General trend
- US equity FUTs have moved modestly lower following earlier gains.
- Nikkei underperforms and was unable to maintain the opening gain [heavily weighted cos. (Fast Retailing and Softbank Group) see 2% declines; Seven & I drops on regulatory news ].
- Japan earnings [Honda declines after issuing guidance; Japan Post Bank drops amid dividend guidance; Mitsubishi UFJ and Bridgestone to report later today].
- Hang Seng ended the morning session near the opening level.
- Shanghai Composite outperforms amid gains in Consumer and IT indices; Energy index also rises amid consumption tax news.
- S&P ASX 200 has pared gains [Energy index rises (refiners gain on gov’t support); Hotels/Restaurants index supported by earnings from Aristocrat Leisure; Incitec Pivot weighs on Materials index; Consumer Staples decline after results from Elders; Financials lag amid Macquarie ex-dividend].
- Taiex drops over 4% amid virus curbs, Hon Hai declines following results/guidance.
- Gold rises to 3 month highs on COVID concerns, Taiwan implements strictest measures to date and Singapore moves to distance learning.
- PBOC MLF operation matched maturities.
- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include China Online Education, Lazydays, Niu Technologies, Tencent Music, Hostess Brands.
Headlines/Economic data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened 0.0%
- (AU) Australia PM Morrison to announce A$2.3B in govt payments to the 2 remaining refineries Ampol’s Lytton refinery in Brisbane and Viva Energy’s Geelong plant; so they are not closed down – AFR (later confirmed).
- (NZ) New Zealand Apr Performance Service Index: 61.2 v 52.9 prior (record high).
- CWN.AU Blackstone offer undervalues company; Has yet to review merits of Star Entertainment proposal.
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.8%.
- (JP) Japan Apr PPI (CGPI) M/M: 0.7% v 0.5%e; Y/Y: 3.6% v 3.1%e (Highest since late 2017).
- (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥200B v ¥200B indicated in 10-yr 0.005% (prior 0.1%) inflation-indexed bonds; highest yield -0.185% v 0.117% prior; bid to cover 3.8x v 3.8x prior.
- (JP) According to a recent poll >80% of Japanese public are against hosting Olympics this summer – press.
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.3%.
- (KR) South Korea Finance Ministry reiterated it will take timely action to stabilize financial market if needed, global financial markets have showed stabilizing movements since April; notes market volatility has risen recently amid global inflation worries – Local press.
- 000270.KR To idle part of South Korea production from May 17-18th due to chip shortages.
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.4%; Shanghai Composite opened 0.0%.
- (CN) CHINA APR RETAIL SALES Y/Y: 17.7% V 25.0%E; YTD Y/Y: 29.6% V 31.9%E.
- (CN) CHINA APR INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION Y/Y: 9.8% V 10.0%E; YTD Y/Y: 20.3% V 21.1%E.
- (CN) China Apr Surveyed Jobless Rate: 5.1% v 5.2%e.
- 2618.HK Confirms offering 609.2M shares in IPO at HK$43.36/shr v indicated range HK$39.39-43.36/shr.
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4307 v 6.4525 prior.
- (CN) CHINA PBOC CONDUCTS CNY100B IN 1-YEAR MEDIUM-TERM LENDING FACILITY (MLF) AT 2.95% V 2.95% 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 CNY0B prior.
- (CN) CHINA APR NEW HOMES PRICES M/M: 0.5% V 0.4% PRIOR; Y/Y: 4.8% V 4.6% PRIOR (all major cities prices rise both m/m and y/y).
- (CN) CHINA APR YTD FIXED URBAN ASSETS Y/Y: 19.9% V 20.0%E.
- (CN) China Stats Bureau Official: China faces relatively big pressure in fulfilling Carbon Neutrality goals, China is able to keep CPI steady this year; domestic consumption expanded in Apr.
- (CN) China Govt further tightens private education measures, will not allow foreign investment to control any onshore education companies.
Other
- (SG) SINGAPORE APR NON-OIL DOMESTIC EXPORTS M/M: -8.8% V -2.8%E; Y/Y: 6.0% V 12.1%E; Electronic Exports Y/Y: 10.9% v 24.4% prior; Pharmaceutical exports y/y: -40.9% v +25.5% prior.
- (TW) Taiwan tightens COVID measures to most restricted to date: closes movie theaters, entertainment venues, no more than 5 people gathered indoors and 10 outside, masks to be worn outside until May 28th (update).
North America
- BTC/USD Trading lower on Musk twitter comments that Tesla is speculated to sell its Bitcoin holdings and Musk responding.
- MSFT Follow Up: Board decided Bill Gates needed to leave the board in 2020 due to prior relationship with staffer; board had him investigated for relationship – US financial press.
- DISCA Said to be in talks with AT&T on combining media business, transaction valued at $50B – US press.
Europe
- (UK) According to South West Manufacturing Advisory Service (SWMAS) and Manufacturing Growth Programme survey, 48% of small and medium sized manufacturers expect to meet or exceed pre-covid levels within the next 3-months – UK press.
- (UK) US Treasury said to be planning to remove large number of pre-Brexit financial rules, since the EU has yet to reach an agreement with the UK – US press.
Levels as of 01:15ET
- Hang Seng +0.5%; Shanghai Composite +1.0%; Kospi -0.5%; Nikkei225 -1.2%; ASX 200 +0.3%.
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.1%; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax -0.3%; FTSE100 -0.4%.
- EUR 1.2152-1.2129; JPY 109.51-109.27; AUD 0.7784-0.7751; NZD 0.7251-0.7220.
- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.7% at $1,851/oz; Crude Oil +0.5% at $65.67/brl; Copper +0.8% at $4.69/lb.
