Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures down 0.2% to 8,763.00
- S&P 500 up 0.4% to 6,907.41
- Dow Average up 0.2% to 48,440.07
- Aussie up 0.6% to 0.6699 per US$
- US 10-year yield little changed at 4.1667%
- Australia 3-year bond yield fell 5.1 bps to 4.11%
- Australia 10-year bond yield fell 4 bps to 4.75%
- Gold spot up 1.1% to $4,490.86
- Brent futures up 0.6% to $62.46/bbl
Economic Events
Private-credit investments are growing increasingly risky in Australia due to their heavy weighting toward the property sector, some of the nation’s biggest funds say.
Asian stocks were set to follow US shares higher after tech-led gains pushed Wall Street to a record and data showed the economy grew at its fastest pace in two years. Gold and silver hit all-time highs.
Equity-index futures pointed to advances at the open for benchmarks in Hong Kong and Japan on Wednesday, while those for Australian stocks indicated small losses. The S&P 500 rose for a fourth day, with a gauge of big tech climbing about 1% amid low volume ahead of the Christmas holiday. Short-dated bonds underperformed. The dollar fell.
The moves underscored resilient risk appetite heading into year-end, with investors favoring technology shares even as strong US growth data tempered expectations for near-term Federal Reserve easing. That backdrop also bolstered confidence that corporate earnings will continue to expand robustly in 2026.
“If consumers remain resilient through the holiday and the fourth quarter, it should bode well for US GDP and corporate earnings,” said Bret Kenwell at eToro. “Earnings have continued to surprise to the upside. Bulls are hoping to see this trend continue in 2026.”
Commodities also gained, with gold and silver rallying on escalating geopolitical tensions and copper prices topping $12,000 a ton for the first time. Gold’s haven appeal has been amplified in the last week by Washington’s blockade of oil tankers linked to Venezuela.
US inflation-adjusted gross domestic product increased at a 4.3% annualized pace. That was higher than all but one estimate in a Bloomberg survey and followed 3.8% growth in the prior period.
Treasury two-year yields, which are more sensitive to imminent Fed moves, remained above 3.5%.
Donald Trump said he expects his Fed chair to lower rates if the market is doing well, the latest signal that the president is eager for a nominee committed to borrowing cost cuts as he nears an announcement of his choice to replace Jerome Powell.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent backed the idea of reconsidering the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target once the US has sustainably brought price increases back down to that pace.
Money markets see a less than 20% chance of a Fed reduction in January.
“The economy is demonstrating a Goldilocks scenario with above-potential US economic growth, and declining but elevated inflation and a less robust labor market,” said Eric Teal at Comerica Wealth Management. “The Fed will likely maintain a dovish bias, which will only increase with a new Fed Chair next year.”
Separately, the US is declining to impose additional tariffs on chip imports until at least mid-2027 in signs that the Trump administration is seeking to stabilize ties with Beijing.
Elsewhere in Asia, India’s central bank announced fresh measures aimed at boosting banking liquidity with government bond purchases and foreign-exchange swaps looking to support a weakening rupee, which has emerged as Asia’s worst-performing currency this year.
