By Alice Uribe SYDNEY National Australia Bank Ltd. s first-half net profit more than doubled as the Australian and New Zealand economies rebounded from the pandemic more strongly than expected. The Australian bank said its statutory net profit totaled 3.21 billion Australian dollars (US$2.49 billion) in the six months through March, up from A$1.31 billion at the corresponding stage of the 2020 fiscal year. Cash earnings a measure closely tracked by analysts that strips out non-core items such as revenue hedges and treasury shares rose by 95% to A$3.34 billion. This was ahead of consensus expectations for cash earnings of A$2.95 billion. Chief Executive Ross McEwan said risks remained, despite the economic recovery in Australia and New Zealand.
Gold prices rebounded from their lowest in more than a week on Tuesday after data showing a sharp rise in U.S. inflation bolstered gold s appeal as an inflation hedge and weighed on the dollar.. | April 13, 2021
By Michael Wursthorn and Caitlin Ostroff Technology stocks rebounded Tuesday and treated the Nasdaq Composite to its best session in more than four months, a day after the index slid into correction territory. Investors appeared to bargain-hunt, pouncing on stocks that had been beaten down over the past several weeks. Shares of Tesla, Roku and Square all rose by double-digit percentages, while tech s heavyweights, Apple, Amazon.com and Facebook, each added more than 3%. At the same time, a selloff in government bonds paused for the first time in five sessions. The yield on the 10-year Treasurys ticked lower to 1.545% on Tuesday. It had ended the previous day at 1.594%, the highest level in more than a year.
By Joe Wallace and Michael Wursthorn Stocks rebounded Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled that an interest-rate increase from the central bank isn t imminent, easing some concern over rising bond yields. Major stock indexes turned positive in late-afternoon trading after Mr. Powell told lawmakers that inflation remains soft, tamping down recent fears of a policy shift by the central bank following a spike in bond yields. Earlier in the session, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped as much as 4% and investor favorites including Tesla and Moderna logged double-digit losses. Portfolio managers said the moves marked a rotation out of the high-growth favorites of the past year and into more economically sensitive stocks such as banks and manufacturers.