General Trend:
- Shanghai Composite declines during morning session, Financials and Property shares trade lower
- Ganfeng Lithium rises over 3% in HK after reporting Q1 earnings
- Chinese telecom ZTE may report Q1 results later today (US financial press)
- Japanese equities decline ahead of Monday’s BOJ decision (April 27th), automakers and securities firms are among the decliners
- Japanese companies which may report earnings include Fanuc and Advantest
- Australian equities outperform amid gains in the Energy and Resources sectors
- Mesoblast rises over 25% in Australia, presented data from coronavirus study
- South Korea earnings in focus. LG Display and Kia Motors declined following earnings, Steelmaker Posco cut guidance
- PBOC cuts 1-year targeted MLF rate by 20bps [The PBOC had already announced recent cuts to its loan prime rates (LPR), 1-year MLF rate and 7-day reverse repo rate]
- US Treasury Sec commented on oil companies and mortgage servicers
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened flat
- (AU) Australia PM Morrison: Good progress being made on road back from coronavirus lockdown; Expecting further outbreaks after lockdown ends; Cabinet agrees to coronavirus safe workplace principles
- (AU) Australia Chief Medical Officer: Coronavirus death toll: 78; Victoria state has reported small new virus cluster; Not recommending that Australians wear masks
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) adds A$1.3B to banking system through repos v A$2.71B prior
- (AU) Australia sells A$1.5B v A$1.5B indicated in 5.50% April 2023 bonds, avg yield 0.2603%, bid to cover 7.26x
- (AU) Australia to sell A$5.5B in Govt bonds next week via 2 tenders
- (AU) Australia PM Morrison said to be frustrated with the banks and has spoken with them about not meeting expectations of temporarily underwriting the wages bill and has asked them to do more to make the process quicker – Aussie press
- (NZ) New Zealand Finance Min Robertson: There will be more govt support, Further support will be substantial; New Zealand is some distance from reopening border
- (NZ) Fitch: New Zealand ruling Labour Party coalition to retain parliamentary majority following Sept 19th general election
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$450M in gov’t bonds v NZ$450M sought as part of QE operations v NZ$450M prior
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ): Seeks to buy NZ$1.35B in bonds during the week of April 28th [as part of QE program]
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.6%, Shanghai -0.1%
- (CN) China CDC Tweet: An emergency #COVID19 #vaccine could be developed by September and a new vaccine following Phase II or III clinical trials may be administered to healthy people by early next year (2021)
- *(CN) CHINA PBOC CONDUCTS CNY56.1B V CNY240.5B PRIOR 1-YEAR TARGETED MEDIUM-TERM LENDING FACILITY (TMLF) AT 2.95% V 3.15% PRIOR (5TH TIME EVER USED)
- (CN) China President Xi: Will boost the real domestic economy, especially the manufacturing sector
- (CN) China National Health Commission Coronavirus Update for April 23rd: 6 additional cases (2 imported) v 10 prior; Additional deaths: 0 v 0 prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.0803 v 7.0887 prior
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips Reserve Repo Operations for the 17th consecutive session; Net CNY0B v CNY0B prior
- (CN) China 10 year yields drop to 2.47% (lowest in 10 years)
- (US) US officials find Chinese exporters dumped glass containers after trade review – press
- (CN) China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) official Libin: China will step up policy incentives to fuel new energy vehicle (NEV) production and sales – Xinhua
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.5%
- Takeda [4502.JP]: Said to plan to sell its consumer healthcare unit which is potentially worth ¥400B – Japanese press
- *(JP) Bank of Japan reportedly to consider unlimited bond buying at next meeting; Bank of Japan to double purchases of corporate bonds and commercial paper; Plans to keep the yield curve control (YCC) goal and negative rate unchanged – Nikkei
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Not hearing from Bank of Japan (BOJ) whether to scrap bond buying cap
- (JP) BOJ announces change the auction schedule of the outright purchases of Japanese government bonds (JGBs); pushes back schedule by one day until Tuesday, Apr 28th
- *(JP) JAPAN MAR NATIONAL CPI Y/Y: 0.4% V 0.4%E; CPI EX-FRESH FOOD (CORE) Y/Y: 0.4% V 0.4%E
- (JP) Japan Mar PPI Services Y/Y: 1.6% v 1.7%e
- (JP) Japan Feb All Industry Activity Index M/M: -0.6% v -0.5%e
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) announcement related to daily bond buying operation: unchanged
- (JP) Japan Govt: Economic stimulus package estimated to boost real GDP by ~4.4%
- (JP) Japan Econ Min Nishimura: Japan will hold experts meeting to determine whether to extend state of emergency past May 6th
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.5%
- (KR) South Korea Finance Ministry: To issue bonds to pay for previously announced cash handouts
- (KR) North Korea media has reported North Korea Leader Kim has been sending diplomatic letters, but has not shown photos or video of any activity – Yonhap
Other Asia
- (ID) Indonesia to ban air and sea travel until June in order to slow the spread of coronavirus – Press
- (MY) Petronas said to consider additional dividends to Govt fund malaysia stimulus – Press
- (PH) Philippine President Duterte: May declare martial law if communists disrupt food supplies; Philippines running out of funds; extends lockdown of main island until May 15th; Later clarifies Philippines running out of funds for virus efforts
- (PH) Philippines Fin Min Dominguez: Philippines has sufficient cash; Planning loan program for small businesses
- (SG) Singapore Mar Industrial Production M/M: 21.7% v 2.8%e; Y/Y: +16.5 % v -4.9%e
North America
- (US) President Trump: May extend social distancing guidelines until summer, until we feel safe
- (US) House votes to pass $484B coronavirus package bill to boost small business program and hospitals – press (as expected)
- (US) President Trump: To sign coronavirus stimulus plan on Friday [as expected), signing to occur during a ceremony at 12 PM EST
- (US) Treasury Sec Mnuchin: Weighing lending facility for struggling oil companies; Investment grade drillers should look to fed; US has no plans for mortgage servicer lifeline
- (US) Fed officials signal that April meeting is not likely to issue new announcements on asset purchases; will consider expansion of Main Street lending program to nonprofits – press
- (US) Fed takes action to increase availability of intraday credit extended by Federal Reserve Banks
- (US) Fed Total Balance Sheet size as of April 22nd: $6.62T (record) v $6.42T prior; Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility: $8.0B
- (US) Fed Chair Powell: committed to transparency and accountability in how the Fed’s new facilities are used
- Gilead Sciences [GILD]: Gilead antiviral drug remdesivir reportedly ‘flops’ in first randomized clinical coronavirus trial – Financial Times
- Gilead Sciences [GILD]: World Health Organization spokesperson: Gilead report is undergoing peer review and has not been finalized yet; The study author disputes the FT characterization that the drug ‘flopped’
- Emergent BioSolutions [EBS]: Signs $135M agreement to be manufacturing partner for Johnson & Johnson’s Lead coronvirus vaccine candidate
- Tesla [TSLA]: Reported to have raised prices for China made Model 3; Increase at least CNY4.5K
- (US) SEMI Mar North America-based Manufacturers of Semi Equipment Billings: $2.21B, -6.8% m/m and +20.1% y/y; the year-over-year increase indicates companies across the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain thus far are effectively maintaining continuous operations despite COVID-19 headwinds
- (MX) Mexico Central Bank (BANXICO) Gov Diaz de Leon : Mexico will hold usual monetary policy meeting on May 14th despite out of cycle cut this week
- (AR) Argentina Province Buenos Aires reported to enter coupon grace period on bonds – press
Europe
- *(EU) EU leaders talks have ended with no agreement on recovery package; European Commission tasked with presenting a formal proposal by May 6th
- (UK) APR PRELIMINARY GFK CONSUMER CONFIDENCE: -34 V -40E
Levels as of 1:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, -1.2%, ASX 200 +0.6%, Hang Seng -0.6%; Shanghai Composite -0.7%; Kospi -1.2%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.7%; Nasdaq100 -1%, Dax -0.8%; FTSE100 -1.5%
- EUR 1.0784-1.0761 ; JPY 107.76-107.55 ; AUD 0.6382-0.6350 ;NZD 0.6014-0.5983
- Gold flat at $1,745/oz; Crude Oil +3.2% at $17.04/brl; Copper -0.3% at $2.300/lb
