Jailhouse Rock
One might have expected the news that Sydney’s lockdown would be extended for a week, flagged ahead of yesterday’s 11am update, and the threat of some council areas going into even stricter lockdown, would be a negative for the stock market. But no.
The ASX200 opened higher yesterday and at the 11am confirmation just kept on going. There was a bit of a wobble in the afternoon but the index bounced off 7300 and kicked to the close. This despite a weak session on Wall Street.
The most notable asset price move yesterday was that of the ten-year bond yield, which fell -10 basis points to 1.36%, a day after the RBA announced tapering. The US equivalent had also dropped overnight, and did so again last night, rather confounding commentators.