Precious Metals Continued To Move Higher, But Later Pared Gains

General Trend:

• Taiwan Semi rose over 9%, later pared gain
• Large-cap tech names trade generally higher in Hong Kong amid the rise in the Nasdaq and shares of Taiwan Semi; Financial and Property indices decline
• Dongfeng Group rises over 22% in HK on planned A-share listing
• Decliners in Japan include Real Estate firms and Automakers; Mitsubishi Motors drops over 12% after issuing guidance; Gainers include Electric Appliance and Brokerage firms
• Japanese companies expected to report earnings include Canon Inc, Nissan Motor, Tokyo Electron, Hoya, Hitachi Metals; Other cos. that may report include Fanuc
• Shanghai Composite rose by over 0.5% during morning session, gainers included Consumer and Telecom Service cos.; Kweichow Moutai rises over 2.5%
• Australia Resource cos. rise, gold miners extend gains; Financials index declines
• Gold Futures for Dec 2020 trade at $2,000/oz
• Australia Q2 CPI data due on Wed (July 29th)
• US companies expected to reporting during the NY morning include Cummins, DR Horton, Corning, Harley Davidson, JetBlue, Labcorp, McDonalds, 3M, Altria Group, Pfizer, Sherwin-Williams, S&P Global, Xerox

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

• ASX 200 opened +0.1%
• (AU) Australia total payroll jobs change between Mid-June and July 11th: -1.1%; July 11th Weekly payrolls -0.6%, weekly total wages -1.9%; Victoria payroll jobs for July 4-11th: -1.4%, total wages -3.0%
• (AU) Australia Debt Agency (AOFM): Sells A$15.0B in 1.75% Jun 2051 bond; Avg Yield: 1.94%, received A$36.8B in bids
• (AU) China State Newspaper Global Times says that Australia Iron Ore shipments cannot ‘prop up’ the weakening relationship between the two countries (Update)
• (NZ) New Zealand suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong citing Hong Kong National Security law

China/Hong Kong

• Hang Seng opened +1.4%, Shanghai Composite +0.7%
• (HK) Some Foreign banks have been refusing accounts of Hong Kong Officials – Financial Press
• (CN) China NDRC: will cut broadband fees by avg of 15% for companies
• (CN) Fitch affirms China Sovereign bonds at A+; Outlook stable
• (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.9895 v 7.0029 prior
• (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY80B in 7-day reverse repos v Injects CNY100B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net Injection CNY70B v Net injection CNY0B prior

Japan

• Nikkei 225 opened +0.1%
• (JP) Japan Jun PPI Services Y/Y: 0.8% v 0.8%e
• (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥499.7B v ¥500B indicated in 0.50% 40-year JGBs, highest accepted yield 0.5750% v 0.505% prior, bid to cover: 3.11x v 3.06x prior
• (JP) Japan Tax Chief Amari: Japan needs to analyze risks of Chinese apps

Korea

• Kospi opened +0.9%
• (KR) South Korea Financial Services Commissioner: Korea to normalize the eased rules on call borrowings and loans in August

Other Asia

• (ID) Indonesia President: Indonesia should be aware of a second coronavirus wave

North America

• (US) Senate Republicans unveil piecemeal portions of new COVID relief proposal
• US Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R) reiterates the cost of the GOP coronavirus response bill is about $1.0T; Stimulus bill is a starting place, cannot pass without Democrats.
• US Congressional aide said the Senate GOP to support $10B in additional spending for US airports
• US Senator Graham: US semiconductor manufacturing tax credit will be included in the GOP bill
• US Senate Minority Leader Schumer (D-NY): Republican plan needs much more money for schools
• (US) White House Official Meadows: Had very productive meeting with Speaker Pelosi on Stimulus, to hold additional talks on Tuesday (July 28th)
• Pfizer [PFE]: Pfizer and BioNTech choose lead mRNA Vaccine Candidate against COVID-19 and commence Pivotal Phase 2/3 Global Study of BNT162b [released after the US equity close]
• (US) US Mint reported to have reduced the amount of Gold and Silver coins available for purchases

Levels as of 1:20 ET

• Nikkei 225, -0.1%, ASX 200 -0.1% , Hang Seng +0.4%; Shanghai Composite +0.6% ; Kospi +1.4%
• Equity S&P500 Futures: +0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.2%, Dax flat; FTSE100 +0.3%
• EUR 1.1773-1.1714 ; JPY 105.68-105.22 ; AUD 0.7177-0.7128 ;NZD 0.6703-0.6653
• Gold flat at $1,932/oz; Crude Oil -0.1% at $41.53/brl; Copper -0.5% at $2.8950/lb