Australia

Australian shares are set to open down as US stocks wobbled between small gains and losses Monday after last week’s big rally. Investors digested fresh comments from Federal Reserve officials about the outlook for further interest-rate increases.

ASX futures were down 8 points at 7140 as of 8:00am on Tuesday, pointing to a slip at the open.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2% , and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.4% in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1%, or about 20 points. Some of last week’s excitement cooled down to start the week.

Fed Chairwoman Lael Brainard on Monday said recent inflation data offered some signs of reassurance that price pressures were no longer broadening and that the central bank could soon slow the pace of interest-rate rises.

But Fed governor Christopher Waller said over the weekend that policy makers still had “a ways to go” and would like to see more similar data points before easing its foot off the brake.

Of the 11 sectors within the S&P 500, seven rose Monday, with healthcare and materials stocks leading the charge

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil plunged 3.5% to $US92.61 a barrel, gold was flat at US$1,772.46.

In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds rose to 3.16% while the 10 Year rose to 3.76%. Overseas, the yield on 2 Year US Treasury notes declined to 4.4% and the yield on the 10 Year US Treasury notes was down at 3.87%.

The Australian dollar hit 67.12 US cents. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against 16 other currencies edged up to 99.44.

Asia

China's central bank and top banking regulator issued a wide-ranging series of measures aimed at bolstering housing demand and supply, according to a notice circulated on Friday to the country's financial institutions and officials involved in policy-making. The authenticity of the document was confirmed by people close to the central bank.

"It's been quite a choppy start to the trading week, with much of the focus on China where Covid relaxation measures and property market support have brought some relief," OANDA said.

For much of the past year, China's economy has been reeling under Xi Jinping's dual campaigns to rein in soaring property prices and to stamp out any traces of Covid-19 within the country's borders.

Now, as he moves to loosen pandemic restrictions, China's leader, Mr. Xi, is signaling a reversal of his real estate crackdown, too, a tacit acknowledgment of the economic pain and public frustration that the two policies have engendered.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.7% led by property stocks on reports that Beijing officials signed off on sweeping measures to support the real estate sector. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.13%

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 1.1%, weighed down by SoftBank’s 13% drop. The investment company posted further losses and disappointed investors by not putting forward an expected share buyback.

Europe

European stocks gain in trade Monday. The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended up 0.14%, the German DAX was up 0.62% while the French CAC 40 index was up 0.22%.

In London, the FTSE 100 closed up 0.9% as media stocks performed well after Informa issued an upbeat trading statement and raised guidance for the year.

Healthcare stocks also helped underpin the index as GSK shares rose after a phase two study on its tuberculosis drug, while AstraZeneca's Enhertu, Imfinzi and Lynparza combination drugs were approved for use in the EU. Ocado was the day's biggest riser, up 14%, followed by Informa and B&M European Value Retail, up 5.8% and 4.6% respectively. Harbour Energy was down 9.6%, the session's biggest faller, followed by Intermediate Capital Group and Unite Group, down 3.6% and 2.5% respectively.

North America

US stocks wobbled between small gains and losses Monday after last week’s big rally, while investors digested fresh comments from Federal Reserve officials about the outlook for further interest-rate increases.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2% , and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.4% in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1%, or about 20 points. Some of last week’s excitement cooled down to start the week.

Fed Chairwoman Lael Brainard on Monday said recent inflation data offered some signs of reassurance that price pressures were no longer broadening and that the central bank could soon slow the pace of interest-rate rises.

But Fed governor Christopher Waller said over the weekend that policy makers still had “a ways to go” and would like to see more similar data points before easing its foot off the brake.

Of the 11 sectors within the S&P 500, seven rose Monday, with healthcare and materials stocks leading the charge.

Tesla shares declined 1.3%. Chief Executive Elon Musk said he has too much work after the Twitter takeover and that he was running Tesla’s operations “with great difficulty.”

Hasbro fell 8.9%, on pace for the largest percentage decrease since October 2020. The maker of Monopoly board games and My Little Pony dolls fell after Bank of America analysts double downgraded to underperform from buy rating, saying that the company is overproducing Magic: The Gathering card game.