Monetary policy in the US is tightening, with Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard warning that cooling inflation is “paramount”.
The prevailing wisdom is that interest rates are on a steady upward trajectory for at least the next six months.
This warning of aggressive action by the Reserve spooked investors, and US markets tumbled accordingly, with the Nasdaq slumping by 2.3%, the DOW down 0.8% and the S&P 500 falling 1.3%.
The scent of Musk buoys tech company
Some technology shares fell, including Apple (-1.9%) and Amazon (-2.6%), though one in particular – here’s looking at you, Twitter – continued to bask in the glow of brand-new board member Elon Musk and the media attention he inevitably garners.
Musk revealed yesterday in a regulatory finding that he had bought a 9.2% stake in the company and is now its largest shareholder.
He says he plans to use his position to usher in some changes to the social media platform – it remains to be seen what this means for editorial policy and freedom of speech on the site.
Fuel prices hover but still on high alert
Global oil prices moved lower, though the evolving situation in Ukraine – with a new tranche of sanctions on the way and the distinct possibility that the pipeline may be switched off amid new allegations of Russian war crimes – has kept prices hovering above $100 a barrel.
The intended effect of the fuel excise cut has found its way to the bowser in time for the looming federal election, with reports of cheers at fuel stations as consumers discovered their price-per-litre had a 1 in front of it once again.
The Aussie dollar was up 0.5% to 75.79 US cents, as were aluminium and nickel (more about that later), but the ASX is expected to follow the US markets in their slide when trading kicks off this morning.
Australian businesses take lead on climate
BHP has signed a deal to buy the power from the $200 million first stage of the Flat Rocks wind farm in southern WA. The minerals giant will use this renewable power to offset emissions from its nickel operations.
Industry experts are seeing this as proof that business is forging ahead on climate in the face of a 10-year lack of leadership on environmental policy at a federal level.
"What’s happening is across Australia, across the whole economy, corporations are moving to decarbonise," Matthew Bowen, an energy lawyer at law firm Jackson McDonald, told the ABC.
"And what’s driving that is … we’ve got the latest United Nations climate report and that shows we need in this decade to do wide-scale decarbonisation.
"And this is a massive task.
"The good news is there is still just time to avoid the worst outcomes.
"We’ve had the federal government’s failure to act for the last decade.
"But the good news there is that businesses like BHP, like many others, are responding anyway."