Economists say Australia shouldn’t try to transition to net zero by aping the mammoth US Inflation Reduction Act 
Industry shutdowns are messy and painful: 4 lessons Australia’s coal sector can learn from car-makers about bowing out 
How cuts to marginal income tax could boost the UK’s stagnant economic growth 
Digital trade protocol for Africa: why it matters, what’s in it and what’s still missing 
Why China’s economy has hit a wall 
‘They don’t have enough’ – schools in England are running food banks for families 
Impact of Iran-Israel conflict on Stocks, Gold and Bitcoin 
Australian government bonds rallied on Thursday as growing concerns among investors of trade war which would hurt the global economy pushed demand for safe-haven assets.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, fell 2-1/2 basis points to 2.731 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year note dipped 2 basis points to 3.310 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year down 1/2 basis points to 1.997 percent by 02:30 GMT.
In the United States, Treasuries initially yielded on a modest reaction to the lackluster February retail sales and producer prices numbers on Wednesday, eventually finding greater upward pressure as the morning progressed, pushing the 10-year Note yield to its lowest level since early March.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield dipped to 2.806 percent and headed for its fourth day of declines amid rising diplomatic tension between Britain and Russia, soft U.S. retail sales data and concerns over Washington’s political and trade issues.
Also, the dollar slipped 0.4 percent to 105.895 yen after taking a hit the previous day on Trump’s firing of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
The combination of weaker CPI and even weaker retail sales helped to weigh down the Atlanta Fed GDPNow measure, bringing it to around 1.9% for the first-quarter of 2018 as real personal consumption was undercut to a tracking estimate of 1.4%, down from 2.2%. Markets now look ahead to a greater flow of data on Thursday, highlighted by Empire manufacturing, Philadelphia Fed manufacturing, jobless claims and import prices data early in the session.
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index traded 0.16 percent lower at 5,910.5 by 03:05 GMT, while at 03:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly AUD Strength Index remained neutral at 53.78 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
FxWirePro launches Absolute Return Managed Program. For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/invest
