General Trend:
- Securities and Iron/Steel firms rise in Japan, Hitachi and JFE up after earnings
- Honda and Sony decline following recent earnings/guidance
- Tencent-backed online move-tickets firm Maoyan declines in Hong Kong trading debut
- Banks in Australia rise ahead of bank inquiry report
- Australian industrial Austal raises guidance on US defense orders
- Aussie declines on session as building approvals see weakest reading in over 5 years
- RBA decision due on Tuesday, along with retail sales and trade balance for Australia
- New Zealand Treasury said GDP growth picked up in Q4, cited residential building and agricultural production
- US dollar trades generally firmer after recently released payrolls and ISM manufacturing data
- Chinese markets are closed for the entire week in observance of Lunar New Year
- US companies expected to report earnings on Monday include Alphabet, Clorox, Gilead and Sysco (includes afterhours)
Headlines/Economic Data
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.2%
- (JP) Japan Jan Monetary Base y/y: 4.7% v 4.6%e; Monetary Base end of Period: ¥500.2T v ¥500.3Te
- 6723.JP Comments on media report: Will cut fewer than 1,000 positions mainly in Japan
- 6758.JP Reports 9M Net ¥828.4B v ¥507.6B y/y, Op ¥811.5B v ¥712.7B y/y; Rev ¥6.54T v ¥6.59T y/y; Raises FY18/19 Net ¥835B; Affirms Op ¥870B; Cuts Rev ¥8.50T
- 7201.JP Chairman confirms abandoned plans to build the new model X-Trail in Sunderland, UK; X-Trail will continue to be made in Japan; notes uncertainty around Brexit
- 6503.JP Reports 9M Net ¥158.8B v ¥184.1B y/y; Op ¥201.4B v ¥237.9B y/y; Rev ¥3.26T v ¥3.19T y/y; Cuts FY guidance
Korea
- Kospi closed
- (KR) South Korea and US said to be getting closer on reaching agreement on defense cost sharing, deal expected this week – Yonhap
- (KR) South Korea President Moon likely to re-shuffle cabinet after Lunar new year holiday; largely to allow lawmaker turned ministers to run in next year’s parliamentary elections – Yonhap
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opens +0.2%, Shanghai Composite closed all week
- (CN) China Jan Caixin Services PMI: 53.6 v 53.4e; Composite PMI: 50.9 v 52.2 prior
- (US) Pres Trump: expect to reach a trade agreement with China soon
- (CN) China PBOC to create new bureau to monitor and regulate systemic financial risks – Chinese press
- (CN) Analysts speculate that China airlines could see smaller numbers of passengers during Lunar New year (typically one of t he highest travel points each year) as consumers slow spending amid economic slowdown
- (CN) China investment in Venezuela over last 10-yrs totals $62B (53% of all Chinese Belt and Road investment into Latin America) – Chinese press
- (CN) China President Xi: Chinese economy remained steady while making progress, with new steps taken in reform and opening up – Spring Festival greeting
- CN) China state-run companies purchase 1Mt of soybeans following most recent US-China trade talks – US press
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.1%
- (AU) AUSTRALIA DEC BUILDING APPROVALS M/M: -8.4% V 2.0%E; Y/Y: -22.5% V -10.9%E
- (AU) Australia Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry releases final report: Recommends against structural separation, refers 24 misconduct cases to regulators, but does not suggest criminal charges
- BLD.AU Gives trading update; Guides H1 (A$) Net ~200M; EBITDA ~485M; Ex impact of sale of Denver Construction materials and Texas block EBITDA flat y/y; Raises FY19 guidance
- ASB.AU Guides H1 (A$) EBIT 39-41M; Raises FY19 guidance
- (NZ) New Zealand Dec Building Permits m/m: +5.1% v -2.0% prior
- (AU) Australia ACCC Chief Sims: Will pursue measures to improve competition in the banking sector, including the big 4’s control in the market – FT
- WLD.AU Comments on media speculation about CBA withdrawing facility: In talks with other parties to replace the facility
- (AU) Australia Jan Melbourne Institute Inflation m/m: -0.1% v 0.4% prior; y/y: 1.5% v 1.9% prior
- (AU) Australia sells A$400M v A$400M indicated in 2.25% May 2028 bonds, avg yield 2.2256%, bid to cover 3.16x
- (NZ) New Zealand Treasury: GDP picked up in Q4, growth of trading partners may be less than in half year
- (AU) Since Nov 2018 China has been restricting coal imports from Australia to help boost domestic coal prices and reduce oversupply – Australian
Other Asia:
- RCOM.IN Files for bankruptcy [-43%]
- (IN) Analyst report sees India diesel and gas consumption growing to 112K bbls in 2019 (+6.4% y/y); outpacing China – Nikkei
North America
- (US) Fed’s Kashkari (dove, non-voter): Chairman Powell is coming around to the view that more rate hikes are not needed – US financial press
Europe
- (UK) PM May: Will see a pragmatic solution to Brexit deal with EU; EU must give ground on Brexit backstop – press
- (UK) UK PM May office denies report related to June 6 election plan – financial press
- (UK) Business Min Clark told PM May to rule out a no deal Brexit – FT
- (DE) Germany reportedly looking at €24.7B budget shortfall by 2023 – German Press
Levels as of 12:50ET
- Hang Seng -0.0%; Shanghai Composite closed; Kospi closed; Nikkei225 +0.4%; ASX 200 +0.5%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.0%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax -0.0%; FTSE100 -0.0%
- EUR 1.1438-1.1461; JPY 109.44-109.78 ; AUD 0.7223-0.7255;NZD 0.6886-0.6906
- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.4% at $1,317/oz; Crude Oil -0.1% at $55.18/brl; Copper -0.4% at $2.76/lb
