Oil Futures Rose Over 4%

Jan 08 20, 06:45 GMT

General Trend:

Equity futures pare declines as no military response has been seen as of yet from the US related to Iran; US President Trump said ‘all is well’ as he suggested that the Iranian attacks did not lead to US casualties thus far
Trump also said he will make a statement on Wednesday morning
Iran’s Foreign Minister said Iran took and concluded ‘proportionate’ measures in self-defense, does not seek war escalation but Iran will defend itself
Samsung rises as Q4 Op profit beat ests
Energy shares rise in Asia on the jump in oil prices while airlines trade lower
Aussie gold miners gain as gold rose to multi-year high above $1,600/oz
Japanese equities underperform, trade-sensitive TOPIX Marine/Transportation index drops over 3%
South Korea’s Fin Min suggested it is too early to determine if ‘sharp’ moves in the Korean Won (KRW) are related to Middle East concerns.

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened 0.0%
(AU) AUSTRALIA NOV BUILDING APPROVALS M/M: +11.8% V +2.0%E; Y/Y: -3.8% V -11.7%E
(AU) Australia Dec AIG Performance of Construction Index: 38.9 v 40.0 prior
SIG.AU CFO Iona Macpherson resigns by mutual agreement, effective today; appoints Jeff Sells interim CFO
CTX.AU Confirms has an approach from parties including EG Group, have not had any proposals since Alimentation Couche-Tard proposals
(NZ) Fonterra Global Dairy Trade Auction Dairy Trade price index: +2.8% v -5.1% prior

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened -1.5%
(JP) JAPAN NOV LABOR CASH EARNINGS Y/Y: -0.2% V -0.1%E; REAL CASH EARNINGS Y/Y: -0.9% V -0.7%E
(JP) Japan PM Abe cancels trip to Middle East scheduled for this weekend
(JP) JAPAN DEC CONSUMER CONFIDENCE INDEX: 39.1 V 39.5E

Korea

Kospi opened -0.9%
(KR) South Korea Fin Min: Will spend 62% of FY20 fiscal budget in H1 in order to support growth
005930.KR Reports prelim Q4 (KRW) Op 7.1T v 6.5Te, Rev 59.0T v 60.9Te; Co-CEO Kim: memory chip market is recovering – Korean press

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened -1.1%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.3%
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips reverse repos for the 12th consecutive session; Net drain CNY0B v drain CNY0B prior
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan Reference Rate: 6.9450 v 6.9690 prior (strongest fix since early Aug)
(CH) CHINA DEC FOREIGN RESERVES: $3.108T V $3.110TE (6-month high)
(CN) China Communist Party issued new rules for state owned enterprises (SOEs), giving it greater control; companies must now integrate party leadership into every part of operations – press

Other

(IR) Iran confirms it has started attack on Iraq air base hosting US troops – local TV; 90 minutes later another local TV station reported that Iran was launching second wave of attacks on US bases
(US) US Official: Iran fired 15 rockets and missed 4 targets; there were very few if any casualties
(IR) Iran said to be planning to de-escalate if the US does not retaliate – local press
(IR) Iran Foreign Minister Zarif: Iran took and concluded ‘proportionate’ measures in self-defense; Iran does not seek war escalation, will defend ourselves
(IR) Iran Pres Advisor: Any military action by US will be met with all out war in the region
(TH) Thailand Commerce Min: Concerned about possible chances of being added to US Treasury watchlist of currency manipulators but impact would be limited

North America

(US) Weekly API Oil Inventories: -5.9M v -7.8M prior
(US) President Trump: All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning. – twitter
BA Boeing 737 passenger plane crashes after takeoff in Iran due to technical issue – Iran press

Europe

Levels as of 12:15ET

Hang Seng -0.9%; Shanghai Composite -0.8%; Kospi -0.7%; Nikkei225 -1.5%; ASX 200 -0.1%
Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.3%; Nasdaq100 -0.4%, Dax -0.4%; FTSE100 -0.4%
EUR 1.1169-1.1145; JPY 108.53-107.64; AUD 0.6884-0.6849; NZD 0.6652-0.6617
Commodity Futures: Gold +1.3% at $1,594/oz; Crude Oil +1.3% at $63.49/brl; Copper +0.1% at $2.79/lb