General Trend
- Financial and Energy firms are among the gainers in Australia
- Topix Air Transportation, Information/Communication, Electric Appliances and Real Estate indices are among the decliners in Japan; Iron/Steel and Insurance indices outperform
- Financial and Property firms decline in Shanghai; Consumer Staples rise
- Financial and Property firms also decline in HK
- Korean Won (KRW) extends gains; Kospi outperforms as chipmakers rise
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened flat
- (AU) Australia Oct Final Retail Sales M/M: 1.4% v 1.6%e
- (AU) Australia sells A$1.5B v A$1.5B indicated in 0.25% Nov 2025 bonds, avg yield 0.3276% v 0.2745% prior, bid to cover 5.96x v 6.3x prior
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q3 VOLUME OF ALL BUILDINGS Q/Q: 34.6% V 31.5%E
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) to hold final 2020 large scale asset purchase (LSAP) auction on Dec 18th; The LSAP auctions will resume on Jan 18th 2021
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.3%, Shanghai Composite -0.2%
- (CN) US DoJ said to be in talks with Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou about resolving criminal charges; Meng is believed to be resistant to admitting wrongdoing. – US financial press
- (CN) US Commerce Department said to consider blocking cloud companies from countries such as China – Press
- (CN) Former China PBOC official Sheng Songcheng: PBoC should not rush to raise interest rates; Believes that PBoC should delay any action until at least the second half of 2021
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.5507 v 6.5592 prior
- (CN) China PBOC issued new rules (including scoring system) related to systemically important banks (SIFIs), effective from Jan 2021 – US financial press
- (CN) China CAAM: Prelim Nov Auto sales 2.73M units, +11.1% y/y
- Follow Up: SMIC and CNOOC are included on a list of companies that the Pentagon told Congress may be subject to potential sanctions because of their links to the Chinese military – press [in line]
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net Drain CNY110B v Net drain CNY70B prior
Japan
- Nikkei225 opened -0.4%
- (JP) Japan PM Suga to hold press conference at 04:00EST (09:00GMT)
- (JP) Follow Up: Japan extra and regular budgets to fund the new economic package – US financial press [in line]
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BoJ) to grant credit unions eligibility for deposit facility – Nikkei
- (JP) Prosecutors in Tokyo are considering summary indictment of 2 officials that worked in former PM Abe’s office, relates to alleged violation of funding law – Japanese press
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.3%
- (KR) South Korea Oct Current Account: $11.7B v $10.2B prior (largest surplus since Sept 2017); Balance of Goods (BOP): $10.2B v $12.0B prior
- (KR) South Korea reports 629 additional coronavirus cases (Above guidance of 400-600/day)
Other Asia
- (IN) INDIA CENTRAL BANK (RBI) LEAVES REPURCHASE RATE UNCHANGED AT 4.00%; AS EXPECTED; Mindful of FX Impact on INR liquidity, sterilizing via reverse repos; To maintain accommodative stance at least into next FY; To continue OMOs and Op twist; Outlook for inflation turned adverse; On tap TLTRO expanded to cover other stressed sectors under Govt scheme
- (PH) Philippines Nov CPI Y/Y: 3.3% v 2.5% prior
- (SG) Singapore Oct Retail Sales M/M: +0.2% v -4.5% prior; Y/Y: -8.6% v -8.3%e
North America
- (US) Pres Trump: lawmakers are getting close to a deal on stimulus; I will support a COVID relief bill
- (US) Senate Leader McConnell says had a good conversation today with Speaker Pelosi
- (US) House Speaker Pelosi: ‘we will have an agreement’ on stimulus deal before House leaves for recess on Dec 11th – CNN
- CDC reports daily new COVID cases at 196,227, a record high (surpassing 192,673 on Nov 20)
Europe
- (UK) Reportedly EU negotiator Barnier to give an update to EU27 envoys on Friday afternoon – press
- (UK) Sky News’ Parsons: ‘EU sources suggest progress on fishing rights, based around this idea: UK fishermen get notably increased quota of stocks that are sold to UK customers; and EU boats keep similar quotas for fish loved in EU’
- (UK) BBC’s Kuenssberg: sources say Brexit talks soured this afternoon as EU brought new elements into the negotiation, reducing chances of a breakthrough
- OPEC+ confirms agreement to raise oil output by 500K bpd beginning in Jan, with monthly review – press
Levels as of 00:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, -0.3%, ASX 200 +0.3% , Hang Seng flat; Shanghai Composite -0.1% ; Kospi +1.3%
- Equity S&P500 Futures: +0.2%; Nasdaq100 +0.3%, Dax +0.1%; FTSE100 +0.3%
- EUR 1.2153-1.2139 ; JPY 103.90-103.73 ; AUD 0.7447-0.7421 ;NZD 0.7082-0.7054
- Gold +0.3% at $1,846/oz; Crude Oil +1.6% at $46.37/brl; Copper +0.8% at $3.5122
