Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving markets and why.
The thirty-year Treasury yield has climbed to its highest level in nineteen years, and strategists aren't calling a ceiling yet. Persistent inflation expectations, heavy government borrowing, and a Fed that's in no rush to cut are all feeding the move. When the long end sells off this hard, it reprices everything from mortgages to corporate debt.
Shifting to Australia, where Challenger Limited posted a dramatic swing in statutory profitability for fiscal twenty twenty-six, lifted its dividend, and expanded its share buyback program. The turnaround was driven by a recovery in the net insurance result alongside steady growth in its retirement income business. The stock responded accordingly, trading higher on the session.
Also out of Australia, metals recycler Sims Limited delivered a remarkable fiscal twenty twenty-six result, with net profit after tax coming in at two hundred forty-five point three million Australian dollars, compared to just two point four million the year prior. Diluted earnings per share jumped from one point two cents to one hundred twenty-five point three cents, a near-complete business rehabilitation in a single year.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
