Equity Markets Rise After US Markets Rose On Friday

General Trend

• Japanese equities trade broadly higher; Topix Marine/Transportation, Air Transportation and Real Estate indices are among the gainers; Banks rise after earnings from MUFJ and SMFG; Panasonic rises over 5% (named new CEO, announced plans to convert to holding company)
• Tokyo Steel to raise prices for Dec
• Tech and Financial firms are among the gainers in HK, property sector lags
• Various HK firms rise after index changes (Budweiser Brewing, ANTA Sports, Meituan)
• HK-listed Chinese Telecom firms extend declines [reminder from Nov 12th: Reportedly Trump Admin is finalizing Executive Order to ban US purchases or sales of securities in Chinese companies with links to the China military]
• Industrial and Financial firms are among the gainers in Shanghai, Consumer Discretionary and IT firms lag
• Chinese companies said to see rise in orders from the US related to vaccine storage products (Global Times)
• Energy, Financial and Resources firms are among the gainers in Australia
• ASX cited software issue for market outage
• US bank M&A on the radar
• Taiwan Semi rises after recent move higher in its ADRs, cos. is also expected to get additional orders from large clients (local press)
• Samsung rises over 4%, shares trade at new record high
• Korean Won (KRW) pares gain after comments from South Korea Finance Ministry
• Japan Q3 prelim GDP data beat ests amid better external demand
• PBOC conducted MLF operation that exceeded the MLF funds that matured in Nov
• China Stats Bureau Official: Q4 growth to accelerate q/q
• RBA Gov Lowe is due to speak at 825 GMT
• RBA is due to release its Nov minutes on Nov 17th (Tuesday); RBA’s Kent is due to speak ahead of the release of the minutes [Tuesday at 10:30 PM GMT]
• Moderna is expected to present Phase 3 vaccine data during the second half of Nov
• Pfizer/BioNTech are also expected to report safety data related to vaccine during 3rd week of Nov
• Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) involves 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand was signed over the weekend (as expected)

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

• ASX 200 opened +1.0%
• ASX will not be open for equities trading for the remainder of the day; Has Identified issue, has resolution path for recommencement of trading by 10AM local time on Tuesday (Nov 17th)
• CSL.AU Confirms Australian government to underwrite construction of vaccine production facility, construction to start in 2021 and expected to be up and running in 2026
• ELD.AU Reports FY20 (A$) Net 124.2M v 68.9M y/y; underlying EBIT 119.4M v 73.7M y/y; Rev 2.09B v 1.67B y/y
• (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Offers to buy A$3.5B in Govt bonds v A$3.5B prior week

Japan

• Nikkei 225 opened +1.1%
• (JP) Japan Econ Min Nishimura: Reiterates to compile comprehensive stimulus package, high level of attention needed for downside risks; Boost to economy from past government stimulus will narrow in FY2021, this needs to be taken into account in compiling new stimulus package
• (JP) JAPAN Q3 PRELIMINARY GDP Q/Q: 5.0% V +4.4%E; GDP ANNUALIZED Q/Q: 21.4% V +18.9%E (largest expansion in 52 years)
• 8268.JP Confirms KKR to acquire 65% stake and Rakuten a 20% stake from Walmart, deal values Seiyu at ¥172.5B ($1.6B)
• 5423.JP Raises Dec H-beam price to ¥83.0K/t (prior ¥81K); raises hot-rolled coil to ¥69.0K/t (prior ¥67k)
• (JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Kato: GDP Confirms a recovery movement in Japan Economy; Must be duly conscious on downside risk to economy
• (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Board Member Masai: Important to support banks for financial system; Japan Economy remains in severe state but picking up, raising productivity will lead to price target

Korea

• Kospi opened +0.5%
• (KR) North Korea leader Kim presides over politburo meeting in first public appearance in 25 days; discussed nationwide anti-coronavirus measures
• (KR) South Korea Oct Exports Y/Y: -3.8%, fewer working days cited; Oct Trade Balance: +$5.8B (6th straight monthly surplus) – Yonhap
• (KR) South Korea to lower maximum legal lending rate to 20%, effective H2 2021
• (KR) South Korea Fin Min: Recent FX moves are excessive; To take action against behaviors causing disorderly currency movements

China/Hong Kong

• Hang Seng opened +0.8%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.5%
• (CN) CHINA PBOC CONDUCTS CNY800B 1-YEAR MEDIUM-TERM LENDING FACILITY (MLF) OPERATION: RATE 2.95% V 2.95% PRIOR (7th consecutive unchanged rate)
• (CN) CHINA OCT RETAIL SALES Y/Y: 4.3% V 5.0%E; YTD Y/Y: -5.9% V -5.9%E
• (CN) CHINA OCT INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION Y/Y: 6.9% V 6.7%E; YTD Y/Y: 1.8% V 1.8%E
• (CN) CHINA OCT NEW HOMES PRICES M/M: 0.2% V 0.3% PRIOR; Y/Y: 4.3% V 4.6% PRIOR
• (CN) CHINA OCT PROPERTY INVESTMENT YTD Y/Y: 6.3% V 6.0%E
• (CN) CHINA OCT FIXED URBAN ASSETS YTD Y/Y: 1.8% V 1.6%E
• (CN) China Oct Surveyed Jobless Rate: 5.3% v 5.3%e
• (CN) China National Bureau of Stats (NBS): National Economy maintained steady recovery in Oct; Multiple challenges need to be conquered to achieve full economic recovery; Q4 growth to accelerate q/q
• (CN) US President Trump said to be looking at implementing additional measures against China during his final weeks in office – press
• (CN) China Oct Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Y/Y: +18.3% v 3.8% prior
• (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.6048 v 6.6285 prior
• (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips reverse repos v Injects CNY160B in 7-day reverse repos; Net inject CNY0B v Net inject CNY160B prior

North America

• TCO Simon And Taubman Modify Merger Price To $43.00/shr cash (prior $52.50/shr cash)
• JNJ Janssen to start Phase 3 COVID vaccine trial in UK, to recruit 6.0K people for 12-month trial – US press
• (US) President elect Biden and VP Harris to speak Monday, Nov 16th on economic recovery plans
• TSLA Elon Musk: “Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD.” – tweet

Europe

• (UK) PM Johnson self isolating after meeting with an MP last week who has since tested positive for COVID – UK press
• BBVA.ES PNC said to be in advanced talks to acquire US operations, in an $11.0B deal – press
• (UK) Nov Rightmove House Prices M/M: -0.5% v 1.1% prior; Y/Y: 6.3% v 5.5% prior
• (DE) Germany considering increased measures to deal with spread of COVID – press
• (GR) Greece offering tax incentives to Greek and non-Greeks in the tech sector to move to Greece and work in the way of a 50% income tax break for the first 7-years – press

Levels as of 12:15ET

• Hang Seng +0.6%; Shanghai Composite +0.9%; Kospi +1.9%; Nikkei225 +2.1%; ASX 200 +1.2% when it stopped trading due to tech issue
• Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.9%; Nasdaq100 +1.0%, Dax +0.6%; FTSE100 +0.4%
• EUR 1.1854-1.1834; JPY 104.75-104.50; AUD 0.7298-0.7265; NZD 0.6890-0.6844
• Commodity Futures: Gold +0.4% at $1,893/oz; Crude Oil +1.5% at $40.75/brl; Copper +2.3% at $3.25/lb