General Trend:
- Asian equities trade mostly higher as Japan returns from holiday
- Energy shares gain as WTI Crude moves above $70/bbl for the first time since late 2014; Iran nuclear deadline in focus
- Nasdaq Futures rise over 0.7% during Asia
- No trade deal announced following last week’s US/China talks
- PBoC skips daily open market operation, says banking system liquidity at ‘relatively high level’
- Standard Chartered HK raises US dollar (USD) deposit rates amid rise in money market rates
- This week, Japan PM Abe and China Premier Li are expected to hold a summit in Tokyo
Headlines/Economic Data
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.2%; closed -0.0%
- TOPIX Securities index -1.6%, Marine Transportation -0.8% ; Iron & Steel +1.1%, Retail Trade +0.5%, Real Estate +0.5%
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) March 8-9th Policy Meeting Minutes: BOJ should maintain easy policy as still a long way to go to hit price goal
- (JP) Japan said to target summit with North Korea by the end of 2018 – US financial press
Korea
- Kospi opened closed for holiday
- (KR) US official Bolton said to say that President Trump and North Korea leader Kim will meet in mid-June – South Korea Press
- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov Kim: Korea-Japan talks for currency swap deal could resume soon
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.6%, Shanghai Composite +0.1%
- Hang Seng Energy index +2.3%, Consumer Goods +1.9%, Materials +1.4%, Services +0.8%, Telecom +0.8%, Financials +0.6%; Info Tech -0.2%
- Shanghai Composite property index rises over 1%
- (CN) Summary of US visit to China to discuss trade dispute last week: not much headway made; US asked China to reduce its trade surplus by $200B while China requested the US dial back its tariff threat and end an investigation into forced technology transfers
- 763.HK Taiwan said to extend ZTE export curbs to DRAM chips – Taiwanese Press
- (CN) China said to be planning a $47B fund to boost Its semiconductor industry – press
- (CN) China Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) with other departments to announce series of measures aimed at boosting imports, including food and medical equipment and medicine
- (CN) China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC): commercial bank’s risk exposure to an interbank client shall not exceed 25% of its tier one capital, effective July 1st with 3-yr transition period
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips v Injected CNY20B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net: CNY0B drain v CNY40B drain prior
- (CN) China PBoC sets yuan reference rate: 6.3584 v 6.3521 prior
- (CN) PBoC Gov Yi Gang: There has been no FX intervention in nearly 1-year – Chinese Press
- (HK) Hong Kong SFC said to plan regulations related to sales of margin loans – HK Press
- (HK) Hong Kong 3-month HKD Hibor rises for 16th straight session; continues to trade at highest since 2008, currently near 1.74220%
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.2%, closed +0.3%
- ASX 200 Resources index +1%, REIT +0.7%, Energy +0.5%, Financials +0.2%
- Westpac Banking, WBC.AU Reports H1 (A$) Cash profit 4.3B v 4.2Be; Net interest income 8.3B v 7.7B y/y
- (AU) Australia Apr AIG Performance of Construction Index: 55.4 v 57.2 prior
- (AU) Australia to release 2018/19 budget May 8th: govt is projecting a return to surplus in 2019/20, a year earlier than the 2020/21 prior forecast.
- (AU) Australia buys back A$400M bonds across 2019 lines
- (AU) Australia PM Turnbull announce review into fuel reserves, with only just days of emergency stocks remaining – press; Note according to Fairfax: Australia only a 22-day supply of crude oil, 59 days of LPG, 20 days of petrol, 19 days of aviation fuel and 21 days of diesel.
- (AU) Australia sells A$400M v A$400M indicated in May 2028 bonds, avg yield 2.7436% v 2.6149% prior, bid to cover: 4.72x v 4.17x prior
- (AU) Australia Apr NAB Business Conditions: 21 v 15 prior; Confidence: 10 v 8 prior
- Blue Sky, [-10%], BLA.AU To withdraw FY18 earnings guidance; to withdraw FY18 and FY19 guidance for fee earning AUM; Chairman to stand down from role at AGM
North America
- (US) Volcano Kilauea on Hawaii erupts, destroys 9 homes; officials unsure when eruptions will stop; also reports of a 6.9 and 5.4 magnitude earthquake
- (US) Fed’s Quarles (hawk, FOMC voter): AI in finance can help make bank credit more available; big data can help financial stability – speaking at conf in Florida
- (US) Fed’s Kaplan (dove, non-voter): US growth faces challenges in the medium term; US debt is on an unsustainable path relative to GDP
- Berkshire Hathaway [BRK.A]: Reports Q1 Net EPS (Class A) -$692 v +$2,469 y/y; Rev $58.5B v $65.2B y/y
Europe
- (US) France, Germany, UK joint comment: EU must be ready to react to US trade tariffs – financial press
- (IR) Iran President Rouhani said government has plans in place for any decision that US President Trump might make regarding nuclear agreement – financial press
- BPI.PT CaixaBank has acquired a 8.4% stake in Banco BPI from Allianz Group for €178M/€1.45/shr, will propose de-listing of BPI to raise stake to 100%
- Swiss Re [RUKN.CH]: Follow Up: Talks with Softbank said to be near collapse – financial press
- Air France [AF.FR]: Chairman and CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac confirms decision to resign, effective may
- (GR) Top four Greek banks would lose €15.B of capital by 2020 under an adverse economic scenario
Levels as of 02:00ET
- Hang Seng +0.4%; Shanghai Composite +1.3%; Kospi closed
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.7%, Dax +0.2%; FTSE100 closed
- EUR 1.1978-1.1941; JPY 109.22-108.75; AUD 0.7543-0.7512;NZD 0.7041-0.7012
- Jun Gold 0.0% at $1,315/oz; Jun Crude Oil +0.9% at $70.31/brl; Jul Copper -0.1% at $3.08/lb
