General Trend:
- Australian banks rise as interim government report makes no specific recommendations
- Bank of Japan expected to announce Oct bond buying schedule later today
- BoJ Q3 Tankan Survey due for release on Monday (Oct 1st )
- China and Hong Kong to be closed on Monday due to holiday
- China markets to be closed next week for holiday (Oct 1-5th)
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.1%
- (AU) Australia Banking Misconduct Inquiry Interim Report: No specific recommendations were made
- (AU) AUSTRALIA AUG PRIVATE SECTOR CREDIT M/M: 0.5% V 0.4%E; Y/Y: 4.5% V 4.3%E
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND SEPT ANZ CONSUMER CONFIDENCE:117.6 V 117.6 PRIOR; CONSUMER CONFIDENCE M/M: 0.0% V -0.7% PRIOR
- (NZ) New Zealand Aug Building Permits M/M: +7.8% v -10.3% prior
- (NZ) New Zealand sells NZ$150M v NZ$150M indicated in April 2025 bonds, bid to cover: 4.8x
China/Hong Kong
- Shanghai Composite opened +0.1%, Hang Seng +0.6%
- (CN) China Commerce Min spokesperson: extreme pressure from US will not cripple the Chinese economy
- (CN) China said to plan to launch additional policy to support private companies – US financial press
- (CN) China Senior Diplomat Wang Yi: Willing to expand finance cooperation with Japan
- (CN) China PBoC set yuan reference rate: 6.8792 v 6.8642 prior (weakest CNY fix since Aug 17th)
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips OMO v skipped prior: Net: CNY40B drain v CNY60B drain prior (drains liquidity for the 6th straight session)
- (CN) China Finance Ministry (MOF) said to hire banks for possible US dollar denominated bond sale – US financial press
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +1.2%
- (JP) JAPAN AUG PRELIMINARY INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION M/M: 0.7% V 1.4%E; Y/Y: 0.6% V 1.5%E
- (JP) JAPAN AUG JOBLESS RATE: 2.4% V 2.5%E
- (JP) JAPAN AUG RETAIL SALES M/M: 0.9% V 0.5%E; RETAIL TRADE Y/Y: 2.7% V 2.0%E
- (JP) JAPAN AUG ANNUALIZED HOUSING STARTS: 957K V 947KE; Y/Y: 1.6% V 0.4%E
- (JP) Japan Sept Tokyo CPI Y/Y: 1.3% v 1.1%e; Core CPI (Ex Fresh Food) Y/Y: 1.0% v 0.9%e
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BoJ) Summary of Opinions for Sept 18-19 Monetary Policy Meeting: Reiterates must maintain powerful easing patiently
- (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥2.1T v ¥2.1T indicated in 0.10% 2-yr JGBs, avg yield -0.1120% v -0.1120% prior, bid to cover 4.37x v 5.26x prior
Korea
- Kospi opened flat
- (KR) South Korea Sept Consumer Confidence: 101.7 v 99.2 prior
- (SK) South Korea Aug Dept. Store Sales Y/Y: 2.4% v 2.9% prior; Discount Store Sales Y/Y: -1.2% v -2.5% prior
North America
- US equity markets closed mostly higher: Dow +0.2%, S&P500 +0.3%, Nasdaq +0.7%, Russell 2000 -0.1%
- (CA) Bank of Canada (BOC) Gov Poloz: higher rates wll be warranted to achieve inflation target
- (US) US Senator Cornyn: Senate Judiciary Committee to vote tomorrow (Friday) on Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh
Europe
- (IT) Italy Interior Min Salvini: tax cuts and pension reforms are agreed upon; will not raise sales tax in budget plan; agreed on 2019 deficit at 2.4% of GDP
- (IT) Italy Pres said to have requested that Fin Min Tria stay on as finance minister – Italian press
- (EU) ECB’s Praet (Belgium, chief economist): there are signs that valuations are stretched in specific market sectors
- (UK) Germany Chancellor Merkel: UK needs to clarify its proposals in Brexit talks; Have not ruled out Weidmann ECB President candidacy; have a high opinion of Weidmann
- (UK) UK Citizens would vote 52% to 48% to remain in the EU in a new Brexit referendum – Poll by Natcen
- (UK) UK Sept GfK Consumer Confidence: -9 v -8e
Levels as of 01:30ET
- Nikkei 225, +1.3%, ASX 200 +0.8%, Hang Seng +0.4%; Shanghai Composite +0.9%; Kospi -0.4%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax flat; FTSE100 +0.1%
- EUR 1.1650-1.1631; JPY 113.65-113.33 ; AUD 0.7219-0.7201 ;NZD 0.6620-0.6598
- Dec Gold flat at $1,187/oz; Oct Crude Oil +0.2% at $72.27/brl; Dec Copper +0.4% at $2.787/lb
