General Trend:
- Markets in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are closed for holidays; Hong Kong and South Korea are closed on Tuesday
- US’ tariffs on $200B in China goods took effect on Sept 24th; China’s counter tariffs on $60B in US goods are also due to have taken effect
- China said to have canceled upcoming trade talks with the US, according to press report;
- Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) and money market rates extend gains from last week ahead of this week’s US Fed meeting (Sept 25-26th)
- India’s Finance Min comments on non-banking companies amid recent defaults at IL&FS unit
- Oil prices rise: Saudi Oil Minister said the market is adequately supplied.
- Barrick Gold and Randgold said to be in merger talks (FT)
- UN General Assembly is due to be held this week
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.1%
- Lynas Corp [LYC.AU]: Declines by over 20% on review by the Malaysian government
- (AU) Australia PM Morrison increased lead over Opposition head Shorten to 45% vs. 32% (42% vs. 36% prior) ; Ruling Liberal Party trails Labor by a 46 to 54% margin (on two-party preferred basis) – Newspoll
- (AU) Australia sells A$800M v A$800M indicated in Nov 2029 bonds, avg yield 2.722%, bid to cover 2.8x
- (AU) Australia buys back A$800M in Oct 2019 and April 2020 bonds; bid to cover 2.46x
China/Hong Kong
- Shanghai Composite closed for holiday, Hang Seng opened -0.6%
- Sinopec: Unipec unit said to put plan to increase US oil imports for its own use on hold amid trade war (US financial press)
- (CN) Pres Trump: we have a lot more tariffs if China retaliates
- (CN) China issued white paper on China/US trade frictions – Xinhua
- (CN) S&P affirms China at ‘A+/A-1’; outlook stable (from Sept 21st)
- (HK) Last week 8 banks in Hong Kong said to have raised their deposit rates – HK Press
Japan
- Nikkei 225 closed for holiday
- Japan Economy Min Motegi and USTR Lighthizer are expected to hold trade talks on Sept 24th
- Japan said to consider bilateral trade agreement with the US – Japanese Press
Korea
- Kospi closed for holiday
- (KR) Pres Trump: we won’t rush into any deal with North Korea, sanctions will stay in place; we are doing well with North Korea
- (KR) South Korea job seekers who have “given up” on finding a job reaches record 510K in Aug, +5.4% y/y – Korean press
- (KR) OECD cuts South Korea 2018 GDP forecast to 2.7% (prior 3% in May
Other
- (IN) India Finance Minister: Government to take all measures to ensure adequate liquidity maintained/provided to NBFCS; to take all steps to ensure adequate liquidity is provided to mutual funds and SMEs
- (IN) Moody’s: Measures by the India government to increase capital inflows will slow and not reverse Rupee (INR) currency depreciation
- (MY) Malaysia Finance Min: Expects trade to grow by ~8% in 2018, but sees challenges from the US/China trade war
- (SG) Singapore Aug CPI M/M: 0.4% v 0.5%e; Y/Y: 0.7% v 0.7%e
- (TW) Certain iPhone suppliers in Taiwan said to work overtime during the holidays – Local Press
North America
- (US) Reportedly the White House is considering an executive order to investigate the practices of social media companies including Google and Facebook – press
- Arconic [ARNC]: Private equity firms that are eyeing Arconic are said to be growing concerned about the price of a potential deal – NY Post
- (CA) US and Canada may hold informal talks related to NAFTA on the sidelines of this week’s UN Meeting – Canadian Media
- Fitch said to cut global growth forecast on US/China trade dispute – US financial press
Europe
- (UK) Reportedly aides to PM May have started contingency planning for possible snap election in November – Sunday Times
- (UK) Brexit Minister Raab reiterated the UK is standing firm on Brexit proposals, no election is planned – financial press
- (UK) UK Foreign Sec Hunt refuses to rule out Canada-style Brexit deal – FT
- (UK) Labour Party (opposition) said to reach agreement on the wording of motion on Brexit referendum – press
- At meeting on Sunday, OPEC+ affirmed plans to gradually continue increasing crude output in line with decision from the summer (US financial press)
- (EU) ECB Nowotny (Austria) reiterated the ECB should speed up its exit from crisis-mode monetary policy – Press
- Sky [SKY.UK]: Comcast beats Fox in Sky auction with a $39B bid; Fox to review options for its 39% stake in Sky (press)
- Randgold [RRS.UK]: Barrick Gold and Randgold said to be in late-stage talks regarding an $18B merger – FT
- Casino [CO.FR]: Carrefour denies that it had solicited the company, says merger proposal does not exist
- (EU) Bank of International Settlements (BIS) issues quarterly report: Sentiment turned sharply in financial markets as 2018 moved into its H2
Levels as of 01:30ET
- Nikkei 225, closed, ASX 200 -0.1%, Hang Seng -1.4%; Shanghai Composite closed; Kospi closed
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.2%; Nasdaq100 -0.4%, Dax -0.2%; FTSE100 -0.2%
- EUR 1.1753-1.1737; JPY 112.65-112.38 ; AUD 0.7283-0.7262 ;NZD 0.6689-0.6668
- Dec Gold flat at $1,201/oz; Oct Crude Oil +1.2% at $71.64/brl; Dec Copper -0.3% at $2.838/lb