ASX set for slight dip as Wall St falls

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Summary

  • The ASX200 is set up for a dip of 0.3 per cent.
  • The S&P 500 closed at the lowest level in about five weeks.
  • Sims, Ampol ex-dividend today.

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Australia’s competition tsar Rod Sims has shot down Regional Express’ (Rex) claims that Qantas is dumping capacity on marginal routes to crush its smaller competitors, saying the airline is making money from its expanded network.

Qantas and its Jetstar subsiduary have launched 26 new domestic and regional routes since June last year, as the airline tries to milk the local travel market while its international fleet remains mothballed due to COVID-19.

Country airline Rex has accused Qantas of launching loss-making services onto some of its monopoly routes to weaken it as a competitor following Rex’s newly launched Sydney-Melbourne jet service.

However, Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) chairman Rod Sims told a senate inquiry into the future of aviation post-COVID on Thursday that he did not think Qantas was engaging in “predatory” behaviour.

“If Qantas has the aircraft, it’s incurring the fixed costs, it realises it can make a cash contribution by flying somewhere - it’s a bit hard to call that predatory,” Mr Sims said.

“Once we start getting back to normal, you might have a different definition of what constitutes predatory. [But] our sense is that ... they are cash positive on those routes by and large at the moment.”

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RATINGS CHANGES:

  • Aristocrat (ALL AU): Aristocrat Reinstated Overweight at Morgan Stanley; PT A$38
  • Integral Diagnostics (IDX AU): Integral Diagnostics Rated New Buy at Goldman; PT A$5.50

MARKETS:

  • Dow Average down 1.3% to 30,851.93
  • FTSE 100 down 0.4% to 6,650.88
  • Euro down 0.7% to $1.1976
  • Aussie down 0.6% to 0.7732 per US$
  • Kiwi down 0.8% to 0.7192 per US$
  • U.S. 10-year yield rose 6.4bps to 1.5467%
  • Australia 3-year bond yield rose 2bps to 0.13%
  • Australia 10-year bond yield rose 10bps to 1.77%
  • Gold spot down 0.8% to $1,697.85
  • Brent futures up 4.2% to $66.73/bbl
  • BHP (BHP AU), Rio Tinto (RIO AU) and Fortescue (FMG AU): Iron ore futures are down 2.9% to $170.30

Courtesy of Bloomberg.

Stocks and bonds sold off after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell underwhelmed markets by refraining from pushing back more forcefully against the recent spike in Treasury yields.

The S&P 500 briefly erased its advance for 2021 and closed at the lowest level in about five weeks. Benchmark 10-year bond rates topped 1.5%, and the dollar climbed. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 extended its decline from a February peak to almost 10%, and the Russell 2000 of small caps slid 2.8%. A wave of Reddit users appeared to rush back into GameStop, with the video game retailer soaring.

It sets up the ASX to edge lower, with futures at 7.18am AEDT pointing to a fall of 0.3 per cent at the open.

Powell said in an online event Thursday that he’d be “concerned” by disorderly markets, but he stopped short of offering steps to curb heightened volatility. The surge in Treasury yields has triggered fears about elevated stock valuations after a torrid equity rally from the depths of the pandemic. While bulls have decided to view the jump in rates as a sign of economic strength that could lift corporate profits, there’s been mounting concern over a potential pickup in consumer prices. For Bleakley Advisory Group’s Peter Boockvar, the Fed has put itself in a “tough situation.”

“We are again seeing a market that is taking control of monetary policy from the Fed,” said Boockvar, the firm’s chief investment officer. “Long rates are rising right now because Powell is again very dovish. The more dovish they get in the face of market expectations of higher inflation, the more financial tightening we’ll see.”

Despite the lingering uncertainties about the impacts of rising bond yields, such fears are “misplaced,” according to Candice Bangsund, portfolio manager of global asset allocation at Fiera Capital.

“As long as the backup in bond yields reflects stronger growth expectations (versus tighter monetary policy), then the long-term bull market will not be at risk,” she said. “The latest normalization in bond yields should be viewed as an encouraging sign that growth is healing, while the prospect for a hawkish turn from the Federal Reserve is clearly not in the cards today.”

Elsewhere, bitcoin’s appeal as a hedge against inflation was put to the test, with the largest cryptocurrency slumping along with other risk assets. Oil surged after the OPEC+ alliance surprised traders with its decision to keep output unchanged, signaling a tighter crude market in the months ahead.

- Bloomberg

Good morning and welcome to another Friday on the markets.

Your editors today are Dominic Powell and Emma Koehn.

Aussie shares are heading for a drop this morning after Wall St closed at its lowest level in five weeks.

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