Markets Overview

  • ASX SPI 200 futures down 0.6% to 7,185.00
  • Dow Average down 1.7% to 34,551.25
  • Aussie down 0.4% to 0.7118 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield fell 6.2bps to 1.4375%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield fell 4bps to 0.87%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield fell 5bps to 1.69%
  • Gold spot down 0.5% to $1,775.45
  • Brent futures down 3.9% to $70.57/bbl

Economic Events

  • 9am: (AU) Nov. Markit Australia PMI Mfg, prior 58.5
  • 10am: (AU) Nov. CoreLogic House Px MoM, prior 1.4%
  • 11am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1 Billion 4.5% 2033 Bonds
  • 11:30am: (AU) 3Q GDP YoY, est. 3.0%, prior 9.6%
  • 11:30am: (AU) 3Q GDP SA QoQ, est. -2.7%, prior 0.7%
  • 4:30pm: (AU) Nov. Commodity Index SDR YoY, prior 40.7%
  • 4:30pm: (AU) Nov. Commodity Index AUD, prior 129.8

Stocks sank after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell weighed an earlier end to bond tapering, with traders boosting their wagers on the pace of interest-rate hikes.
In a wild trading session for markets, the Treasury curve flattened sharply — with the premium of the 30-year rate over the five-year yield tumbling. Powell also told a Senate banking committee that it’s time to stop using the word “transitory” to describe inflation.

Money markets now show 55 basis points of rate tightening — more than two standard quarter-point increases — priced in by the end of 2022. That’s up from about 50 basis points on Monday. The first full hike remains priced for July. Fed officials have consistently said they want to wrap up the taper before lifting borrowing costs from near zero — where they’ve been since the pandemic began.

Other News

British fans of an Oasis tribute band spent the weekend confined to a remote Yorkshire pub with the group when a mountain of snow trapped them all in the bar.

Fans of Noasis had gathered at the Tan Hill Inn on Friday night to hear renditions of their favorite rock songs when piles of snow up to three feet high blocked the pub’s exits, according to the New York Times.

Local authorities said it was not safe to travel, so 61 stranded pub-goers and employees hunkered down and spent the night, the paper said.

The conditions did not improve, so the shut-ins also slept in the pub on Saturday and were preparing to sleep over again on Sunday amid howling winds and swirling snow, according to the report.

Off-roaders and a mountain rescue group were able to transport several people out of the bar to attend to medical and family situations, but most patrons didn’t look back in anger and made the best of the situation with cold beer, a warm fire and plenty of “Wonderwall” singalongs, the article said.