General Trend:
- Asian equity markets trade generally lower
- Shanghai Composite moves between gains and losses in early trading, Property index outperforms
- South Korean chipmakers track the earlier declines in the US chip sector
- Australian building materials firm James Hardie declined over 7%, Q1 profits below ests
- New Zealand’s Fonterra cuts its FY milk price forecast
- New Zealand bond yields continue to decline following recent RBNZ statement
- Little initial reaction seen to the RBA’s Quarterly Monetary Policy Statement
- Japan GDP rebounds in Q2
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened flat
- ASX 200 Telecom index +0.8%, Consumer Discretionary +0.4%, Financials +0.3%; Energy -1.3%, REIT -0.9%, Utilities -0.8%, Resources -0.6%
- (AU) RBA QUARTERLY STATEMENT ON MONETARY POLICY: REITERATES DOES NOT SEE STRONG CASE TO ADJUST CASH RATE IN NEAR TERM
- (AU) Australia sells A$1.0B v A$1.0B indicated in Nov 2022 bonds, avg yield 2.1839%, bid to cover 4.7x
- (NZ) New Zealand July Manufacturing PMI: 51.2 v 52.8 prior
- (NZ) New Zealand July Total Card Spending M/M: 0.5% v 0.4% prior; Retail Card Spending M/M: 0.7% v 0.5%e
- (NZ) New Zealand sells NZ$250M v NZ250M indicated in April 2029 bonds, bid to cover 3.5x
China/Hong Kong
- Shanghai Composite opened -0.1%, Hang Seng flat
- Hang Seng Energy index -1.2%, Materials -1.1%, Services -1.1%, Info Tech -1.1%, Financials -0.5%; Property/Construction +0.6%, Telecom +0.5%
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips OMO (16th straight session)
- (CN) China PBoC sets yuan reference rate at 6.8395 v 6.8317 prior
- (CN) ICBC and Agricultural Bank of China said to increase the discount on first home mortgages to 10% – Chinese Press-(CN) Banks in China said to increase lending to certain government projects – Chinese Press
- Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) trades at the 7.8500 level, weakest level of currency’s trading band versus the US dollar
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened flat
- TOPIX Real Estate index -1.8%, Marine Transportation -1.3%, Electric Appliances -1%, Iron & Steel -0.9%, Info & Communications -0.9%, Retail Trade -0.5%
- (JP) Nikkei 225 Aug options said to settle at ~22,655
- (JP) JAPAN Q2 PRELIM GDP Q/Q: 0.5% V 0.3%E; ANNUALIZED Q/Q: 1.9% V 1.4%E
- (JP) Japan Jul PPI M/M: 0.5% v 0.2%e; Y/Y:3.1 % v 2.9%e (highest since Dec 2017)
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: US and China trade friction may impact domestic growth
- (JP) Japan Econ Min Motegi: US and Japan trade talks to continue for 2nd day on Friday
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.4%
- (KR) South Korea Fin Min: Global trade spat, rising oil prices and Fed rate hikes are weighing on the domestic economy
Other
- (PH) Philippines Central Bank (BSP) Chief Espenilla: Reiterates CPI triggered by supply shocks; Will not close the door to further action, prepared to act again as early as next meeting
- (SG) Singapore Jun Retail Sales M/M: 1.2% v 0.1% prior; Y/Y: 2.0% v 1.2%e
North America
- US equity markets ended mixed: Dow -0.3%, S&P500 -0.1%, Nasdaq flat, Russell 2000 +0.2%
- S&P500 Energy -0.9%; Telecom +0.6%, Materials +0.5%
- (US) Weekly Fed Balance Sheet Total Assets for week ending Aug 8th: $4.30T, -$14.9B w/w, -$210.4B y/y; Reserve Bank Credit: $4.22T, -$14.8B w/w, -$210.8B y/y
- (BR) S&P affirms Brazil sovereign rating at BB-; Outlook remains Stable
Europe
- (UK) BOE’s McCafferty (hawk, last month on MPC): expect wage growth near 4% in 2019 – press interview
Levels as of 01:30ET
- Nikkei 225 -0.9%, ASX 200 -0.1%, Hang Seng -0.8%; Shanghai Composite -0.3%; Kospi -1%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.3%; Nasdaq100 -0.4%, Dax -0.2%; FTSE100 -0.2%
- EUR 1.1537-1.1438 ; JPY 111.19-110.67 ; AUD 0.7382-0.7324 ;NZD 0.6623-0.6587
- Aug Gold flat at $1,219/oz; Sept Crude Oil flat at $66.81/brl; Sept Copper +0.1% at $2.768/lb
