Modest Equity Gains Seen In Asia After Wall Street

General trend

• Nikkei rises following holiday.
• Japanese cos. due to report earnings include Nintendo, Mitsubishi Motors, Sharp, SUMCO, Softbank Corp, Nikon, Tokai Carbon, Pigeon Corp.
• Hang Seng has remained slightly higher; Property index lags [Kaisa Group sees sharp declines in stock and bond prices; China Aoyuan was downgraded]; Lenovo beat ests and raised dividend.
• Shanghai Composite remained higher during morning trading [Property index resumed decline].
• Hong Kong retail names higher on the report that quarantine free travel may resume with China.
• S&P ASX 200 traded slightly higher.
• WTI Crude tested below $80/bbl.
• South Korea 10-year yield declines ahead of tomorrow’s buyback operation.
• Quiet Asian session seen for USTs.
• China’s Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) sometimes holds weekly news conferences on Thurs.
• Companies due to report during the NY morning include AmerisourceBergen, Air Products, Aptiv, Arrow Electronics, BCE, Becton Dickinson, Builders Firstsource, Cars.com, Colfax, CIGNA, Citrix Systems, CyberArk, DISH Network, Dun & Bradstreet, Liberty Media, Geo Group, Gildan Activewear, GOGO, Barrick Gold, Acushnet Holdings, Green Plains, Hanesbrands, Huntington Ingalls, Howmet Aerospace, Installed Building Products, Iron Mountain, Kellogg, Lazydays, Cheniere Energy, Malibu Boats, Moderna, Nikola, Nomad Foods, NRG Energy, NetScout, Penn National Gaming, Parker Hannifin, Planet Fitness, Quanta Services, Papa Johns, Regeneron, Stratasys, TEGNA, Domtar Corp, ViacomCBS, Vulcan Materials, Wafair DENTSPLY, Zoetis.

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

• ASX 200 opened +0.1%.
• DOW.AU Notes first 3 months of FY22 show the resilience of core operations; core EBITA in line with prior year – AGM statement.
• (AU) Australia Q3 Retail Sales ex-inflation M/M: -4.4% v -5.0%e.
• (AU) Australia Sept Trade Balance (A$): 12.2B v 12.4Be; Exports M/M: -6.0% v -3%e; Imports M/M: -2.0% v +1%e.

Japan

• Nikkei 225 opened +1.1%.
• (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: Have reaffirmed joint statement between the Govt and BOJ, BOJ will continue YCC even after COVID dies down, no talks on stimulus package – comments after meeting with PM Kishida.
• (JP) Japan Govt planning to provide a subsidy to support firms building new advanced plants for electric vehicle (EV) batteries – Japan press.
• 7203.JP Reports H1 Net ¥1.52T v ¥629.4B y/y; Op ¥1.75T v ¥520.0B y/y; Rev ¥15.5T v ¥11.4B y/y; Announces ¥0.9% Share buyback for ¥150B (0.86% of shares); adjusts guidance.
  7203.JP Exec: Still faces many challenges in supplying enough cars to customers. difficult to pass on higher material costs to customers.
• 4901.JP Reports H1 Net ¥96.3B v ¥67.6B y/y; Op ¥107.9B v ¥56.5B y/y; Rev ¥1.21T v ¥997.4B y/y (co noted was released earlier than planned).
• (JP) Japan Oct Final PMI Services: 50.7 v 50.7 prelim (confirms 1st expansion in 21 months).
• (JP) Japan Trade Min said to have asked the US to eliminate the extra tariff on imports of Japan Steel and Aluminium imports – press.
• (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥200B v ¥200B indicated in 10-year 0.005% inflation-indexed bonds; highest yield -0.357% v -0.174% prior; bid to cover 3.31x v 2.88x prior.

Korea

• Kospi opened +0.9%.
• (KR) South Korea Vice Fin Min: To repurchase KRW2.0T in 5-10 year bonds on Nov 5th; Will preemptively act to stabilize local bond markets.
• (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK): Reiterates to buy bonds if needed.

China/Hong Kong

• Hang Seng opened +0.5%; Shanghai Composite opened %.
• (HK) Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA): Money Markets in Hong Kon continue to operate smoothly with ample liquidity; USD/HKD and interest rates remain steady.
• 992.HK Reports Q2 Net $512M v $310M y/y, Op $817M v $565M y/y Rev $17.9B v $14.5B y/y.
• (CN) China and Hong Kong said to be in talks to resume quarantine free cross border travel, but will be limited to Guangdong province with Shenzhen as the only entry point – SCMP.
• (CN) China President XI: Will deepen international cooperation on shipping; China to ensure smooth global industry and supply chains – speaking to International Import Expo in Shanghai.
• (CN) China State Planner (NDRC): Instructs newspapers to not fabricate stories related to coal.
• (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.3943 v 6.4079 prior.
• (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY50B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY50B prior; Net Drain CNY150B v Net drain CNY150B prior.
• (CN) Shanghai Sec News: China PBOC Reverse Repo increase (on weds) show stabilization effort.
• (CN) China Premier Li: Preemptive steps needed to address economic challenges and slowing growth – speaking at State Council meeting Wednesday.
• (CN) China PBOC Digital Currency chief Mu Changchun: 140M people have opened up a digital Yuan account (e-CNY) (late session yesterday).

Other

• (ID) Indonesia Govt to inject an additional IDR60T into the Sovereign Wealth Fund.

North America

• (US) FOMC LEAVES TARGET RANGE UNCHANGED BETWEEN 0.00-0.25% (AS EXPECTED); TAPER TO START IN NOVEMBER WITH MONTHLY REDUCTIONS OF $15B.
• (US) Fed Chair Powell: Fed focus is on controlling what we can control; Focus at this meeting is on tapering asset purchases and not rates; Now is not the time to raise rates – post rate decision Q&A.
• COST Reports Oct total SSS +11.8% (ex-gas and FX) y/y.
• (US) New Jersey re-elects Murphy (D) as Gov (1st time a Democrat Gov has been re-elected since 1977).
• CAKE Reports Q3 $0.65 adj v $0.70e, Rev $754.5M v $760Me.
• ROKU Reports Q3 $0.48 v $0.06e, Rev $680M v $683Me; Sees global supply chain disruptions will likely continue into 2022.
• EA Reports Q2 $1.02 v $1.17e, Rev $1.83B v $1.76Be.
• (US) Law that would target and ban anonymous shell companies said to be delayed at the US Treasury – FT.

Europe

• (EU) ECB chief Lagarde: 2022 is ‘off the chart’ with respect to interest rates – TV interview.
• (FR) ECB’s Villeroy (France): Reiterates that inflation in France should go back down to below 2% next year, no need for ECB to raise rates next year.

Levels as of 01:15ET

• Hang Seng +0.1%; Shanghai Composite +0.6%; Kospi +0.1%; Nikkei225 +0.7%; ASX 200 +0.5%.
• Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.0%; Nasdaq100 +0.2%, Dax -0.0%; FTSE100 +0.4%.
• EUR 1.1617-1.1589; JPY 114.25-113.96; AUD 0.7470-0.7440; NZD 0.7179-0.7144.
• Commodity Futures: Gold +0.7% at $1,775/oz; Crude Oil -1.0% at $80.06/brl; Copper +0.9% at $4.39/lb.