Crypto News: Why local bond sales are booming

Good morning, it's Ainsley here with a roundup of the top news to kick your day off.

Today's must-reads:

Aussie firms' bumper bond sales
Pop-up libraries help Melbourne move on
RBNZ's tightening cycle is ' well advanced'

Bond bonanza. Australian companies have sold a record amount of local currency bonds this year, as domestic borrowing costs rise at a slower pace than US yields and banks rush to replace cheap pandemic-era funding. Borrowers raised A$73 billion so far in 2022, the most ever for the first nine months of a year. August sales were the strongest of any month on record, though the pace of activity slowed in September.

Looking for a happy place. New Zealand's central bank still has some work to do to tame inflation but the bulk of the heavy lifting is behind it, Governor Adrian Orr said. "The tightening cycle is very mature, it's well advanced," Orr said. The Reserve Bank has "a little bit more to do before we can drop to our normal happy place, which is to watch, worry and wait for signs of inflation up or down," he said.

Coal clash. A proposed pipeline of coal mine projects in Australia may lock in decades of new carbon emissions and challenge the country's promises of bolder climate action. The federal government is considering 29 applications for new mines and expansions which, if fully developed, would produce more than 250 million tons a year and contribute as much as 17 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, according to Move Beyond Coal. That's equivalent to more than half of global emissions in 2021.

Equity sales to raise funds for M&A should remain strong in Australia and New Zealand through yearend, with traditional IPOs still far from picking up, according to UBS. Some of the largest share sales in both countries this year involved offering stock to current shareholders, under so-called entitlement offers, to raise funds for asset purchases.

Melbourne, one of the world's most locked-down cities during the pandemic, is rejuvenating its center and healing its jaded residents — one page at a time. Small pop-up libraries have taken over abandoned shops in areas that were aching for some love following the crippling impact of six lockdowns over 19 months. The lure of literature is one of the city council's more creative solutions in bringing residents and visitors back into its center.

The pound dropped, again. The Bank of England's attempts to calm markets rattled by the sterling's meltdown proved underwhelming. Governor Andrew Bailey's pledge to raise rates "by as much as needed" without suggesting an emergency hike poured cold water on sterling, which had previously recouped some losses after earlier hitting a record low of $1.0350. The wild swings are in response to Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's sweeping tax cuts that investors fear will fuel inflation and increase borrowing.

As for the markets, US stocks fell in a volatile session exacerbated by sharp moves in the UK currency and bond markets, as hawkish central banks across the globe continued to subdue sentiment. The S&P 500 ended Monday's session at its lowest level since December 2020. The US dollar soared to yet another record high.

Money managers looking for somewhere to hide from the storm battering virtually every asset class are finding solace in a long reviled corner: cash. Investors have $4.6 trillion stashed in US money-market mutual funds, while ultra-short bond funds currently hold about $150 billion. And the pile is growing.

President Vladimir Putin granted citizenship to Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who disclosed a top-secret spying program and has been living in Russia since fleeing the US nine years ago. The whistle-blower obtained permanent residency in 2020 and soon after applied for citizenship.

Useless meetings don't just waste time — they are a $100 million mistake at big firms, according to a UNC Charlotte study. Employees spend about 18 hours a week on average in meetings, it showed — and could probably skip almost a third of them. Noncritical meetings waste about $25,000 a head annually, which projects out to $101 million a year for any organization with more than 5,000 workers.