held by the British pilot Travis Ludlow, who completed the feat aged 18 in 150 days.
The journey has already posed several challenges for Rutherford, including sandstorms in Sudan, extreme heat in Dubai, airport closures in India and many technical issues. However, he has been spurred on by his sister Zara, who became the youngest woman to fly around the world in January, aged 19.
Rutherford has wanted to be a pilot since the age of three and qualified for his pilot licence in September 2020, aged 15. His father Sam is a professional ferry pilot, and his mother Beatrice is a private pilot.
Rutherford is flying a Shark, a high-performance aircraft which can reach a cruising speed of 186mph. The aircraft has been specially prepared for the long journey and ICDSoft, Rutherford’s main sponsor, is loaning it to him for the attempt.
(The Times)
