Equities Trade Generally Lower

Oct 18 21, 06:52 GMT

General trend

Equity markets have generally pared gains amid rise in government bond yields, higher oil prices.
Nikkei has traded modestly lower after the higher open.
Shanghai traded modestly lower during the morning session after opening flat; Property index drops amid higher yields and tax concerns.
China data weaker than expected, but affirms economic targets for the year.
Hang Seng reversed the opening gain.
Evergrande bond payments and grace periods still in focus.
S&P ASX 200 has outperformed [Resources and Financial indices rise].
BHP to issue Q1 production update on Tues.
China Thermal Coal FUTs rise over 10%; Largest Chinese coal province reported rise in COVID cases.
US Natural Gas FUTs drop.
NZ Dollar and Bond yields rise after higher than expected CPI data, some now see higher probability of 50bps rate hike in Nov; NZD later pared gain.
UST yields extend rise, curve flattens.
RBA Oct Meeting Minutes due on Tues (Oct 19th).
Companies due to report during the NY morning include State Street.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened 0.0%.
ALL.AU Comments on funding for acquisition of Playtech: launches A$1.3B capital raise.
HUB.AU To acquire Class Ltd (CL1.AU); Class shareholders will receive 1 ordinary HUB24 share for every 11 ordinary Class shares held, plus $0.10 per ordinary Class share.
(NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q3 CPI Q/Q: 2.2% V 1.5%E; Y/Y 4.9% V 4.2%E (2nd consecutive reading above target, fastest in 10 years).
(NZ) Bank of New Zealand: Probability of RBNZ 50bps rate hike at Nov meeting is ~ 50:50.
(NZ) New Zealand Q3 RBNZ Sectoral Factor Model inflation Index Y/Y: 2.7% v 2.2% prior.

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened +0.1%.
(JP) Japan PM Kishida: Will urge oil producing countries to increase production.
(JP) Japan PM Kishida: No plans to change consumption tax, can deliver cash handouts in a quick manner.

Korea

Kospi opened +0.1%.
(KR) South Korea Fin Min Hong: Will actively respond to US info sharing request on chipmakers supply chains – Yonhap.
(KR) According to a recently Bank of Korea (BOK) poll, South Korea banks are expected to keep loans to households subdued in Q4 – Yonhap.

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened +0.4%; Shanghai Composite opened 0.0%.
(CN) CHINA Q3 GDP Q/Q: 0.2% V 0.4%E; Y/Y: 4.9% V 5.0%E; GDP YTD Y/Y: 9.8% v 10.1%e.
(CN) CHINA SEPT RETAIL SALES Y/Y: 4.4% V 3.5%E.
(CN) CHINA SEPT INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION Y/Y: 3.1% V 3.8%e.
(CN) China National Bureau of Stats (NBS): Seek to ensure achieving annual economic targets, domestic recovery is unsolid and unbalanced , see major economic data in reasonable range for Q1 to Q3.
(CN) China Sept Surveyed Jobless Rate: 4.9% v 5.1%e.
(CN) CHINA SEPT PROPERTY INVESTMENT YTD Y/Y: 8.8% V 9.5%E.
(CN) China PBOC Gov Yi Gang: China’s economy is “doing well”, but faces challenges such as default risks for certain firms due to “mismanagement”; authorities are keeping a close eye “so they do not become systematic risks”; sees 2021 GDP at 8% – online meeting of the Group of 30 International Banking Seminar Sunday.
(CN) China Industry (MIIT) Min Xiao: Reiterates China to deepen its drive into antimonopoly in internet sector.
(CN) China Premier Li: China is committed to expanding opening up and facilitating free trade.
(CN) China to sell $4.0B in 3,5,10,30 year tenors (smallest offering of USD bonds since 2018) in Hong Kong.
3333.HK Will officially be in default on Oct 23rd, the end of grace period on first non-payment.
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4300 v 6.4386 prior.
(CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B prior; Net drain CNY10B v Net CNY0B prior.

Other

(SG) SINGAPORE SEPT NON-OIL DOMESTIC EXPORTS M/M: 1.2% V 0.0%E; Y/Y: 12.3% V 8.5%E; Electronic Exports Y/Y: 14.4% v 16.7% prior.

North America

BIIB Tofersen Phase 3 Study did not meet primary endpoint of change from baseline to week 28 in Revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R); Open-Label Extension in SOD1-ALS reinforced these findings and showed that early tofersen initiation led to less decline across multiple measures.

Europe

(NL) ECB’s Knot (Netherlands): Sees interest rates edge up once central banks begin unwinding their stimulus programs during H1 2022 – TV interview.
OPEC+ Sept compliance with cuts seen at 115%, see 2021 global oil demand to make up 65% of loss in 2020 – press.
PTEC.UK Aristocrat makes offer to acquire at 680p/shr cash, £2.1B; board recommends.
(UK) BOE Gov Bailey: have already signaled that we will have to act to fight inflation; Action to come in our monetary policy meetings.
(EU) ECB chief Lagarde: Reiterates stance ECB will continue supporting the economy in order to durably stabilise inflation at our 2% inflation target over the medium term.

Levels as of 01:15ET

Hang Seng -0.6%; Shanghai Composite -0.3%; Kospi -0.2%; Nikkei225 -0.2%; ASX 200 +0.1%.
Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.1%; Nasdaq100 -0.3%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 -0.2%.
EUR 1.1605-1.1578; JPY 114.45-114.01; AUD 0.7437-0.7400; NZD 0.7105-0.7064.
Commodity Futures: Gold 0.0% at $1,768/oz; Crude Oil +1.4% at $82.88/brl; Copper +1.1% at $4.77/lb.