Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures up 0.6% to 7,138.00
- Dow Average up 1.8% to 33,529.22
- Aussie up 0.1% to 0.7198 per US$
- U.S. 10-year yield rose 1.3bps to 2.1473%
- Australia 3-year bond yield rose 2bps to 1.86%
- Australia 10-year bond yield rose 7bps to 2.52%
- Gold spot down 1.7% to $1,917.22
- Brent futures down 7.7% to $98.68/bbl
Economic Events
- 10:30am: (AU) Feb. Westpac Leading Index MoM, prior 0.13%
- 11am: (AU) Australia to Sell A$1 Billion 1.25% 2022 Bonds
Australia will end a two-year long ban on international cruise ships arriving and departing from its ports on April 17, as the billion-dollar industry slowly begins to recover after being severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement Tuesday, the government said it was satisfied with the progress made by states and the cruise industry to protect passengers from Covid-19 outbreaks on board.
The cruising industry is worth more than A$5 billion to the Australian economy, according to Cruise Lines International Association, and provides work for thousands of people. More than 600,000 cruise ship passengers visited Australia in 2019 before the pandemic, according to the government.
Other News
The verdict is in on the “world’s largest potato” and it’s now apparent that Dug the spud is in fact a different vegetable altogether.
The “potato” was dug up by Colin and Donna Craig-Brown, from New Zealand’ s Waikato region, last August.
They suspected ‘Dug’ to be the world’s biggest spud and were waiting to hear back from Guiness World Records to see if their “potato was actually the world’s heaviest, after sending a sample of the UK for DNA testing.
But according to an email from Guinness World Records received by the couple on Sunday, the Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture/SASA found the DNA sample taken showed the specimen was not a potato.
Instead, the 7.9kg tuber is a type of gourd.
For that reason, the Craig-Brown’s application for the World Records was disqualified.
