General Trend
- Australia’s Energy index dropped over 1%, oil prices have moved lower amid the new virus restrictions related to the UK; Resources index rises on higher iron ore prices; Aussie cos. have started to react to the new virus curbs related to NSW
- Property and Financial shares decline in Hong Kong, TECH index trades generally flat
- Shanghai Composite outperformed during the morning session; IT, Consumer Staples and Industrial firms rise; Financials lagged
- Nike rose by over 5% in afterhours trading; Q2 results beat ests, raised sales guidance
- JPMorgan also rose by over 5% during afterhours on buyback announcement
- Amazon closed NJ warehouse until after Christmas, cited the rise in asymptomatic coronavirus cases
- China gov’t research institute: China’s 2021 iron ore imports and demand are expected to decline
- PBOC conducts 14-day reverse repo operation ahead of year end
- Vale disclosed incident at iron ore mine
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened slightly higher
- (AU) Australia Regulator APRA to maintain Countercyclical capital buffer at 0%
- RDSA.NL Selling 26.25% stake in Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) facility to Global Infrastructure Partners Australia for $2.5B
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.3%
- 4502.JP May start Japan trial of Moderna vaccine in January – Nikkei
- (JP) Japan PM Suga said to have told Japan Finance Ministry to not let Yen Appreciate against the dollar to under the 100 mark – Nikkei
- 4565.JP Announces agreement with GSK for immune disorder treatments
- (JP) Japan Cabinet confirms approval of ¥106.61T budget for FY21/22; Finance Ministry confirms press reports on JGB issuance for FY21/22, Budget spending at ¥106.6T
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: We want to achieve economic recovery and a balanced budget
Korea
- Kospi opened 0.0%
- (KR) South Korea may spend more than KRW4.0T on 3rd round of cash handouts – Korean press
- (KR) Sunday South Korea saw its COVID cases surpass 1,000 for the 5th consecutive day, Monday reported 926 additional coronavirus cases
- (KR) South Korea to restrict market makers in short selling; mini Kospi 200 futures and options will be prohibited from stock short-selling in cash market
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.3%; Shanghai Composite opened 0.0%
- 6688.HK Reportedly Jack Ma offered to give part of the company to China Govt on Nov 2nd meeting (days before IPO) in order to appease them in allowing IPO to move ahead; no decision has been made by Govt yet on offer – US financial press
- (CN) CHINA PBOC MONTHLY LOAN PRIME RATE (LPR) SETTING: 1-YEAR AND 5-YEAR RATES UNCHANGED (UNCHANGED FOR 8TH CONSECUTIVE MONTH)
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY110B in 7-day and 14-day reverse repos v injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY0B v Net drain CNY0B prior
- (CN) China MOFCOM: Foreign investment security check is not protectionism, they will be targeted
- (CN) China Economic Work Conference pledged continuity and stability of macro policies, to make them more targeted and effective, calling for prudent monetary policy that is “reasonable and proper” with largely stable macro leverage, and M2 and TSF growth to be compatible with nominal GDP growth. some are interpreting this slight shift in wording as a possible rate hike in 2021 – Chinese press
North America
- AJRD To be acquired by Lockheed Martin for $56/shr total value $4.4B
- RCII To acquire online lease-to-own provider, Acima Holdings for $1.6B ($1.27B cash and 10.8M shares)
- (US) Surgeon General: No evidence that UK’s new COVID-19 strain will affect vaccinations (in line with UK officials) – press
- (US) CDC reports record 403.4K new daily Covid cases (surpassing 244K record from last week) [from Dec 19th]
- (US) Senate Majority Leader McConnell confirms Congress has reached a $900B final agreement on Pandemic relief package, calls for prompt action, timing of votes uncertain
- (US) Senate Minority Leader Schumer: Hope to have a Senate vote “late tonight”; should have votes to pass Congress
- Amazon [AMZN]: Said to temporarily shut down Northern New Jersey warehouse due to asymptomatic coronavirus infections until Dec 26th – Press
Europe
- (UK) PM Johnson: Notified that COVID is spreading more rapidly in parts of UK, driven by a new strain of the virus, which experts say spreads more easily (up to 70% more easily); R-rate could increase by 0.4 or more; no evidence new strain is more dangerous or that vaccine will be less effective against it, implements new tier 4 restrictions, effective morning of Dec 20th
- (UK) UK official: continue to explore every route to a Brexit deal; talks expected to continue on Monday, Dec 21st
- (UK) ITV’s Paul Brand tweets: Eurotunnel will close completely – to all travellers and freight – from 10pm tonight for at least 48 hours
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng -0.0%; Shanghai Composite +0.6%; Kospi +0.2%; Nikkei225 -0.3%; ASX 200 -0.2%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.4%, Dax -1.4%; FTSE100 -1.0%
- EUR 1.2235-1.2179; JPY 103.56-103.25 ;AUD 0.7607-0.7562; NZD 0.7125-0.7085
- Commodity Futures: Gold +1.0% at $1,907/oz; Crude Oil -2.9% at $47.81/brl; Copper -1.1% at $3.60/lb
