General trend
- Asian equity markets opened generally lower following losses on Wall St.
- S&P ASX 200 is on track for another record close [Gainers include Financial and Consumer Staples indices; Resources index drops amid decline in Chinese ore prices].
- Nikkei opened modestly lower and currently trades near the opening level [Utilities drop on nuclear fuel tax story].
- Shanghai Composite ended the morning session higher following the lower open; Financials rise amid speculation related to the stamp duty.
- Hang Seng also rose after opening down; Chinese automakers rise following the release of sales data.
Headlines/Economic data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened flat.
- (AU) Australia sells A$1.0B v A$1.0B indicated in 0.25% Nov 2025 bonds, avg yield 0.6191%, bid to cover 3.52x.
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): Excess cash at exchange settlement (ES) accounts at A$234.8B v A$227.6B prior (Record high).
- (AU) Westpac Evans: RBA won’t extend Yield target to Nov 2024; RBA to shift to flexible QE regime, sees the 3rd round of QE being ‘open ended’ and purchases equaling A$5.0B/week [revises prior call ahead of Jul RBA meeting].
- (AU) ANZ: Expects RBA to shit to a ‘flexible’ QE, and won’t roll over yield target to Nov 2024 bonds.
- (AU) Australia Apr Home Loans Value M/M: 3.7% v 5.4%e; Investment lending M/M: 2.1% v 14.3% prior.
- (AU) Follow Up: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Head of Economics Jones said it is too early to rule out Great Depression scenario [the comments were made on Wed] – Australian press.
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q1 VOLUME OF ALL BUILDINGS Q/Q: 3.7% V 3.0%E.
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) offers to buy a total of NZ$250M in government bonds next week under QE program v NZ$350M prior.
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.4%, Shanghai Composite -0.5%.
- (CN) National People’s Congress spokesman: China to consider lower stamp duty rate.
- (US) White House to issue new executive order that bans US securities trading in 59 companies connected to China military or surveillance tech; to take effect Aug 2nd; Would expand earlier Trump order to include firms producing surveillance technology (adds 28 more firms to the blacklist) – press.
- (CN) China prelim May Passenger Vehicle sales +0.5% y/y – CAAM.
- (CN) China market regulator (SAMR) issued warnings to 8 additional sharing-economy companies (including HelloBike, Qingju and Meituan); these warnings related to issues including unclear pricing – Chinese press.
- (CN) CNY900B in shares to be released from lock-up in June [highest total for 2021] – HK press.
- (CN) China Sec Journal Front Page: Analysts expectations of ‘one way’ yuan (CNY) appreciation has abated; cites recent ‘correction’ in the CNY.
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4072 v 6.3811 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 MOF: To auction CNY70B in 1-month deposits on June 9th (Wed).
- (HK) Hong Kong activist Chow Hang Tung (member of the group that is organizing the Tiananmen vigils) was arrested on Fri morning – press.
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.5%.
- (JP) Japan Apr Household Spending M/M: +0.1% v 7.2% prior; Y/Y: 13.0% v 8.7%e (largest y/y rise since comparable data became available in Jan 2001).
- (JP) Japan Fukui Govt said to be considering raising Nuclear Fuel Tax – Press.
Korea
- Kospi opened slightly lower.
- (KR) South Korea Fin Min Hong: Will consider drafting second extra budget; Won’t need to issue deficit bonds for extra budget; Surplus tax revenue will fund the extra budget.
Other Asia
- (IN) INDIA CENTRAL BANK (RBI) LEAVES REPURCHASE RATE (INREPO) UNCHANGED AT 4.00%; AS EXPECTED; Plans INR1.20T G-SEC acquisition program.
- (PH) Philippines Central Bank Gov Diokno: No intent to boost nor weaken PHP with new open FX cap; higher cap is in line with banks’ asset growth.
- (PH) Philippines May CPI Y/Y: 4.5% v 4.5%e.
- (SG) Singapore Apr Retail Sales M/M: -1.3% v +0.2%e; Y/Y: 54.0% v 58.6%e.
- (SG) Singapore to increase border control for visitors from Guangdong China due to increasing coronavirus cases.
North America
- (US) President Biden to comment on May jobs report at 10:15 AM ET [on Friday June 4th].
- (US) Reportedly President Biden offering 15% tax floor instead of a corporate tax rate hike to 28% in effort get Republicans to support his infrastructure plan – Washington Post.
- (US) Fed’s Williams (FOMC voter): It makes sense for the Fed to be thinking through options it has in the future; right now view is we’re not near the ‘substantial further progress’ marker that has been set; Does not think time is now to take action on bond buys.
- (US) MAY ADP EMPLOYMENT CHANGE: +978K V +650KE.
Europe
- (CN) China Aviation Authority: To cap load factors on Air France Tianjin flights for 4 weeks starting June 7th due to coronavirus cases.
Levels as of 01:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, -0.3%, ASX 200 +0.5% , Hang Seng +0.1%; Shanghai Composite +0.8% ; Kospi -0.3%%.
- Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.1%; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax flat; FTSE100 -0.1%.
- EUR 1.2132-1.2112 ; JPY 110.33-110.14 ; AUD 0.7667-0.7650 ;NZD 0.7152-0.7132.
- Gold -0.2% at $1,869/oz; Crude Oil -0.2% at $68.65/brl; Copper +0.3% at $4.4817/lb.
