General Trend:
- Gilead Sciences rose over 15% in US afterhours trading, early data from REMDESIVIR trials in coronavirus said to have been positive
- Trump issued guidelines related to the reopening of the US economy (as expected); The guidelines noted 3 phases related to reopening, US governors to be allowed to tailor their approaches for reopening states
- US President Trump: Some US states will be able to open “literally tomorrow”; States that have met criteria for phase 1 can reopen starting tomorrow
- Sectors moving higher in Australia include Consumer Discretionary, Energy, Resources and Financials
- Rio Tinto rises over 4% after quarterly production update
- Nikkei heavyweights Softbank and Fast Retailing rise over 5%
- Various Japanese firms halt production of parts related to Boeing, coronavirus impact cited
- Shanghai Composite rises by less than 1% during morning session, IT and Consumer Discretionary indices rise over 1.5%
- HK gaming companies track gains in US counterparts
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.3%
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) offers to buy total of A$750M in bonds v A$1.0B prior
- (AU) Australia sells A$1.0B v A$1.0B indicated in 1.25% May 2032 bonds, avg yield 0.9853%, bid to cover 4.1x
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$600M in gov’t bonds v NZ600$M sought as part of QE operations
- (NZ) RBNZ seeks to buy NZ$1.35B in gov’t bonds in QE auctions next week
- (NZ) New Zealand Fin Min Robertson: Level 3 lockdown is not material different from level 4 lockdown
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +1.9%, Shanghai Composite +0.6%
- Huawei: Said to be switching chip providers from TSMC to SMIC due to US restrictions – China Press
- (CN) China Stats Bureau comments on Q1 data: Economic activity is being restored
- (CN) CHINA Q1 GDP Q/Q: -9.8% V -12.0%E; Y/Y: -6.8% V -6.0%E (1st contraction since 1976)
- (CN) CHINA MAR INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION Y/Y: -1.1% V -6.2%E; YTD Y/Y: -8.4% V -10.0%E
- (CN) CHINA MAR RETAIL SALES Y/Y: -15.8% V -10.0%E; YTD Y/Y: -19.0% V -12.5%E
- (CN) CHINA MAR FIXED URBAN ASSETS YTD Y/Y: -16.1% V -15.0%E
- (CN) China Mar Property Investment YTD y/y: -7.7% v -16.3% prior
- (CN) China Mar Surveyed Jobless Rate: 5.9% v 6.2% prior
- (CN) China PBOC Gov Yi Gang: long term positive trend in China economy is unchanged (from April 16th)
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.0718 v 7.0714 prior
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips Reserve Repo Operations for the 12th consecutive session; Net CNY0B v CNY0B prior
- (CN) Wuhan City (China): Revises coronavirus death toll higher by 1,290 to 3,869 total deaths; revises confirmed coronavirus cases higher by 325 to 50,333
- (CN) China National Health Commission Coronavirus Update for April 16th: 26 additional cases (15 imported) v 46 prior; Additional deaths: 0 v 0 prior
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +1.5%
- (JP) Japan expected to postpone release of April economic assessment report – press
- (JP) Japan Economy Minister Nishimura: Decision to expand state of emergency to the entire country will have ‘huge’ economic impact
- (JP) Japan Feb Final Industrial Production M/M: -0.3% v +0.4% prelim; Y/Y: -5.7% v -4.7% prelim
- (JP) Japan Feb Tertiary Industry Index M/M: -0.5% v -0.5%e
Korea
- Kospi opened +2%
- (KR) South Korea Mar Unemployment Rate: 3.8% v 3.8%e
- (KR) South Korea reported to announce economic policy package for employment next week – Press
Other Asia
- (IN) INDIA CENTRAL BANK (RBI) LEAVES REPURCHASE RATE UNCHANGED AT 4.40%; ADJUSTS RATE CORRIDOR; Cuts Reverse Repo Rate by 25bps to 3.75% (intra-policy decision)
- (SG) SINGAPORE MAR NON-OIL DOMESTIC EXPORTS M/M: +12.8% V -12.7%E; Y/Y: +17.6% V -8.0%E; Pharmaceutical exports Y/Y: +48.6% v 23.7% prior
North America
- Moderna [MRNA]: BARDA awards up to $483M to accelerate development of mRNA Vaccine (mRNA-1273) against novel coronavirus
- (US) US Fed Total Balance Sheet size as of April 15th: $6.42T v $6.13T on April 8th
- (US) Fed’s Kashkari (dove, FOMC voter): President Trump’s staged approach to reopening economy makes sense – Fox interview
Europe
- ARAMCO: Reported to have changed supplies of crude grades by increasing Arab light and reducing Arab heavy – Press
Levels as of 1:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, +2.7%, ASX 200 +1.4%, Hang Seng +2.4%; Shanghai Composite +1.1%; Kospi +3.2%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +3.2%; Nasdaq100 +2.2%, Dax +1.7%; FTSE100 +1.3%
- EUR 1.0878-1.0835; JPY 108.08-107.64 ; AUD 0.6385-0.6316 ;NZD 0.6043-0.5956
- Gold -0.7% at $1,718/oz; Crude Oil -0.6% at $19.73/brl; Copper +1.5% at $2.344/lb
