General Trend
- Following the mixed opens for Asian indices, markets are trading generally off of the session lows; Taiex rose over 3% following extended holiday [TSMC gained over 5%], Kospi index has lagged [chipmakers drop]
- Financials trade generally higher after rise in the US and focus on longer-term gov’t bond yields, REITS and Utilities traded generally lower; Aussie Resources index outperforms ahead of Rio Tinto’s earnings, Consumer Staples lag after earnings from Coles; Iron/Steel and Transport firms rise in Japan
- Earnings Reactions: [Australia] Gainers included Westpac, Webjet, Brambles, Corporate Travel Mgmt and EML Payments; St Barbara, Charter Hall Group, Coles Group, Evolution Mining declined; [Japan] Bridgestone declined
- Rio Tinto rises ahead of expected earnings report
- RBA to temporarily obtain foreign currency through long-term swaps
- Philippines Central Bank Gov said there is no current need to raise key interest rate
- Victoria and Auckland eased lockdown measures
- Cold weather conditions in the US (South and Midwest) continue to impact industrial plants (Honda, Samsung Electronics, Toyota)
- Shanghai markets return from holiday on Thurs. (Feb 18th)
- Australia Jan labor market data is due on Thursday (Feb 18th)
- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include Analog Devices, Genuine Parts, Garmin, Hilton Worldwide, Henry Schein, NiSource, Owens Corning, Sonic Automotive, Shopify, TowerJazz, Wingstop, Wix.com
- US economic data releases include Jan Industrial Production and Retail Sales, FOMC Minutes
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.3%
- COL.AU Reports H1 (A$) Net 560M v 489M y/y; EBIT 1.0B v 910M y/y; Rev 20.6B v 19.1B y/y
- WBC.AU Reports Q1 (A$) adj Cash earnings 2.18B v 1.42B H2 q avg; ; Rev 5.16B v 5.15B H2 q avg
- (AU) Victoria Premier Andrews: To ease coronavirus lockdown in Victoria beginning today, Feb 17th
- (AU) Australia sells A$1.50B v A$1.5B indicated in 1.00% Dec 2030 bonds, avg yield 1.3713% v 1.13% prior, bid to cover 3.96x v 5.92x prior
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Assist Gov Kent: RBA policy measures see A$ 5% lower than otherwise and will continue to put downward pressure on currency; currently A$ at upper end of recent range; to make “modest” changes to how RBA uses FX swaps
- (AU) Australia Treasurer Frydenberg: Aiming to legislate Pay for News Code in coming days, welcomes commercial agreements reached by Google
- MSB.AU Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics has published a paper on the first two children treated with mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) product candidate remestemcel-L for life-threatening multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19 with a positive outcome
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.3%
- (JP) JAPAN DEC CORE MACHINE ORDERS M/M: +5.2% V -6.2%E (3rd consecutive increase); Y/Y: +11.8% V -3.0%E; METI raises assessment of Machine orders
- (JP) Japan Jan Trade Balance: ¥323.9B v ¥751.0B prior; Adj Trade Balance: ¥392.8B v ¥512.3B prior; Exports to China y/y: 37.5% v 10.2% prior (highest growth since April 2010)
- (JP) Japan govt not planning to lift COVID emergency measures – Japan press
- (JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Kato: Lifting state of emergency will be decided carefully on situation
- (JP) US and Japan said to agree to terms to US Base Cost sharing by 1-year, Japan share to remain unchanged ~¥200B/yr; expected to formally announce as soon as Feb 17th (Today) – Asahi
Korea
- Kospi opened 0.0%
- 005930.KR Halts operations at its US plant in Texas due to power outage; To restart plant when power supply resumes – text
- (KR) South Korea COVID cases reach highest level since early January post New year holiday
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.4%; Shanghai Composite closed
- 6688.HK China govt stopped IPO to avoid possible problems with ownership structure and who could gain from the IPO – US press citing interview with China officials
Other
- (SG) SINGAPORE JAN NON-OIL DOMESTIC EXPORTS M/M: 7.0% V 3.0%E; Y/Y: 12.8% V 5.2%E; Electronic Exports Y/Y: 13.5% v +13.7% prior
- (SG) Singapore Fin Min Heng: Bond issuance to benefit from low interest rates, Premature to talk of property cooling measures; watching rapid property price appreciation
North America
- (US) DEC TOTAL NET TIC FLOWS: Japan Total Holdings of US Treasuries: $1.256T v $1.261T prior; China Total holding of US Treasuries: $1.061T v $1.063T prior
- (US) Hacker said to claim to have stolen up to 100GB in files from prominent US law Firm Jones Day
- AMZN Sued by New York Attorney General for failure to protect its workers adequately from Coronavirus
- BYTEDANCE.IPO In preliminary talks to list Tiktok on the NYSE – Global Times; Follow Up: BYTEDANCE.IPO Denies report it’s in preliminary talks to list TikTok on NYSE – tweet from Global Times
- (US) President Biden: Pfizer and Moderna have sped up delivery schedule under Defense production Act (DPA); Reiterates there will be repercussions for China over human rights – Town Hall
Europe
- (UK) UK Finance Minister Sunak said to consider job tax cuts and restarting a furlough bonus – Press
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng +0.5%; Shanghai Composite closed; Kospi -1.2%; Nikkei225 -0.4%; ASX 200 -0.5%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.0%; Nasdaq100 -0.0%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 +0.2%
- EUR 1.2110-1.2084; JPY 106.22-105.84; AUD 0.7761-0.7731; NZD 0.7216-0.7183
- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.4% at $1,792/oz; Crude Oil +0.1% at $60.09/brl; Copper -0.1% at $3.83/lb
