General Trend:
- Marine/Transportation, Machinery, Autos and Electric Appliance shares weigh on the Nikkei
- ZTE declines over 4% in Hong Kong , US President Trump expected to sign executive order banning Chinese telecom equipment next week (US press)
- Rusal rises over 8% after quarterly production update
- Chinese markets due to return from holiday on Monday
- Markets in Japan will be closed for holiday on Monday
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.4%
- (AU) RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA (RBA) QUARTERLY STATEMENT ON MONETARY POLICY (SOMP): REITERATES INTEREST RATE OUTLOOK MORE EVENLY BALANCED THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT; Cuts GDP growth forecast for year through June from 3.25% to 2.5%; Cuts June 2019 Core (trimmed mean) inflation forecast from 2% to 1.75%
- (NZ) ASB Bank expects the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) to keep cash rate unchanged into 2021 vs Q3 2020 rate hike prior view – US financial press
China/Hong Kong
- Shanghai Composite closed, Hang Seng opened -1%
- (US) Pres Trump confirms he will not meet with Xi before the March 1 tariff deadline; may meet later
- (US) White House economic advisor Kudlow: still a pretty sizable distance to go in China trade talks – Fox Business interview
- (CN) US President Trump likely to sign order banning Chinese telecomm equipment next week – US press
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -1.2%
- (JP) JAPAN DEC PRELIM BOP TRADE BALANCE: ¥216.2B V 132.4BE
- (JP) JAPAN DEC PRELIM BOP CURRENT ACCOUNT BALANCE: ¥452.8B V ¥469.3BE; ADJUSTED CURRENT ACCOUNT: ¥1.6T V ¥1.5TE
- (JP) JAPAN DEC LABOR CASH EARNINGS Y/Y: 1.8% V 1.7%E; REAL CASH EARNINGS: 1.4% V 1.7%E
- (JP) Japan Dec Household Spending Y/Y: 0.1% v 0.8%e
- (JP) Nikkei 225 Feb Options said to settle at ~20,481
- (JP) In Jan Japan investors sold net ¥1.07T in Foreign Stocks, purchased net ¥2.22T in foreign bonds
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.5%
- (KR) Follow Up: South Korea and US to hold military exercises after Trump-Kim summit – Korean Press
- (KR) South Korea Finance Ministry: To sell KRW6.0T in Treasury bills in Feb, to be used for temporary shortfalls in the budget for job creation.
- (KR) South Korea Jan Foreign Reserves: $405.5B v $403.7B prior
Other
- (TH) Thailand King’s eldest sister to run for Prime Minister in March 24 election
North America
- (US) Fed Bullard (dove, FOMC voter): Sees 2019 growth ‘considerably’ slower than 2018; Balance sheet reserves to be more than previously thought
Europe
- (UK) UK PM May office Senior Official: Positive from today is that there will be talks to find a way through on Brexit; Looking at Labour leader Corbyn’s Brexit proposals but there are considerable points of difference
- (UK) UK PM May to guarantee that the UK matches EU on workers’ rights after Brexit following deal with Labour – UK Press
Levels as of 12:50ET
- Nikkei 225, -1.9%, ASX 200 -0.3%, Hang Seng -0.4%; Shanghai Composite closed; Kospi -1.1%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.4%; Nasdaq100 -0.5%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 -0.2%
- EUR 1.1351-1.1333 ; JPY 109.85-109.64 ; AUD 0.7107-0.7060 ;NZD 0.6757-0.6729
- Gold -0.1% at $1,313/oz; Crude Oil -0.6% at $52.35/brl; Copper -0.4% at $2.821/lb
