General Trend:
- New Zealand’s Steel & Tube rises over 17%, received takeover offer from Fletcher Building
- Euro rises, Italy said to target 2021 deficit/GDP ratio of 2.0% (vs 2.4% expected in 2019)
- Japan Sept PMI services declines to 2-year low, some companies were hurt by recent earthquake
- Australian building approvals decline more than expected
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.1%
- (AU) AUSTRALIA AUG BUILDING APPROVALS M/M: -9.4% V +1.0%E; Y/Y: -13.6% V -2.5%E
- (AU) Australia Sept AiG Performance of Services Index: 52.5 v 52.2 prior
- (AU) Australia sells A$500M v A$500M indicated in April 2029 bonds, avg yield 2.6465%, bid to cover 4.97x
- (NZ) New Zealand Sept ANZ Commodity Price: -1.8% v -1.1% prior
- (NZ) New Zealand Sept ANZ Job Advertisements M/M: -0.3 v +0.4% prior
- (NZ) New Zealand to offer NZ$100M in Sept 2040 inflation-indexed bonds on Oct 4th
China/Hong Kong
- Shanghai Composite closed, Hang Seng opened -1.1%
- (CN) China might face additional US export curbs over human rights – financial press
- (JP) Tokyo Financial Exchange plans to expand trading to Taiwan and Hong Kong – Japanese Press
- (CN) China Finance Ministry (MOF) plans roadshow from Oct 9 related to US dollar denominated bond
- (CN) China said to fine actress Fan Bingbing ‘hundreds of millions’ of yuan for tax evasion – Xinhua
- (HK) Macau China visitor arrivals for Oct 2nd +20.5% y/y
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.2%
- (JP) JAPAN SEPT PMI SERVICES: 50.2 V 51.5 PRIOR (2-year low)
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ): Japan output gap rises to the highest level since 2007
- (CN) Japan Finance Ministry (MOF) data shows Japanese investors have purchased ¥151B (~$1.3B) in China bonds thus far in 2018 vs ¥83B (record) in 2016 – financial press
Korea
- Kospi closed for holiday
- (KR) State Dept spokesperson Nauert: Sec of State Pompeo to travel to North Korea Oct 7th, will meet with Leader Kim Jong un
Other
- (ID) Indonesia Central Bank Gov Warjiyo: Reiterates maintains dual intervention to stabilize Rupiah (IDR) currency; reiterates to be pre-emptive, frontloaded and ahead of the curve
- (IN) India Fin Min Official: Government in talks with RBI for special dollar swap window with some state run fuel retailers
- (PH) Philippines Economic Chief confirms to miss 2018 GDP growth target: sees Q3 GDP growth of at least 6%
- (SG) SINGAPORE SEPT PMI: 49.6 V 51.1 PRIOR (first contraction in ~2.5 years)
North America
- US equity markets ended mixed: Dow +0.5% (record high), S&P500 flat, Nasdaq -0.5%, Russell 2000 -1%
- (US) Weekly API Oil Inventories: Crude: +0.9M v +2.9M prior
- (US) Fed Chair Powell: inflation and unemployment forecasts are not too good to be true; Fed stands ready to act with authority if inflation expectations drift from target – comments at National Association for Business Economics (NABE)
- (US) Fed’s Kaplan (dove, non-voter): comfortable with one more rate hike in Dec; Sees two more rate hikes in 2019 as base case – Q&A with reporters
Europe
- (IT) Italy to lower 2020 deficit target to 2.2% – Repubblica
- (IT) Italy said to seek to cut deficit/GDP ratio to 2.0% in 2021 – Italian Press
- (IT) Italy raised €6.5B in 5G auction – FT
- (EU) EU Commission said to be preparing to use little known powers under EU law to issue binding demands on Malta’s financial regulator – FT
- (US) US President Trump: Does not think EU Juncker likes us very much
- (UK) UK Sept BRC Shop Price Index Y/Y: 0.2% v 0.1% prior (second straight rise)
Levels as of 01:30ET
- Nikkei 225, -0.5%, ASX 200 +0.3%, Hang Seng -0.3%; Shanghai Composite closed; Kospi closed
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.2%; Nasdaq100 +0.2%, FTSE100 -0.1%
- EUR 1.1594-1.1535 ; JPY 113.85-113.51; AUD 0.7198-0.7164 ;NZD 0.6595-0.6568
- Dec Gold +0.3% at $/1,210oz; Oct Crude Oil flat at $75.22/brl; Dec Copper +0.4% at $2.809/lb
