The Australian sharemarket has opened lower, tracking a loss Wall Street after stronger-than-expected jobs data heaped more interest rate worries on equity markets.
Early in trade, materials stocks have also been hit, after industrial metal prices extended their losses for the second straight day. BHP and Rio Tinto are both down more than 1 per cent. Société Générale’s Albert Edwards, who’s been forecasting a market drop for some time, wrote in a note that the surge in bond yields had ”have edged up 0.3 per cent after a major stakeholder and Australia’s richest woman increased her holding in the company to 14.7 per cent.gained 0.8 per cent after disclosing that JPMorgan and its affiliates had tipped over the 5 per cent substantial holding line.dipped 1.1 per cent.
“ASIC has appealed this decision because we are concerned that representations were made to First Nations people that ACBF and its funeral plan had Aboriginal ownership and management which, in ASIC’s view, had the effect of deceiving many Aboriginal consumers into buying the plan,” commissioner Sarah Court said.Conditions are deteriorating across all corners of the corporate credit market amid growing concern over the prospect of interest rates staying elevated for an extended period.
Speculative-grade borrowers are also feeling the pain from the turn in credit sentiment. Junk-bond spreads are the highest since the end of June, hovering at just over 400 basis points, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Yields have surged above 9 per cent as Treasury rates spike higher. Many investors do watch Buffett’s moves closely because of his extremely successful track record over the years.
“This increase comes after a slowdown in the business sector since April 2023. The continued stability of PMI price indices, especially input prices, suggests that inflation will remain high and uncomfortable for the rest of 2023,” he said. The rally in megacap tech led by hype around artificial intelligence started to fizzle in September as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s stance to keep interest rates higher for longer to tame inflation — a headwind for equities.
“TPG securityholders should be aware that the nature of the transaction involves considerable complexity which needs time to work through and there remains no certainty an agreed transaction will eventuate.”Wall Street’s fear gauges are hitting four-month highs after stronger-than-expected job data sent more interest rate worries shuddering through US bond and equity markets.
Yields on the US 10- and 30-year traded to the highest level since 2007, with the longer-term bond reaching above 4.9 per cent. Wall Street has been speculating that rates on longer dated bonds will hit 5 per cent. The climb in yields was also stoking anxiety in the credit market where at least two issuers called off sales Tuesday.
ASX futures were down 35 points or 0.5 per cent to 6929 near 8.30am AEDT, tracking a weaker US sharemarket that sent the benchmark S&P 500 to a four-month low.