General Trend:
- Asian indices trade mixed
- IT and Telecom Services shares weigh on Shanghai Composite
- Chinese airlines rise in Hong Kong following recent earnings form Cathay Pacific
- China Unicom rises over 3% in Hong Kong post earnings
- Hyundai Motor declines over 4%, adviser of South Korea National Pension said to reject proposals from Elliott
- Brokerage and Iron/Steel companies rise in Japan
- Softbank rises over 3%, speculated to be considering investment in Uber unit
- Longer dated JGB yields hit lows not seen since 2016 amid focus on BOJ policy meeting, China data
- China Stats Official: Lunar New Year timing impacted data and may also impact March data
- China NPC expected to vote on foreign investment law on Friday (March 15th)
- British Pound (GBP) weakens during Asian trading,
- On Thursday, UK parliament is expected to vote on whether to extend Article 50 and push back the March 29th departure date from the EU.
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.2%
- CBA.AU Has suspended demerger plan for wealth management and broking unit
- (AU) Australia Mar Consumer Inflation Expectation: 4.1% v 3.7% prior
- (NZ) New Zealand sells NZ$250M v NZ$250M indicated in 3.00% 2029 bonds: avg yield 2.030%, bid to cover 2.56x
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.9%
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Japan may ban South Korean new visa issuances and money transfers if South Korea seizes assets of Japanese firms – Japanese Press
- (JP) Japan Investors Weekly Net Buying of Foreign Bonds: ¥245.7B v ¥456.1B prior; Foreign Buying of Japan Stocks: -¥1.16T v -¥340.5B prior
- (JP) Japan mulls slight downgrade to economic view in March – Nikkei
- (JP) Japan PM Abe: Want to put my energy into final term as LDP President – speaking in parliament
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.2%
- 005380.KR Main advisor of South Korea’s national pension service, Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS), sided with Hyundai Motor Co. and Hyundai Mobis Co against Elliott over dividend payments and appointments to the board
- 003490.KR Will not operate 737 Max until safety is guaranteed, not canceling order for 8 737 Max planes
- 005930.KR American marketing head Marc Mathieu said to have left
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.3%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.4%
- (CN) CHINA FEB INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION YTD Y/Y: 5.3% V 5.6%E (17-yr low)
- (CN) CHINA FEB FIXED ASSETS INVESTMENT (EX-RURAL) YTD Y/Y: 6.1% V 6.1%E
- (CN) CHINA FEB RETAIL SALES YTD Y/Y: 8.2% V 8.2%E
- (CN) CHINA FEB PROPERTY INVESTMENT Y/Y: 11.6% V 9.5% PRIOR
- (CN) CHINA FEB SURVEYED JOBLESS RATE: 5.3% V 4.9% PRIOR
- (CN) China National Bureau of Stats (NBS): China economy still faces downward pressure; faces many external uncertainties; Lunar New year weighed on data, may also do so in March
- (CN) China PBoC Sets Yuan Reference Rate: 6.7009 v 6.7114 prior
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips OMO (11th consecutive skip); Net: nil v nil prior
- (CN) S&P: Expect that China will fall well short of its target of cutting taxes and fees by CNY2.0T in 2019, expect only CNY1.5T
- (CN) China Feb YTD Off Balance Sheet Financing (CNY): decline of 21.7B v avg monthly decline of CNY209.2B in Q4 – Xinhua
- (CN) Pres Trump: We’re in no rush to complete China trade deal; talks are going along ‘very nicely’
- (EU) European Commission official released a paper labeling China as an “economic competitor” and “a systemic rival promoting alternative models of governance”
- (CN) China Credit insurer Coface report says 62% of Chinese firms survey saw payment delays in 2018 – HK Press
- 1055.HK China Southern Airlines: Reports Feb load factor 85.2% +1.7ppts y/y
- 762.HK China Unicom: Reports FY18 (CNY) Net 10.2B v 8.1Be, EBITDA 84.9B v 86.3Be, Rev 290.9B v 287.1Be
Other Asia
- SEMI: Sees 2019 Global fab spending -14% y/y; 2020 global fab spending +27% y/y
North America
- FB Federal prosecutors in the US said to launch criminal probe into the company’s data-sharing agreements – NYT
- (IA) US said to seek to reduce Iran oil sales by about 20% to less than 1M bpd from May – financial press
Europe
- (UK) UK PARLIAMENT REJECTS NO-DEAL BREXIT IN ANY SCENARIO IN 312-308 VOTE, in a defeat for PM May
- (UK) PARLIAMENT VOTES IN FAVOR OF AMENDED MOTION ON ‘NO DEAL’; VOTES TO RULE OUT ‘NO-DEAL’ BREXIT IN 321-278 TALLY
- (UK) PM’s office: PM May is NOT considering resigning
- (UK) FEB RICS HOUSE PRICE BALANCE: -28% V -24%E (lowest since May 2011)
Levels as of 1:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, +0.2%, ASX 200 +0.3%, Hang Seng -0.1%; Shanghai Composite -1%; Kospi -0.2%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.1%; Nasdaq100 -0.2%, Dax -0.3%; FTSE100 -1.1%
- EUR 1.1342-1.1318 ; JPY 111.63-111.13 ; AUD 0.7099-0.7061 ;NZD 0.6866-0.6836
- Gold -0.5% at $1,302/oz; Crude Oil +0.3% at $58.42/brl; Copper -0.4% at $2.920/lb
