General Trend
- Nikkei rises amid gains in large components (Fast Retailing, Softbank Group), Fast Retailing due to report Q1 results after the market close; Topix Brokerage and Information/Communication indices outperform, Marine Transportation index lags
- Hang Seng TECH index jumps over 2%, Alibaba and Tencent rise on reported reprieve from the US gov’t; CNOOC extends gain
- Gainers in Australia included Financials
- Shanghai Composite lagged during the morning session; Consumer firms declined, IT shares rose
- Taiwan Semi is due to issue Q4 profits, might give initial FY21 outlook
- State Street-managed Tracker Fund of Hong Kong (TraHK) to resume investments in shares that were banned by the Trump administration
- How will the US Senate deal with the issue of Trump and impeachment?
- China’s Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) sometimes holds weekly news conferences on Thursday
- US President-elect Biden is expected to deliver stimulus proposal on Thurs. (Jan 14th)
- CNY300B in MLF funds are due to mature in China on Friday (Jan 15th); What will the PBOC do?
- Bank of Korea (BOK) due to hold rate decision on Fri.
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened 0.0%
- WHC.AU Reports Q2 managed saleable coal production 3.9Mt, +15% y/y; coal sales 4.5Mt, flat y/y; Narrows FY21 managed ROM coal production 21.0-22.5Mt (prior 21.0-22.8Mt); Sales 19-20Mt (prior 18.5-20Mt)
- (NZ) New Zealand sells NZ$450M in 2024, 2027, and 2041 bonds (all tenors had strong demand in first offering of 2021)
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened 0.0%
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: Economy is picking up, but economy remains in severe situation, financial system is maintaining stability; reiterates will not hesitate to add easing if needed – speaking at branch managers meeting
- (JP) JAPAN NOV CORE MACHINE ORDERS M/M: +1.5% V -6.5%E; Y/Y: -11.3% V -15.3%E; Machine orders are showing a pick up trend
- (JP) Japan Dec PPI (CGPI) M/M: 0.5% v 0.2%e; Y/Y: -2.0% v -2.2%e
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Quarterly Regional Economic Report: maintains economic for 5 of 9 regions, raises 3 regions and cuts 1 region
Korea
- Kospi opened 0.0%
- (KR) South Korea Dec Bank Lending to Households (KRW): 988.8T v 982.1T prior (slowest growth since May 2020)
- (KR) South Korea Dec Exports Prices Y/Y: -5.4% v -4.9% prior; Import Prices Y/Y: -10.2% v -10.6% prior
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.6%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.4%
- (CN) CHINA DEC TRADE BALANCE: $78.2B V $72.0BE (record high); Trade Balance with the US: $29.9B v $37.4B m/m ; 2020 Trade balance with US $316.9B v $295.8B y/y
- (CN) CHINA DEC TRADE BALANCE (CNY-DENOMINATED): 516.8B V 457.8BE; Steel product exports 53.7Mt (record high); Crude oil imports 542.4Mt (record high)
- (CN) China Customers Spokesperson: Steady recovery in Domestic economy provides foundation for trade growth, trade expected to continue to grow in 2021
- (CN) President Trump issues order amending previous order on investments in China military companies
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY2B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY2B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY8B v Net drain CNY8B prior
- (CN) China PBOC monetary policy Dept chief Sun Guofeng: If policymakers continue setting numeric targets for M2 and aggregate financing growth based on prior numbers, credit supply may deviate from economic performance – research paper
- (CN) China to encourage local governments to conduct more over-the-counter bond sales in 2021, relates to the sale of bonds to retail investors; cites Chinabond.com.cn – US financial press
- (CN) US bans all imports of tomato and cotton products from Xinjiang, China due to forced labor, effective immediately
- (HK) Hong Kong arrests 11 people citing crime of helping activists flee – press
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4746 v 6.4605 prior
Other
- (TW) Taiwan President Tsai held video chat with US Envoy Craft, Craft made it clear that US stands with Taiwan
North America
- JNJ One-shot COVID vaccine, Ad26.COV2.S, is reportedly safe and generates promising immune response in early trial; Phase I and II study shows one shot COVID vaccine determined safe and gives antibodies, according to exec – CNBC
- (US) House of Representatives impeaches Pres Trump for a second time (as expected, 1st President to be impeached twice)
- (US) Fed Vice Chair Clarida: new Fed framework is an evolution, not a revolution; Will not raise rates until inflation achieves 2% goal; will not be ‘cute about our crystal ball’; no rate hike until we get to 2% inflation for a year
- (US) Aides to Joe Biden said to tell allies in Congress that Biden’s aid plan might be about $2.0T – CNN
Europe
- (UK) German Logistics Group DB Schenker: Temporarily suspends delivery of good from EU to Britain, citing high rate of faulty customs documents after Brexit
- (UK) UK records its highest daily death rate Jan 13th since pandemic started with 1,564 deaths v 1,325 prior record high
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng +0.5%; Shanghai Composite -0.4%; Kospi +0.0%; Nikkei225 +1.1%; ASX 200 +0.4%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.2%; Nasdaq100 -0.2%, Dax +0.3%; FTSE100 +0.1%
- EUR 1.2171-1.2136; JPY 104.19-103.53 ;AUD 0.7756-0.7729; NZD 0.7199-0.7171
- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.8% at $1,839/oz; Crude Oil -0.1% at $52.84/brl; Copper +0.2% at $3.62/lb
