General Trend:
- Samsung reported prelim record Operating Profit for Q3, results overall in line
- Shares of Lenovo Group decline over 15% amid report about alleged hacking related to China
- ZTE declines over 12%
- Japanese financials continue to benefit from higher US Treasury yields
- Japan Aug household spending beats ests, government raises assessment
- Japan Aug real wages decline, special one-off payments drop
- Australia Sept Construction PMI contracts for the first time in 20 months
- South Korea CPI nears target of 2.0%, highest since Sept 2017
- Philippines Sept CPI below ests, hits 9-year high
- Japan markets to be closed on Monday (Oct 8th) for holiday
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.3%
- (AU) AUSTRALIA AUG RETAIL SALES M/M: 0.3% V 0.2%E
- (AU) AUSTRALIA SEPT AIG PERFORMANCE OF CONSTRUCTION INDEX: 49.3 V 51.8 PRIOR (below 50 level for the first time in 20 months)
- (AU) In next week’s release of the RBA’s Financial Stability Review some are expected to pay attention to the assessment of the housing-market; The report is due to be released on Friday (Oct 12th) – US financial press
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Head of Economic Analysis Heath: Unemployment rate is still the main measure of spare capacity
- (AU) Australia AOFM: Next issuance program update expected at the time of MYEFO
- (AU Australia sells A$500M v A$500M indicated in Nov 2022 bonds, avg yield 2.1725%, bid to cover 5.9x
China/Hong Kong
- Shanghai closed (resumes on Monday), Hang Seng opened -0.5%
- (US) US President Trump: Reiterates China wants to make a deal, but thinks China is not ready; China seeks deal and US/China will talk later.
- (CN) China Foreign Ministry: US Vice President Pence in speech ‘slandered China’ by claiming it meddles in the US’ internal affairs and elections
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.8%
- (JP) BOJ said to be seen tolerating higher yields; BOJ could trim super-long bond buying further – financial press
- (JP) BoJ announcement related to daily bond buying operation: unchanged
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Quarterly Public Opinion of Household Sentiment: Households see 3% inflation in 1-year, see 2% inflation in 5-years (unchanged q/q)
- (JP) JAPAN AUG HOUSEHOLD SPENDING Y/Y: 2.8% V 0.1%E (largest rise since 2015)
- (JP) Japan Aug Labor Cash Earnings Y/Y: 0.9% v 1.3%e; Real Cash Earnings Y/Y: -0.6% v 0.0%e (first decline in 4 months)
- (JP) Japan Sept Official Reserve Assets: $1.26T v $1.26T prior
- (JP) Japan government officials said the US and Japan to hold third round of bilateral economic dialogue in mid-Nov – financial press
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Reiterates trade talks with the US are not free trade agreement (FTA) talks
- (JP) Japan PM Abe: Confirms the government will consider revising law to enable ‘cashless’ society
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.2%
- Samsung Electronics: Reports prelim Q3 (KRW) Op 17.5T (record) v 17.2Te, Rev 65.0T v 65.0Te
- (KR) South Korea Sept CPI M/M: 0.7% v 0.3%e; Y/Y: 1.9% v 1.6%e (highest since Sept 2017)
Other
- (MY) Malaysia Aug Trade Balance (MYR): 1.6B v 9.0Be; Exports to the US -2% y/y
- (MY) In Sept, foreign holdings of Malaysia debt securities declined to the lowest level since March 2017- US financial press
- (ID) Indonesia Fin Min: Authorities are assessing global dynamics in regards to the Rupiah (IDR) currency to determine whether to take further measures
- (IN) India Nifty Energy index declines over 4%, government price cut cited
- (IN) IL&FS says it is unable to service INR339M credit obligation for Sept 30 to Oct 4th
- (SG) Singapore to release Advance Q3 GDP data and Semi-annual Monetary Policy Statement on Friday, Oct 12th
North America
- US equity markets ended lower: Dow -0.8%, S&P500 -0.8%, Nasdaq -1.8%, Russell 2000 -1.5%
- (US) Fed’s Senior Credit Officer Opinion Survey: terms of financing unchanged for all counterparty classes; inverse yield curve could cause financing terms to tighten
Europe
- (IT) Italy said to target privatizations worth ~0.3% of GDP in 2019 and 2020 – US financial press
- (EU) ECB’s Coeure (France): ECB seeing a gradual buildup in price pressures
- (FR) France stats agency INSEE: France 2018 GDP growth outlook cut to 1.6% (prior 1.7%)
- (UK) The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Sept gauge of permanent job starting salaries: 64.5 v 62.4 prior (highest level since April 2015)
Levels as of 01:30ET
- Nikkei 225, -0.4%, ASX 200 +0.3%, Hang Seng -0.3%; Shanghai Composite closed; Kospi -0.3%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax flat; FTSE100 +0.1%
- EUR 1.1520-1.1504; JPY 114.12-113.84 ; AUD 0.7086-0.7061 ;NZD 0.6486-0.6463
- Dec Gold flat at $1,202/oz; Oct Crude Oil +0.7% at $74.81/brl; Dec Copper -0.4% at $2,773/lb
