Australia Said It Has Been Targeted By Cyber Attacks, Blamed State Actor

Jun 19 20, 06:06 GMT

General Trend:

Kospi lags in Asia amid some talk of selling in the futures market, uncertainty remains regarding relations with North Korea
China PBOC is expected to leave its loan prime rates unchanged on Monday (June 22nd)

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened +0.6%
(AU) Australia May Preliminary Retail Sales M/M: +16.3% v -17.7% prior (Largest seasonally adjusted rise ever in 38-year publishing history)
(AU) Australia PM Morrison: Australia being targeted by Sophisticated State Level cyber attacks; All levels of govt being targeted
(AU) Australia Fair Works Commission (FWC) raises minimum wage by 1.75% v 3% prior (May 2019); the new minimum wage will be A$19.84/hour
(AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board member Harper has urged the government to establish a way which would allow it to taper its stimulus programs; would not be helpful if AUD/USD rose back above 70 cents
(AU) Australia Treasurer: Has directed the ACCC to monitor domestic air passenger services for 3-years; Will monitor airlines in regards to costs and profits
(AU) Australia sells A$2.0B v A$2.0B indicated in 3.25% April 2025 bonds, avg yield 0.3707%, bid to cover 5.1x
(NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$305M v NZ$305M prior in government bonds as part of QE v NZ$305M sought
(NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ): Will seek to purchase NZ$940M v NZ$1.08B prior in government bonds next week

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened -0.4%, Shanghai Composite flat
(US) Pres Trump: China may have intentionally spread coronavirus to damage other economies – WSJ interview
(CN) Beijing City’s (China) 2 airports have canceled over 800 flights for Friday [amid recent reports of new coronavirus cases] – Chinese press
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects combined CNY180B in 7-day and 14-day repos v Injects combined CNY120B in 7-day and 14-day reverse repos; Net inject CNY80B v injection CNY40B prior
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.0913 v 7.0903 prior
(CN) China Finance Ministry (MOF) sells 30-year bonds: yield 3.6173% v 3.59%e (3.5111% prior); bid to cover 2.3x v 2.8x prior
(CN) China Virus Expert Wu Zunyou: Beijing City can loosen its virus control measures after there are no new cases for 2 weeks, no need to test all Beijing residents for coronavirus; Coronavirus vaccine likely available by the end of 2020 [in line with prior comments out of China]
(CA) China said to prosecute Canada’s MIchael Kovrig (former diplomat) for suspected spying

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened +0.7%
(JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Reiterates Economy may have improved last month, economy is showing signs of less deterioration
(JP) Japan Cabinet raises economic assessment for June (as expected, 1st upward revision since Jan 2018): Says ‘economy has almost stopped deteriorating’, but reiterates it is still in an extremely severe situation
(JP) JAPAN MAY NATIONAL CPI Y/Y: +0.1% V 0.2%E; CPI EX-FRESH FOOD (CORE) Y/Y: -0.2% V -0.1%E

Korea

Kospi opened +0.9%
(KR) South Korea reported it may urge US to ease sanctions on North Korea – Japan Press
(KR) South Korea President Moon: Accepts resignation of Unification Minister
(KR) South Korea Finance Min: Reiterates will respond to any financial market volatilities if needed amid escalating tension with North Korea

North America

(US) Fed Total Balance Sheet Size as of June 17th: $7.17T, -$28.0B w/w [Repurchase agreements: $120.4B, -$63.9B w/w; Central Bank liquidity swaps: $352.6B, -$93.7B w/w]
(US) SEMI May North America-based Manufacturers of Semi Equipment Billings: $2.35B, +2.9% m/m and +13.1% y/y
(US) Moody’s revises outlook on San Francisco, CA bonds to Negative from Stable; Affirms GO bond at AAA

Europe

Levels as of 1:20 ET

Nikkei 225, +0.4%, ASX 200 +0.1%, Hang Seng -0.1%; Shanghai Composite +0.6%; Kospi -0.4%
Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.3%, Dax flat
EUR 1.1213-1.1199; JPY 107.05-106.86 ; AUD 0.6867-0.6840 ;NZD 0.6452-0.6406
Gold +0.2% at $1,734/oz; Crude Oil +0.9% at $39.20/brl; Copper +0.4% at $2.606/lb