Samsung And LG Electronics Issued Prelim Results

Apr 07 21, 05:52 GMT

General trend

Equity markets are generally off of the session highs, despite the mostly higher opens; Modest moves have been seen thus far; Financials generally underperform amid recent drop in 10-yr UST yield.
Hang Seng opened higher after the 3-day holiday, but has since turned negative [TECH index reversed opening gain]; COSCO Shipping Holdings rises over 25% on Q1 guidance.
Shanghai Composite has moved lower after the flat open [Consumer Staples index has dropped over 2.5%].
Nikkei has pared the opening gain [Topix Pharma and Financial-related indices decline; Iron & Steel and Marine Transportation indices outperform (Nippon Yusen rises on raised guidance); Toshiba expected to move higher on M&A news].
Australian equities are closer to the session highs [IT index rises over 1% (EML Payments gains on acquisition); Energy and Consumer Staples indices also rise; Resources and Financial indices lag].
South Korean Q1 earnings in focus [Samsung declines by less than 1%; LG Electronics trades flat].
Companies expected to report during the NY morning include MSC Industrial Direct, RPM International, Schnitzer Steel, Simply Good Foods.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened +0.0%.
(AU) Australia Mar AiG Performance of Construction Index: 61.8 v 57.4 prior (record high).
(AU) Australia PM Morrison: Not criticizing EU for vaccine delivery delays to Australia; Australia will seek export licenses for 3.8M doses of coronavirus vaccine.
(AU) Australia sells A$1.2B v A$1.2B indicated in 1.00% Dec 2030 bonds, avg yield 1.6636%, bid to cover 2.53x.

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened +0.2%.
(JP) Japan said to be cancelling contracts to upgrade F-15 fleet – Press; Follow Up: Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Kato: Japan reviewing the F-15 Upgrade plan and considering cost reductions.
6502.JP CEO: Confirms Toshiba has received proposal from CVC Capital, board to meet on Wednesday (Apr 7th) To consider transaction.
(JP) Japan Mar FX Reserves $1.37T v $1.38T prior.
(JP) Japan Parliament approves Bank of Japan (BOJ) nomination Nakagawa.
(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) announcement related to daily bond buying operation: raises buying of 5-10 and 10-25 years (in line with guidance).
(JP) Japan Govt Spokesperson: There are no talks of Japan and US boycotting China Olympics in 2022.
(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: BOJ Can keep interest rates low as market trusts JGBs – speaking to parliament.

Korea

Kospi opened +0.1%
005930.KR Reports prelim Q1 (KRW) Op 9.30T v 8.9Te; Rev 65.0T v 61.5Te.
066570.KR Reports Prelim Q1 (KRW) Op 1.52T v 1.20Te; Rev 18.81T v 17.82Te.
(KR) South Korea Fin Min Hong: IMF Report shows Economic path could be above forecast; Exports to be supported by US Economic recovery.

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened +0.6%; Shanghai Composite opened 0.0%.
(CN) China Q1 new registrations of new energy vehicles (NEV): 466K v 348K y/y – China Ministry of Public Security.
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.5384 v 6.5527 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 Net drain CNY10B prior.
9618.HK Withdraws fintech unit, JD Digits, IPO from Shanghai’s Star Market.

Other

(SG) Singapore to release Q1 advanced GDP for Wed April 14th (also expecting their bi-annual policy meeting the same day).

North America.

(US) Fed’s Barkin (voter, hawk): More jobs will come back as US economy reopens, I expect to see a really strong spring and summer – speaking at Greenwood, SC Chamber of Commerce.
(US) Pres Biden: we’re making incredible progress on COVID but there is also bad news; new variants are spreading and moving quickly, and cases are rising.
(US) Weekly API Crude Oil Inventories: -2.6M v +3.9M prior.
(US) FEB JOLTS JOB OPENINGS: 7.367M V 6.900ME (highest since 2019).

Europe

AZN European Medicines Agency (EMA) spokesperson: early comments from Cavaleri on AstraZeneca vaccine were personal and preliminary.
CSGN.CH May report losses related to Greenstill of CHF1.4B ($1.5B) – US financial press.

Levels as of 01:15ET

Hang Seng -0.8%; Shanghai Composite -0.5%; Kospi +0.2%; Nikkei225 +0.1%; ASX 200 +0.5%.
Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.0%; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax +0.0%; FTSE100 +0.2%.
EUR 1.1878-1.1865; JPY 109.89-109.58; AUD 0.7678-0.7651; NZD 0.7069-0.7048.
Commodity Futures: Gold -0.2% at $1,739/oz; Crude Oil +0.5% at $59.63/brl; Copper -0.4% at $4.09/lb.