General Trend
- Markets open generally lower taking their lead from US markets as political turmoil continues, House to bring impeachment proceedings against Trump in tomorrow’s session, markets continued to trade mixed as the session continued. Korea traded markedly lower, while China and HK traded higher after a weaker opening. Japan and Australia flitted between gains and losses.
- USD remains stronger against the majors but moves have tempered and looking range bound
- Hang Seng holding around 11-month high on strong China mainland buying
- Malaysia extends COVID state of emergency to August, while Japan considers expanding state of emergency to additional areas
- As US investment ban on China blacklisted companies goes into effect today, Hang Seng looking at ways to customize its indexes to help clients comply with new American investor laws Trump implemented via executive order
- Steel names in US stronger after hours on news Biden is expected to keep 25% tariff in place when he takes office
- USTR Lighthizer calls on Biden to keep the course with China trade policy and tariffs. Biden to announce his fiscal stimulus plan Thursday and it is expected be in the trillions.
- Japan expected to expand state of emergency to regain control of COVID cases, hospitals under strain
- COVID cases in China and Japan continue to rise, as WHO starts their visit to China later this week to investigate COVID
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.1%
- (AU) Australia Treasurer Frydenberg: Jobkeeper program will expire at end of March (in line)
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.5%
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Not considering adjusting existing budgets at this time, Support office for foreign finance firms has opened today
- (JP) Japan Dec Eco Watchers Current Survey: 35.5 v 36.8e; Outlook Survey: 37.1 v 30.5e
- (JP) Japan PM Suga: Confirms he will consider expanding area covered under state of emergency
- (JP) Japan Nov Current Account: ¥1.88T v ¥1.55Te; Adj Current Account: ¥2.34T v ¥1.99Te
- (JP) Power prices in Japan hit fresh record high of ¥210.01/KWH as cold wave moves across region
- 4519.JP UK govt finds Actemra effective against coronavirus, lowers patients’ chances of death due to the coronavirus by 24% – Nikkei
- 4502.JP Sets Goal to Increase Rev 50% by FY2030 – JPM Health conference
- 7974.JP Shipped >1.0M Switch units in China since Dec 2019, which surpasses Xbox and PS combined – Tencent
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.4%
- (KR) South Korea Financial Services Commission to lift ban on short sales on March 16th (was implemented last year due to COVID)
- 006400.KR Supplied energy storage system batteries to Tesla since Q4 – Korean press
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.1%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.4%
- (HK) Hong Kong Hang Seng to explore customized index solutions to help clients comply with “applicable laws and regulations” in light of Trump executive order banning American investors from investing in sanctioned companies in China
- (CN) China has asked certain big tech companies to share customer loan data to prevent fraud and over lending under recent tightening of online lending – Press
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY5B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY5B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY5B v Net drain CNY15B prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4823 v 6.4764 prior
- (CN) Dec Spot rates for a 40-foot container from Shanghai to US +150% y/y due to strong demand for products supporting a stay at home lifestyle amid COVID – press
- (CN) China to launch trial program that would allow some banks to sell bad personal loans to distressed asset managers in order to reduce risks
North America
- (US) Fed’s Kaplan (non-voter in 2021): Sees 2020 GDP -2.5% to -2.25%, Sees 2021 GDP ~5.0% – Town Hall event
- (US) President elect Biden expected to leave 25% steel tariffs in place – press
- (US) House Democrats formally introduce Articles of Impeachment against Pres Trump for “incitement of insurrection” (as expected); to bring to House Wednesday
- (CN) USTR Lighthizer reiterates stance that President-elect Biden should keep tariffs in place on China
Europe
- (PT) Portugal President de Sousa tests positive for COVID, but has no symptoms
- (UK) Dec BRC Sales LFL Y/Y: 4.8% v 7.7% prior; 2020 retail sales -0.3% y/y (lowest level since data started in 1995)
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng +0.4%; Shanghai Composite +0.8%; Kospi -2.5%; Nikkei225 +0.1%; ASX 200 -0.3%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.0%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax +0.1%; FTSE100 -0.2%
- EUR 1.2164-1.2139; JPY 104.33-104.11; AUD 0.7712-0.7687; NZD 0.7177-0.7158
- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.0% at $1,851/oz; Crude Oil -0.2% at $52.16/brl; Copper +0.8% at $3.58/lb
