General Trend
- Equity indices have generally extended declines after the mostly lower openings; Tech cos. move lower after Nasdaq decline; Recent drop in oil prices weighs on energy names
- Asian automakers trade generally lower [Track declines in US automakers; Hyundai’s production said to be impacted by auto chip shortage; Honda said to extend production suspension in North America; Hino Motors and Isuzu rise ahead of announcement by Toyota]
- Hang Seng TECH index again declined by over 3% [companies expected to report earnings include Tencent and Xiaomi], HK Gaming cos. drop on BioNTech news, Geely continued to drop amid recent earnings
- Shanghai Composite dropped by over 1% during morning session [Property index drops amid press report related to property speculation]
- Nikkei has continued to drop following Friday’s BOJ decision, Topix Banks index extends decline
- S&P ASX 200 has outperformed [Consumer and REIT indices rise amid lower bond yields; Energy and Resources indices lag]
- Intel rose by over 6% in afterhours trading [issued guidance and commented on investment plan]
- NZ 10-year yields extended drop amid recent gov’t comments on housing market, RBNZ’s daily bond purchases were below the amount sought; NZD continued to decline
- Australia’s ore exports declined m/m in Feb
- Japan is due to sell 40-yr JGBs on Thursday (March 25th)
- China PBoC to auction CNY5.0B in 6-month bills in Hong Kong on Thursday (Mar 25th)
- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include General Mills, Winnebago
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened 0.0%
- (AU) AUSTRALIA MAR PRELIMINARY PMI MANUFACTURING: 57.0 V 56.9 PRIOR (10th straight expansion)
- (AU) Australia Treasury Sec Kennedy: When Job keeper ends, we will see some businesses close and some jobs lost; estimate full employment to have 4.5-5.0% jobless rate
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) member Harper: Full employment still a long way off, V-shape recovery beating optimistic forecasts
- (AU) Australia Stats Office (ABS) Feb Preliminary Trade Balance (A$): 8.1B v 10.1B prior final
- (AU) Australia Port of Newcastle now has 40 vessels waiting due to heavy rains, thermal coal prices have risen to $105/t (highest since Oct 2018)
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.8%
- (JP) JAPAN MAR PRELIMINARY PMI MANUFACTURING: 52.0 V 51.4 PRIOR (2ND STRAIGHT EXPANSION)
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Meeting Minutes from Jan decision: Members agreed BOJ must ease without hesitation if needed with eye on pandemic fallout
- 7267.JP Extends suspension of production at certain North America plants due to supply chain issues
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: Takes time to reach 2% price target, reiterates not at stage to consider exit strategy, not thinking about what to do with ETF holdings right now
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.3%
- (KR) South Korea Feb PPI Y/Y: 2.0% v 0.9% prior (4th consecutive increase, fastest rise since Oct 2018)
- (KR) North Korea reportedly fired short range missiles last weekend – Wash Post
- 003620.KR Auditor rejects FY20 financial reports due to heavy debt and questions ability to continue operating
- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov Lee: Not time to adjust monetary policy; Bond purchases depend on pace and strength of gains in yields
- 066570.KR Shareholders approve plan to split off some of its electric vehicle (EV) components business to set up a joint venture (JV) with Canadian auto parts maker Magna International
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.2%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.5%
- 1117.HK Reports FY20 (CNY) Net 770M v 341.3M y/y, Rev 6.0B v 5.5B y/y
- (CN) China said to be probing banks citing illegal loans used for property speculation – China press
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.5228 v 6.5036 prior
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net CNY0B v CNY0B prior
- (CN) According to a local think tank China local Govts had CNY14.8T in hidden debt in 2020, which is seen growing larger this year – HK press
- 700.HK Said that Founder Pony May may have met with Antitrust officials in China earlier in Mar – Press
Other
- (TW) Taiwan Eocn Min: Intel chip investment plan not an issue for chip companies in Taiwan, our companies are “awesome” and their tech keeps improving
- Suez Canal reportedly has been blocked for several hours as a large container ship is stuck – press
North America
- (US) Fed’s Bullard (non-voter, dove): Have penciled in 6.5% growth with unemployment down to 4.5% this year
- (US) Weekly API Crude Oil Inventories: +2.9M v -1.0M; Gasoline: -3.7M v -0.9M prior
- INTC Issues strategy for manufacturing, innovation and product; Plans for new research collaboration with IBM; targets $20B investment to build two new fabs in Arizona
- (CA) Bank of Canada’s Gravelle: anecdotal evidence and data in housing market indicate a lot more investment activity and ‘a lot more flipping’ – press interview
- (US) Treasury Sec Yellen: Stimulus does not prevent broad tax cuts; Treasury is drafting further guidance to address issues raised by states on stimulus provisions prohibiting use of federal funds to offset tax cuts
- BNTX Macau halts Biontech vaccine after receiving a written notice from Fosun Pharma warning there are multiple package defects related to vial caps of the vaccine doses
Europe
- (EU) Follow Up: EU and China trade talks in Brussels have been canceled – HK Press (after EU placed sanctions on China)
- (EU) According to draft legislation EU is looking to slow covid vaccine exports for 6 weeks, would impact all vaccine manufactures; most likely to impact Israel, Canada and UK – press
Levels as of 01:15ET
- Hang Seng -2.0%; Shanghai Composite -1.2%; Kospi -0.3%; Nikkei225 -1.7%; ASX 200 +0.5%.
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.0%; Nasdaq100 +0.4%, Dax -0.2%; FTSE100 -0.6%.
- EUR 1.1854-1.1836; JPY 108.64-108.45; AUD 0.7635-0.7594; NZD 0.7015-0.6974.
- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.4% at $1,732/oz; Crude Oil -0.0% at $57.73/brl; Copper +0.4% at $4.04/lb.
