OPEC+ Expected To Hold Teleconference Later Today

General Trend:

• Aussie equities outperform amid strength in Consumer Discretionary, Energy and Financial firms.
• HK gaming companies rise over 3%; HK gov’t announced stimulus measures after the market close on Wed, Trump commented on US gaming sector
• Shanghai Composite rose by less than 0.5% in early trading; Consumer Discretionary and Financial firms gained, while the property and IT sectors declined
• Japanese equities lag after outperformance seen on prior session
• Declining sectors on the TOPIX include Financial and Iron/Steel, Marine Transportation firms outperform
• Nikkei weighted Fast Retailing is due to report earnings and monthly sales figures later today; Seven & I is also due to report results
• RBA Financial Stability Review did not directly mention bank dividends
• RBA trimmed the amount of bonds that it offered to buy at daily QE operation
• Australia is planning to hold Nov 2024 bond syndicate next week
• South Korea gov’t bond yields move lower; BOK Gov said the central bank will conduct ‘active’ outright purchase of gov’t bonds , also could consider yield target tool
• BOK expected to announce plan related to gov’t bond purchases during the afternoon
• BoJ Gov Kuroda: Market tensions have eased somewhat, but remain jittery; financing for Japan companies is getting difficult
• Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA): To reduce bill issuance by exchange fund in order to increase liquidity
• US CDC Dir: CDC guidance to allow the return of some essential workers if [they are] asymptomatic, wear face masks, take temperatures, and ensure social distancing
• NZ PM: Cabinet to make decision regarding whether to exit from lockdown on April 20th (Monday)
• Trump: Will look at stimulus bill treatment of gaming sector
• Various markets will be closed on Friday for holiday (including Australia, HK, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, US)

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

• ASX 200 opened +0.5%
• (AU) Australia Parliament passes A$130B emergency stimulus package to address coronavirus impact to jobs and wages
• (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): Excess cash at exchange settlement (ES) accounts at A$89.0B v A$87.0B prior
• MSB.AU Remestemcel-L will be formally evaluated in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 240 patients with ARDS caused by COVID-19
• (NZ) New Zealand Local Govt Funding Agency (LGFA) raises NZ$1.1B in 20206 bonds v NZ$1.1B indicated (upsized from NZ$300M)
• (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) offers to buy total of A$1.5B in bonds v A$2.0B prior; Offers to buy AGS maturing May 2028 to Nov 2029
• (NZ) New Zealand PM Ardern: Cabinet to decide on lockdown Apr 20th, may use Singapore TraceTogether app; New Zealand will not be moving out of lockdown early
• (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Financial Stability Review: COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant strains in the global financial system
• (NZ) New Zealand Treasury: Sees substantial decline in GDP for 2020, degree of decline is highly uncertain

Japan

• Nikkei 225 opened +0.1%
• (JP) According to Nikkei survey, Japan companies to raise wages by avg 1.98% for FY20/21, -0.32% y/y (1st time below 2% in 7-years)
• (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) expected to project, sometime in April, that GDP will contract as coronavirus pandemic worsens (this would be the 1st prediction of a contraction since 2014) – financial press
• (JP) Japan Investors Net Buying of Foreign Bonds: -¥1.06B v -¥1.7T prior week; Foreign Net Buying of Japan Stocks: +¥422.7B v -¥1.4T prior week
• (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: Global economic uncertainty is very high; Will not hesistate to add easing if needed
• (JP) Japan MEIIT: Sees Q1 steel production 19.4Mt, -18% q/q; -26% y/y; steel product exports 5.4Mt, -26% y/y
• (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥1.9T v ¥1.9T indicated in 0.10% 5-yr JGB: avg yield: -0.095% v -0.164% prior, bid to cover: 4.98x v 5.31x prior
• (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) quarterly Regional Economic Report: Cuts assessment in all 9 regions

Korea

• Kospi opened +1.7%
• (KR) BANK OF KOREA (BOK) LEAVES 7-DAY REPO RATE UNCHANGED AT 0.75%; AS EXPECTED; to expand eligible collateral for OMO
• (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov Lee: to announce bond purchase plans later today, to actively purchase Govt bonds
• (KR) South Korea Fin Min Hong: Have started to see virus impact on job numbers; will cut levy for retailers, airlines and businesses in tourism sector
• (KR) Commercial satellite imagery suggests that North Korea recently conducted a dummy missile ejection test at its Sinpo shipyard – press
• (KR) South Korea confirms 39 additional coronavirus cases in last 24 hours v 53 prior, Death toll 204 v 200 prior
• (KR) South Korea Finance Min Hong: No plan to issue government bonds for 2nd extra budget (overnight)

China/Hong Kong

• Hang Seng opened +0.9%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.4%
• (CN) China Financial Stability Committee: it will take multiple tools to increase capital at medium and small banks in China
• (CN) China Politburo reiterates stance of facing increasing difficulties in economic development; to increase domestic demand and consumption – financial press
• (CN) China National Health Commission Coronavirus Update for April 8th: 63 additional cases (61 imported) v 62 prior; Additional deaths: 2 v 2 prior; Additional Asymptomatic cases 56 v 137 prior
• (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips Reserve Repo Operations for the 6th consecutive session; Net CNY0B v CNY0B prior
• (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.0536 v 7.0483 prior
• (HK) Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA): To reduce bill issuance by exchange fund in order to increase liquidity
• (HK) Macau Govt announces 2nd round of virus stimulus: MOP15.0K wage subsidy to each eligible worker and MOP5.0K in spending coupons, starting in May; total package worth MOP10B

Other

• (PH) Philippines Fin Min Dominguez: See 2020 GDP at -1% to 0.0%; budget gap to widen to 5.3% of GDP in 2020

North America

• (US) Fed’s Kaplan (dove, voter): US GDP may shrink 25-35% in Q2, then grow in H2; when asked about new Fed policies to support the economy says “stay tuned”
• (US) Sen Maj Leader McConnell: No realistic chance that a $500B coronavirus bill would pass Senate or house by unanimous consent this week
• (US) President Trump: We are getting the country much closer to the way it was before coronavirus; We can begin opening the economy slowly, and in phases – daily press conference
• (US) Sec of State Pompeo: Now is not the time for retribution with China, all countries, including China, need to be transparent on coronavirus data
• SBUX Guides Q2 $0.28-0.32 v $0.45e; Withdraws FY20 guidance; Maintains dividend; Sees Q3 negative effects significantly more than Q2 – filing
• DIS Reports Disney+ global paid subscriber count passes 50M members
• MCD COVID-19 update: Q1 SSS -3.4%, SSS declined significantly in March; withdraws FY20 outlook, reducing capex

Europe

• SAP.DE Reports prelim Q1 total rev +7%, non-IFRS cloud rev +27%, non-IFRS op profit +1% y/y; cuts FY20 guidance
• UBSG.CH Guides Q1 Net ~$1.5B v $1.14B y/y; To pay 2019 dividend in 2 installments following request from Switzerland regulator FINMA; to pay dividend of $0.365/share and special dividend of $0.365/share [the total equals the previously announced 2019 dividend of $0.73/share]
• CSGN.CH Proposes to pay FY19 dividend in 2 installments, each installment is equal to CHF0.1388/share; Total dividend payment is in line with intention to raise div by at least 5%/year; Affirms outlook given on March 19th and 25th

Levels as of 1:15ET

• Hang Seng +0.7%; Shanghai Composite +0.4%; Kospi +1.2%; Nikkei225 -0.7%; ASX 200 +2.4%
• Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.2%; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax +0.3%; FTSE100 +1.1%
• EUR 1.0880-1.0854; JPY 109.06-108.80; AUD 0.6250-0.6210; NZD 0.6026-0.5997
• Commodity Futures: Gold -0.1% at $1,683/oz; Crude Oil +2.8% at $25.81/brl; Copper -0.0% at $2.27/lb