The morning catch up: talks stall days from debt ceiling default; Modi excites Indian diaspora; NZ rate decision due

© Reuters. The morning catch up: talks stall days from debt ceiling default; Modi excites Indian diaspora; NZ rate decision due

It’s an uncertain time on the markets as the US stares down a potential default on June 1.

The $US31.4 trillion ($47.14 trillion) debt ceiling crisis has entered its final 10 days, with talks between President Joe Biden and Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy again stalling yesterday.

Accordingly, the ASX is predicted to drop this morning with ASX Futures down 29 points or -0.4% to 7,247 very early this morning and the dollar was down 0.6% to 66.12 US cents.

On Wall Street, the Dow was down 0.5%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.9% and the Nasdaq lost 1.1%.

Tech wobbles; Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) walkouts

Amazon (0.1%) and Atlassian (NASDAQ:TEAM) (0.4%) experienced slight gains, while most other mega caps were flat or in the red. Pandemic winner Zoom fell 8.07% to $65.65 after its earnings report failed to excite investors.

In other big tech news, Amazon corporate workers are set to walk off the job in protest at the company’s return-to-work policy, which is winding back the flexible work from home arrangements of the COVID era.

The workers are also concerned about climate impact, with an internal climate justice worker group demanding that the company prioritise climate issues.

Tensions have been building since multiple rounds of layoffs implemented by Amazon, just part of a raft of staff cuts made across the technology sector this year.

Modi mania

Back home, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making his presence felt among the large Indian diaspora in Australia.

Modi was embraced warmly by PM Anthony Albanese to rapturous applause and spoke to a packed-out stadium arena of the way the bond between his country and ours had evolved from “Commonwealth, cricket and curry” into a deeper connection which encompassed the half-a-million Australian citizens with Indian heritage, who define the relationship.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing for the controversial PM, whose visit was met with rowdy protests from opponents of his populist, nationalist government.

Modi is a divisive figure back in India because of his strongman style, characterised by centralisation of power, the implementation of policies that some perceive as favouring Hindu nationalism and what some see as a cavalier approach to human rights issues.

Critics argue that his government has eroded India's secular fabric and marginalised religious and ethnic minorities.

Additionally, Modi's economic policies, such as demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), have faced criticism for their negative impact on small businesses and the informal sector.

All eyes on New Zealand

The central bank of NZ is set to make another interest rate call at midday today.

“The RBNZ was one of the first countries in the world to raise rates during the current round of monetary policy tightening,” says IG Traders’ Tony Sycamore.

“Hence the market will be watching how it approaches the end of its rate-hiking cycle.

“For the record, the RBNZ is expected to raise the cash rate by 25bp to 5.5% (a step down from the 50bp hike in April), leaving room for one more 25bp rate hike by August.”

In other news

Global oil prices rose by more than 1% yesterday on forecasts for a tighter gasoline market and a warning from the Saudi energy minister to speculators that raised the prospect of further OPEC+ output cuts.

Brent crude rose by US85 cents or 1.1% to US$76.84 a barrel, while US Nymex was up by US86 cents or 1.2% to US$72.91 a barrel.

Base metal prices fell yesterday – copper futures fell by 0.9% on worries of a US recession and weak demand in metals consumer China, while aluminium futures shed 1.5%.

The gold futures price fell by US$2.70 or 0.1% to US$1,974.50 an ounce, while spot gold was trading near US$1,974 an ounce at the US close.

Iron ore futures dropped US62 cents or 0.6% to US$106.54 a tonne on demand concerns from China.

• Stoxx 50 -1.0% FTSE -0.1% DAX -0.4% CAC -1.3%.
• Spot gold +0.2% to $US1,976.80/oz at 2.43pm in New York.
• Brent crude +1.2% to $US76.88 a barrel.
• Iron ore $US99.55 a tonne.
• 10-year yield: US 3.69% Australia 3.65% Germany 2.46%.

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