Japan Q2 GDP And Private Consumption Miss Ests

Aug 17 20, 09:02 GMT

General Trend:

Shanghai Composite rose by over 2% during morning session; Financials gain amid PBOC MLF operation
Financials index rises over 1.5% in Hong Kong
CanSino rises over 14% in HK after receiving Chinese approval for patent related to potential coronavirus vaccine
Xiaomi rises over 7%, to be added to the Hang Seng index
Geely cut FY sales volume target
Decliners in Japan include Pharmaceutical and IT/Communication companies
Telecom and Financial firms move lower in Australia
US Soybean FUTs rise after comments from Trump, Corn FUTs also rise
RBA is due to release the minutes from its Aug policy meeting on Tuesday (Aug 18th)

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened -0.1%
(AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) skips buying bonds v A$2.0B prior
(AU) Australia sells A$800M v A$800M indicated in 2.75% June 2035 bonds 1.2358%, avg yield, bid to cover 3.3x
(NZ) New Zealand PM Ardern: Delays NZ Elections until Oct 17th; To dissolve parliament on Sept 6th; Parliament to reconvene on Tuesday
(NZ) New Zealand Fin Min Robertson: Extends mortgage deferral plan to March 31st 2021 from Sept 27th 2020; Institutes new wage subsidy that will cost ~NZ$510M and protect 570K jobs in response to Auckland Lockdown
(NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$398M v NZ$185M prior in government bonds as part of QE v NZ$410M sought (3rd straight session buying under amount sought)
(NZ) New Zealand July Performance of Services Index: 54.3 v 54.3 prior

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened +0.1%, Shanghai Composite +0.4%
(CN) US-China six-month review of trade agreement reportedly postponed due to a scheduling issue; had been planned for tomorrow; parties have not set new date yet – press (from Aug 14th)
(US) Pres Trump: China is buying ‘a lot’ of things like corn and soybeans, they are doing it to keep me happy (from Aug 15th)
(CN) CHINA PBOC CONDUCTS CNY700B 1-YEAR MEDIUM-TERM LENDING FACILITY (MLF) OPERATION: RATE 2.95% V 2.95% PRIOR [CNY550B in MLF funds are due to expire in Aug]
Alibaba, Xiaomi, WuXi Biologics to be added to the Hang Seng Index, effective Sept 7th; Sino land, Want Want China, China Shenhua Energy to be removed from Hang Seng Index (HSI); Alibaba, Xiaomi, Wuxi Biologics, Meituan to be added in Hang Seng China Enterprises Index
(HK) Hong Kong Govt is reported to be studying extension of Restaurant business hours – Press
(CN) China NDRC: China July Power consumption +2.3% y/y; China companies’ external debt ‘surged’ in June and July; approved CNY38.2B in fixed asset investments in July
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.9362 v 6.9405 prior (Strongest yuan fix since March 9th)
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY50B in 7-day reverse repos v Injects CNY150B in 7-day reverse repos prior

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened -0.4%
(JP) JAPAN Q2 PRELIMINARY GDP Q/Q: -7.8% V -7.5%E; GDP ANNUALIZED Q/Q: -27.8% V -26.9%E (economy remains in technical recession); Private Consumption Q/Q: -8.2% v -4.0%e (3rd consecutive contraction)
(JP) Econ Min Nishimura: Want to make sure Economy hit bottom in Apr-May period; Japan Consumption and exports are looking up in June and July
Nissan [7201.JP]: Earlier in 2020 officials in Japan had sought to merge Honda and Nissan, the proposal was rejected by both companies – FT
Softbank [9984.JP]: Commenting on press reports related to $1.1B commitment for WeWork: the $1.1B commitment was based on an agreement from Oct 2019, notes Softbank has not made an ‘additional commitment’ of $1.1B to WeWork
(JP) Japan PM Abe reportedly is admitted to hospital in Tokyo for a routine checkup – Japan Press
(JP) Japan June Final Industrial Production M/M: 1.9% v 2.7% prelim; Y/Y: -18.2% v -17..7% prelim; Capacity Utilization M/M: 6.2% v -11.6% prior

Korea

Other Asia

Europe

(UK) BOE Haldane (chief economist): the foundations for a rapid recovery in the UK economy are already in place – Daily Mail op/ed (from Aug 15th)
(UK) Aug Rightmove House Prices M/M: -0.2%; Y/Y: 4.6% v 3.7% prior

Levels as of 1:20 ET

Nikkei 225, -0.6%, ASX 200 -0.7% , Hang Seng +1.4%; Shanghai Composite +2.5% ; Kospi closed
Equity S&P500 Futures: +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.4%, Dax +0.3%; FTSE100 +0.3%
EUR 1.1867-1.1830 ; JPY 106.67-106.45 ; AUD 0.7197-0.7164 ;NZD 0.6553-0.6527
Gold +0.2% at $1,952/oz; Crude Oil +1% at $42.70/brl; Copper +0.2% at $2.8678/lb