Equities Trade Mixed Amid China Holiday

Feb 05 19, 07:02 GMT

General Trend:

Australia Financials index rises over 5%, AMP up over 10% ; Banking recommendations seen as not as bad as feared
Australian Finance Group and Mortgage Choice decline after release of banking report
Australian building materials firm James Hardie rises over 5% post earnings
Nasdaq futures decline, Google drops post earnings
Nikkei-weighted Fast Retailing drops over 3% after Jan sales figures
Panasonic declines over 3%, cut operating earnings forecast
Apple supplier Largan Precision Jan sales -4.8% y/y
Aussie drops after weaker than expected retail sales, Dec exports decline
Aussie rebounds after RBA statement
RBA remains in focus this week: Gov Lowe expected to speak on Feb 6th (Wed), RBA quarterly statement on monetary policy seen on Feb 8th (Friday)
Philippines inflation slows again in Jan, central bank sees more policy space
US companies expected to report earnings on Tuesday include Electronic Arts, Ralph Lauren, SNAP, Disney (includes after hours)

Headlines/Economic Data

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened +0.4%
(JP) Japan PM Abe has asked China President Xi to visit Japan two times in 2019 – Japan press
(JP) Togo Securities offices raided by investigators for allegedly offsetting Forex losses – Nikkei
(JP) Japan Jan PMI Services: 51.6 v 51.0 prior; PMI Composite 50.9 v 52.0 prior
(JP) Japan MoF sells ¥2.2T v ¥2.2T indicated in 0.10% (prior 0.10%) 10-yr JGBs, avg yield -0.013% v 0.015% prior, bid to cover 4.80x v 4.04x prior
(JP) BoJ Gov Kuroda: Wage data issue does not affect BOJ’s view on economy, has limited impact on BOJ’s output gap

Korea

Kospi closed, re-opens Feb 7th
(KR) US envoy to North Korea to visit Pyongyang Feb 6th – US State Dept
042670.KR May report 2018 net profit at record high due to increased sales of excavators in China and emerging markets – Yonhap
(KR) US and South Korea reach agreement in principal on cost of troops; US thought to have accepted S. Korea’s request to contribute less than $1.0B – CNN
(KR) UN Sanctions Monitor Report: North Korea nuclear, ballistic missile program is intact; they are working to protect those capabilities from military strikes; N. Korea is violating arms embargo, continues to defy sanctions though use of massive increase in illegal ship to ship transfers or oil and coal

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite closed remainder of the week
(CN) China’s NDRC has invested $219.4B in 27 infrastructure projects since start of 2018 to stimulate economy -Chinese press
HUAWEI.CN CFO Meng’s lawyers said to consider defense strategy that arrest was due to US political motives – Canadian press

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened +0.3%
(AU) RBA LEAVES CASH RATE TARGET UNCHANGED AT 1.50%; AS EXPECTED; Central scenario is for 2019 GDP ~3%; Central scenario is for 2020 GDP is a little less than 2019
(AU) AUSTRALIA DEC RETAIL SALES M/M: -0.4% V 0.0%E
(AU) AUSTRALIA DEC TRADE BALANCE (A$): 3.7B V +2.2BE; Exports m/m: -2% v +1% prior; Imports m/m: -6% v +2% prior
(AU) AUSTRALIA Q4 RETAIL SALES EX INFLATION Q/Q: 0.1% V 0.5%E
CIM.AU Reports FY18 (A$) Net 780.6M v 778Me, Rev 17.3B v 16.1B y/y; Guides initial FY19 (A$) net 790-840M
(NZ) New Zealand Jan ANZ Commodity Price: +2.1% v -0.2% prior
(AU) Australia Jan AiG Performance of Services Index: 44.3 v 52.1 prior
JHX.AU Reports 9M Net $228M v $204M y/y; Rev $1.88B v 1.53B y/y
RVA.AU To reduce employees at San Diego location by 44% to 22 employees, to realigning the organization to align with current business conditions

Other Asia

(PH) PHILIPPINES JAN CPI M/M: -0.6% V -0.4% PRIOR; Y/Y: 4.4% V 4.5%E (lowest since March 2018)
(PH) Philippines Central Bank (BSP) Official Guinigundo: Recent CPI data gives more space to review policy, with modest demand pressures monetary policy could be ‘slight on the brake’

North America

(US) Trump Inaugural committee lawyers receives subpoena from Manhattan US attorney’s office for documents relating to committee’s donors and spending – US press
(US) Fed Mester (hawk, non-voter in 2019): Current Fed policy is well calibrated to economy
(US) Fed Chairman Powell met with Trump at White House tonight, discussed economic outlook; told Trump policy will be data dependent, Policy set on dual goals non-political

Europe

(UK) UK govt indicates that UK would waive through most EU goods at ports in the event of a ‘no deal ‘ Brexit to avoid massive jams – The Sun
(UK) JAN BRC LFL SALES Y/Y: +1.8% V -0.2%E

Levels as of 12:50ET

Hang Seng closed; Shanghai Composite closed; Kospi closed; Nikkei225 -0.2%; ASX 200 +2.0%
Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.1%; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax -0.0%; FTSE100 +0.1%
EUR 1.1426-1.1455; JPY 109.84-109.05; AUD 0.7195-0.7265; NZD 0.6872-0.6902
Commodity Futures: Gold -0.0% at $1,319/oz; Crude Oil +0.4% at $54.80/brl; Copper +0.4% at $2.81/lb