Bonds/Interest Rates

Wrap of events affecting the market on Friday night and the weekend and a preview of the week ahead.

In the wake of yet another bank reserve requirement hike, the question arises as to whether China will see more interest rate rises or not.

A brief look at important company events and economic data releases next week.

A big drop from the open soon turned into a sustained rally last night as commodities reversed and panic subsided. Dow up 65.

A perfect storm for oil saw that commodity hammered last night, taking stock indices down with it. Dow down 130.

China’s CPI was up 0.1% in April to provide a 5.3% annual measure, ahead of expectations.

There were no measures to either positively or negatively shock any particular stock market sector, but nor was there much burden removed from RBA monetary policy in last night’s Budget.

A US$8.5bn bid for Skype by Microsoft got Wall Street’s attention last night as commodity prices continued to tick up. Dow up 75.

Bank revenue growth remains sluggish, analysts noted, and profit results were not of great quality. NAB has moved to top pick.

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s quarterly statement on monetary policy released last week has indicated inflation is a concern, increasing the chance of an earlier than expected rate hike.