General Trend
- Decliners in Japan include Iron/Steel and Air Transportation firms; Sharp to replace Docomo in the Nikkei 225 index [effective Dec 2nd]
- Consumer Staples drop in Australia after gains on Wed; Gainers include Consumer Discretionary and Financial firms ; Bluescope Steel rises on guidance
- Shanghai Composite traded flat during the morning session; Consumer firms rose, while brokers lagged
- Corporate debt issues start to impact brokerage firms in China (Haitong Securities)
- Shanxi, China Gov: Local SOEs do not have problem repaying debt
- TECH, Financial and Property indices decline in HK
- Korean Won (KRW) declines amid verbal intervention; BOK suspected to have purchased USD
- AU jobs data beat ests, little initial reaction seen
- Cerberus said to cancel CMBS transaction
- Philippines Central Bank (BSP) is expected to leave rates unchanged
- Shanghai Exchange launched its international copper contract
- PBOC is expected to leave its loan prime rates (LPRs) unchanged on Friday (Nov 20th)
- Friday (Nov 20th) is a Gotobi day in Japan [refers to the 5th day of the month and dates that are multiples of 5 (for example July 20th); Accounts are generally settled on Gotobi days]
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.1%
- (AU) AUSTRALIA OCT EMPLOYMENT CHANGE: +178.8K V -27.5KE; UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 7.0% V 7.1%E
- (AU) Australia APRA Chairman Byres may have indicated that there are plans to ease bank dividend restrictions soon – press citing speech yesterday
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Offers to buy A$2.0B in Govt bonds v $4.0B prior
- (AU) Australia Oct RBA Govt FX Transactions (A$): -981M v -1.04B prior
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.4%
- 6753.JP To be added to Nikkei 225 effective Dec 2nd; to replace Docomo after NTT acquires company
- (JP) Japan Investors Net Buying of Foreign Bonds: +¥1.0T v ¥1.37T prior; Foreign Net Buying of Japan Stocks: +¥422.5B v +¥484.5B prior
- (JP) Tokyo said to confirm >500 coronavirus cases today (would be a new daily record) – Press
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Not thinking about second round of cash handouts; Conditions are different from when cash handouts were previously given, State of emergency has been lifted
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.3%
- (KR) South Korea Vice Fin Min Kim: Recent moves in Won are excessive; Will continue to take steps to stabilize currency market
- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) suspected or purchasing USD to slow gain in KRW
- (KR) Korea Iron & Steel Association and the World Steel Association sees 2020 crude steel production below 70Mt (1st time below 70M in 4 years) due to pandemic – Yonhap
- 068270.KR Coronavirus treatment is likely to file for emergency authorization use from local drug authorities next month – Yonhap
- (KR) South Korea Fin Min Hong: KRW recent gains have been faster than major currencies, Excessive volatility is not desirable
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.3%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.3%
- (CN) China President Xi: Need to step up policy coordination; To expand domestic demand as strategic priority; china will expand domestic demand as a strategy; China will further reduce tariffs – speaking to APEC summit
- (CN) US, Australia and UK issues joint statement: Expect China to live up to international commitments, China needs to stop undermining rights of people in Hong Kong
- (CN) Shanxi Gov: Local SOEs do not have problem repaying debt
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY70B in 7-day reverse repos v Injects CNY100B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY50B v Net drain CNY50B prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.5484 v 6.5593 prior (strongest setting since June 2018)
- (CN) China Finance Ministry (MOF) expected to sell €4B in 5-year, 10-year and 15-year EUR denominated bonds; 5-year bond expected to price at an interest rate of -0.15%
- (HK) Hong Kong Monetary Authority: China Ministry of Finance (MOF) to issue an additional CNY5.0B in 2022 and 2025 yuan-denominated bonds in HK on Nov 25th (Wed)
- (CN) US State Dept issues paper on steps US should take in response to China’s ‘fundamentally revise world order’ around its own ‘authoritarian goals’
- (CN) China Oct Swift Global Payments CNY: 1.66% v 1.97% prior
North America
- (US) GOP leaders in Pennsylvania State House are seeking to join Pres Trump’s lawsuit challenging the election, claiming allowing voters to fix defective absentee ballots “compromised the electoral process and the secrecy” of secret ballots – press
- (US) President Trump has not made any plans to host the G7 Leaders Summit – financial press
Europe
- (UK) PM Johnson confirms boost to defense spending of $22B in order to increase UK influence – press
- AD.NL Ahold Delhaize and Centerbridge Partners acquire online grocer FreshDirect; No terms disclosed
- (UK) EU countries pressing EU Commission for its own no-deal Brexit plans – UK press
- (DE) ECB’s Weidmann (Germany) calls on Eurosystem to consider climate related financial risks before making monetary policy decisions – FT Op Ed
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng -0.6%; Shanghai Composite +0.1%; Kospi -0.5%; Nikkei225 -0.8%; ASX 200 +0.3%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.0%; Nasdaq100 -0.3%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 -1.0%
- EUR 1.1858-1.1832; JPY 103.98-103.72; AUD 0.7307-0.7285; NZD 0.6926-0.6901
- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.4% at $1,866/oz; Crude Oil -0.5% at $41.80/brl; Copper -0.3% at $3.19/lb
