General Trend:
- Automakers in Asia remain weaker after recent US auto imports probe announcement
- Shares of Samsonite [1910.HK] remain under pressure following report by short-seller
- Yen (JPY) trades generally weaker, led by declines in JPY/KRW
- Corporate defaults remain a topic in the Chinese press
- Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) faces temporary labor strike
- US Commerce Sec Ross to visit China from June 2-4th to discuss trade – Xinhua
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.3%; closed flat
- ASX 200 Energy index -1.5%, Resources -1.4%, REIT -0.5%; Telecom +2.8%, Consumer Discretionary +1.5%, Financials flat
- (AU) Australia banknote printer workers said to plan to go on temporary strike, seeking pay increase of 4%; Note Printing Australia is owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) – Australian Press
- (AU) Australia sells A$500M v A$500M indicated in Nov 2029 bonds, avg yield 2.8273% v 2.8181% prior, bid to cover 5.21x v 3.57x prior
- (AU) Australia to sell new May 21, 2030 bond during week of June 4th
China/Hong Kong
- Shanghai Composite opened -0.2%, Hang Seng -0.3%
- Hang Seng Energy index -3.4%, Telecom -0.7%, Info Tech -0.6%; Consumer Goods +0.8%, Materials +0.8%, Industrial Goods +0.5%, Financials flat
- Rusal [486.HK]: Says Oleg Deripaska resigns as non-executive board member; effective May 25 2018
- (CN) China NDRC said to plan to hold a meeting with miners and utilities later today related to coal prices – US financial press
- (CN) China regulator said to urge sellers of bonds to manage cash flows; Official rules out systemic risks related to bond defaults – Chinese Press
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips OMO v CNY40B injected in 7 and 14-day reverse repos prior: Net: v CNY0B prior
- (CN) For the week, the PBOC drained a net of CNY30B through OMOs v CNY410B net injection w/w
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.3%; closed +0.1%
- TOPIX Marine Transportation index -1.7%, Iron & Steel -1.5%, Real Estate -1.5%, Information & Communications -0.7%, Securities -0.3%
- Automakers remain weaker
- Softbank and other telecoms decline: Japan government said to issue guidance to Softbank related to phone discounts (Japanese press)
- Fast Retailing +0.8% (declined over 1% on prior session)
- (JP) Japan May Tokyo CPI Y/Y: 0.4% v 0.5%e; Ex-Fresh Food (Core) Y/Y: 0.5% v 0.6%e
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Financial sanctions against North Korea may be prolonged after cancellation of US/North Korea summit
- (JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Suga: Sees progress as more important than holding summit with North Korea
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.5%
- Samsung rises after Apple patent ruling; The ruling ordered Samsung to pay ~$533M in damages vs the $1B in damages that Apple had sought.
- (KR) North Korea Vice Foreign Min Kim Kye Gwan: Willing to talk with US at ‘any time’; no change in will to do the best for peace – KCNA
- (KR) Pres Trump sends letter to North Korea’s Kim: says inappropriate to have June 12 summit at this time; looks forward very much to meeting some day; The anger and open hostility in your most recent statement makes a meeting inappropriate at this time
- (US) Pres Trump: Possible existing summit could take place or it could take place at a later date
Other
- IMF Deputy Managing Dir Zhang: Short-term outlook for Asia and global economies is ‘strong’; Low inflation in Asia mainly due to temporary factors
- (ID) Indonesia Rupiah (IDR) on track to trade lower for the 6th straight week – US financial press
- (MY) Malaysia Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the government will honor all payments on debt raised by state investment fund 1MDB – financial press
- (SG) Singapore Apr Industrial Production M/M: 0.2% v 1.2%e; Y/Y: 9.1% v 8.0%e
- Nanya Technology [2408.TW]: Said to see sales growth on higher DRAM prices (Taiwanese Press)
North America
- US equity markets closed mixed: Dow -0.3%, S&P500 -0.2%, Nasdaq flat, Russell 2000 flat
- S&P500 Energy -1.7%, Financials -0.8%
- (US) NY Fed Survey of Primary Dealers: expect 3 more Fed rate hikes this year (responses submitted between 4/19-4/23)
- (US) According to Fed data, foreign holdings of US Treasuries declined for the 4th straight week – FT
- (BR) Brazil Gov’t: Has reached ‘deal’ with certain truckers unions, under the agreement the nationwide strike will end for 15 days
Europe
- (UK) BOE Gov Carney: the gentle path for rate hikes expected by BOE is dependent on GDP growing faster than the 1.5% trend rate; Rates might rise quicker than the path described in May if investment recovers much more robustly; Brexit will be key factor in BOE rate policy; Uncertainty about consumer spending is elevated due to slower consumer lending and spending and the state of the housing market
- (ES) PSOE Leader Sanchez reportedly considering triggering no confidence vote against Spain PM Rajoy following corruption verdict this morning – press
- (SA) Saudi Oil Min Falih: Aims for balancing and not ‘over correction’ of oil market, Easing OPEC+ caps is on the table but no decision yet
- (RU) Russia Energy Min Novak: OPEC+ will in June for sure discuss easing caps
- (RU) Russia Energy Min Novak: the global oil glut is over
Levels as of 02:00ET
- Hang Seng -0.4%; Shanghai Composite -0.2%; Kospi -0.2%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.4%, Dax +0.2%; FTSE100 +0.2%
- EUR 1.1705-1.1727 ; JPY 109.12-109.76 ; AUD 0.7561-0.7583 ;NZD 0.6923-0.6939
- Jun Gold -0.2% at $1,301/oz; Jun Crude Oil -0.1% at $70.66/brl; Jul Copper -0.2% at $3.094/lb
