Global Markets Update
- U.S. equity markets closed mostly higher overnight, however, sentiment remained weak amid concerns of President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion tax-and-spending plan facing challenges, with Democrat Senator Joe Manchin casting doubt on the timeline for pushing Biden’s economic agenda through Congress and the Democrats releasing a package of tax increases that falls short of President Joe Biden’s ambition. The Dow Jones was up +0.8%, S&P 500 up +0.2% and NASDAQ declined -0.1%.
- Long-dated U.S. treasury yields were mixed, with the 2-Yr yield higher at 0.213% and the 10-Yr yield lower at 1.323%.
- European markets. European equity markets closed higher overnight, with the Stoxx Europe 600 up +0.3% and both German DAX and U.K. FTSE 100 closing +0.6% higher.
- Asian markets. Asian equity markets closed mostly higher overnight, with the Hang Seng down -1.5%, amid concerns of increasing crackdown on tech sector following reports that China is seeking to break up Ant Group Co’s Alipay and create a separate app for its loan business, has ordered the largest internet companies to stop blocking links from rivals on their apps to to boost competition, and have called for platform operators to review the working conditions of gig economy workers. The Shanghai Composite was up +0.3%, Nikkei 225 gained +0.2% and KOSPI closed +0.1% higher.
- WTI oil gained +1.3% and is trading at US$70.65 a barrel, after OPEC predicted stronger demand for its crude, revising the world’s appetite for OPEC crude up by 260k barrels a day for 2021, compared with last month’s estimate, largely due to supply disruptions outside the group and up by 1.12m barrels a day for 2022, with global consumption expected to increase by 4.2m barrels a day in 2022 to 100.8m barrels a day, 980k barrels a day higher than last month’s estimate and exceeding pre-pandemic levels. Iron ore price is at US$135.42 per ton. Spot gold is trading at US$1,793 per oz.
ASX Market Update
- ASX performance. The ASX 200 closed +0.25% higher yesterday.
- Sydney Airport (SYD) was up +4.6%, after IFM-led consortium raised takeover bid by +3.5% to A$8.75 a share.
- Today’s trading. In Australia, business confidence data is to be published.