General Trend
- Shanghai Financials extend gains, IT cos. also rise; Consumer firms lag amid retail sales data
- Hang Seng TECH index rises over 3%, Property and Finance indices lag
- Decliners in Australia included Resources, Financial and Energy cos.
- Automakers, Marine Transportation and Real Estate firms are among the decliners in Japan
- TSMC expected to get all of Intel’s CPU outsourcing orders (Taiwan press), Samsung Electronics declines in South Korea
- Trump administration said to plan to deny and revoke export licenses related to Huawei
- USD sees modest gains vs. the commodity currencies; CAD declines amid report related to the Keystone XL Pipeline, drop in oil prices
- WTI Crude Oil Contract rolled over to the March 2021 contract
- Copper extended rebound after China data
- Quiet trading seen thus far for US Treasury FUTs
- Japan’s Diet started its regular session on Monday (Jan 18th)
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened 0.0%
- JBH.AU Reports H1 (A$) Net 317.7M v 170.6M y/y; EBIT 462.7M v 263.0M y/y; Rev 4.9B v 4.0B y/y
- (NZ) RBNZ buys NZ$195M v NZ$310M prior (last on Dec 15th) in government bonds as part of QE v NZ$195M sought
- (NZ) New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) raises 2020-21 bond program from NZ$2.8B to NZ$3.0B, dates unchanged
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -1.0%
- (JP) Japan Nov Final Industrial Production M/M: -0.5% v 0.0% prelim; Y/Y: -3.9% v -3.0% prelim
- (JP) Japan Cabinet approval rating 39%, -6ppt w/w – Yomuri poll
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ said to consider a proposal to allow wider fluctuations around its long-term yield target by 0.2% either side of zero – Japan press
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Striving to get budget passed as soon as possible; reiterates no adjustment of budget needed now, will use reserve funds if virus spreads
- (JP) Japan Economy Min Nishimura: Sees economy picking up due to COVID stimulus, but downside risks remain over virus resurgence – Diet
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.2%
- (KR) South Korea President Moon: South Korea has failed to stabilize real estate market; to prepare special measures on property; Not time to speak of pardoning former Presidents
- 005930.KR Heir and vice chairman Lee receives 2.5 year sentence for bribery (prosecutors were seeking 9)
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.4%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.3%
- (CN) China reports 109 new COVID cases (6th day above 100) in Beijing and 3 provinces – press
- (CN) CHINA Q4 GDP Q/Q: 2.6% V 2.7%E; Y/Y: 6.5% V 6.2%E; 2020 GDP Y/Y: 2.3% v 2.1%e (more than 40 year low)
- (CN) CHINA DEC INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION Y/Y: 7.3% V 6.9%E (9th consecutive increase); 2020 Y/Y: 2.8% V 2.7%E
- (CN) CHINA DEC RETAIL SALES Y/Y: 4.6% V 5.5%E; 2020 Y/Y: -3.9% V -3.9%E
- (CN) CHINA DEC PROPERTY INVESTMENT YTD Y/Y: 7.0% V 7.2%E
- (CN) China Dec Surveyed Jobless Rate: 5.2% v 5.2%e
- (CN) CHINA DEC FIXED URBAN ASSETS YTD Y/Y: 2.9% V 3.2%E
- (CN) China National Bureau of Stats (NBS) Chief Ning Jizhe: China met 2020 major economic targets better than expected
- (CN) China CBIRC Chairman Guo: China stands firmly against monopolies, big misunderstanding China has state capitalism – speaking from Asian Financial Forum
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY2.0B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY2.0B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY3.0B v Net drain CNY3.0B prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4845 v 6.4633 prior
- (HK) Hong Kong Finance Chief Chan: As business closures accelerate, unemployment will rise, expected to reach record high in Q4 – SCMP
- (CN) China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MITT) drafts guidelines on rare earth sector management including production and export; calls on companies to abide by export regulations – press (late Friday)
- (CN) China PBoC Vice Gov Chen Yulu: 2021 monetary policy to provide necessary support for recovery and be more flexible, targeted and appropriate (late Friday)
Other
- (SG) SINGAPORE DEC NON-OIL DOMESTIC EXPORTS M/M: 6.6% V 3.5%E; Y/Y: 6.8% V -1.1%E; Electronic Exports Y/Y: +13.7% v -4.0% prior
- 2330.TW Intel orders outsourced to Taiwan may increase 10% in 2021 – Taiwan press, Economic Daily New
North America
- PFE Norway Medicines Agency reiterates safety of Pfizer COVID vaccine following 23 deaths within days of receiving their 1st COVID vaccine dose
- (US) Treasury Sec nominee Yellen reportedly to affirm commitment to market-determined US dollar rate; will make clear US does not seek weaker dollar for competitive advantage – US financial press
- (US) Trump administration revoked at least one of Intel’s licenses to sell to Huawei – financial press
- (US) US President-elect Biden is planning to use executive order to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline permit – Canada press
Europe
- (UK) Foreign Min Raab: too early to talk about easing lockdown in Feb; UK hoping to ease some restrictions early spring
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng +0.4%; Shanghai Composite +0.8%; Kospi -1.8%; Nikkei225 -1.0%; ASX 200 -0.7%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.2%; Nasdaq100 -0.3%, Dax -0.2%; FTSE100 -0.1%
- EUR 1.2086-1.2065; JPY 103.93-103.69; AUD 0.7711-0.7680; NZD 0.7141-0.7117
- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.1% at $1,827/oz; Crude Oil -0.8% at $51.98/brl; Copper +0.3% at $3.61/lb
