General Trend:
- Asian equities trade mixed as traders assess Fed statements/forecasts
- IT shares out perform in early trading in China
- Geely reports FY results in line, China Mobile results mixed
- Nikkei 225 closed for holiday, Nikkei Futures decline amid Yen strength
- South Korean chipmakers rise after earnings from Micron
- Tencent expected to report Q4/FY18 earnings after close in Hong Kong
- Australian financials track post Fed declines in US banks
- Iron ore miners trade generally higher in Australia, Vale remains in focus
- Aussie unemployment rate hits ~8-year low, participation rate declined
- New Zealand Dollar (NZD) rises as q/q GDP in line, y/y GDP had slowest growth rate since 2015
- South Korea prelim March chip exports -25% y/y, exports to China -12.6% y/y
- Bank of England (BoE) rate decision expected later today
- Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia central banks to also meet today
- North America Feb SEMI equipment industry billings due after US close on Thursday
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.2%
- (AU) AUSTRALIA FEB EMPLOYMENT CHANGE: 4.6K V 15.0KE; UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 4.9% V 5.0%E (lowest level since June 2011)
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q4 GDP Q/Q: 0.6% V 0.6%E; Y/Y: 2.3% V 2.5%E (matches slowest growth since 2015)
- (AU) Australia Feb RBA Govt FX Transactions (A$): -517M v -546M prior
- (AU) Australia sells A$500M v A$500M indicated in June 2019 notes, avg yield 1.73%, bid to cover 4.42x
- (NZ) New Zealand sells NZ$200M v NZ$200M indicated in 2.75% 2037 bonds; avg yield 2.3779% v 2.6079% prior; bid to cover 2.5x v 2.9x prior
- (NZ) New Zealand to ban military style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles; gun buyback to be in range of NZ$100M-200M; new law expected to take effect by April 11th
Japan
- Nikkei 225 closed for holiday
- (JP) Japan PM Abe plans to visit the US in April to meet with US President Trump – Japanese Press
- (JP) Japan Cabinet Office (Govt) Mar Monthly Economic Report: Cuts overall economic assessment citing recent weakness in exports and industrial production (1st cut in 3 years) (after the close yesterday)
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: Central bank said to be on the dovish side; to continue it persistent large scale easing (after the close yesterday)
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: No intention to retract comments on BoJ, no difference with PM Abe on BoJ’s 2% price target (after the close yesterday)
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.3%
- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov Lee: It’s not time to lower rates; monetary policy is in accommodating trend; uncertainties related to US Fed’s policies have eased to a large extent – Yonhap
- (KR) North Korea earth tremor thought to be natural not related to testing – Yonhap
- (KR) South Korea Mar 1-20 Exports y/y: -4.9% v -11.7% prior; Imports y/y: -3.4% v -17.3% prior
- (KR) South Korea to cut stock transaction tax by 0.05% in 2019
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.2%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.1%
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips OMO for second consecutive session; Net: CNY0B injection v CNY0B prior
- (CN) China PBoC sets yuan reference rate: 6.6580 v 6.7101 prior (strongest level since mid-July 2018)
- (CN) Banks in China have been told by regulator to disclose stability data every 6 months – Chinese Press
- (HK) Hong Kong Chief Exec Lam: Worried about property prices rising
- (HK) Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Exec Chan: HKMA will continue to maintain the stability of HK$ peg; still a gap between HK$ and USD interest rates, which triggers outflows of HKD and drive the currency weak
- (CN) China National Nuclear Corporation plans to build its first floating nuclear power plant within the year – Chinese press
- 941.HK Reports FY18 (CNY) Net 117.8B v 114.3B y/y, EBITDA 275.5B v 270.4B y/y; Rev 736.8B v 741B y/y; Will strive to achieve more than 2.0 billion connections, favourable growth in telecommunications services revenue and, on a comparable basis3 , stable-to-rising growth in profit in 2019
- 175.HK Reports FY18 (CNY) Net 12.6B v 10.6B y/y, Rev 106.6B v 92.8B y/y; Affirms FY19 targets
North America
- (US) FOMC LEAVES TARGET RANGE UNCHANGED BETWEEN 2.25-2.50%; SIGNALS NO HIKES THIS YEAR AND ONE RATE HIKE IN 2020
- (US) FED: Balance Sheet Normalization Plans: to slow reduction of holdings starting in May and conclude run off in Sept
- (US) Fed Chair Powell: US economy is strong and we intend to use our policy to keep it there – FOMC press
- MU Guides Q3 $0.85 +/-$0.10 v $1.38e, Adj Rev $4.8B +/-$0.2B v $5.55Be; DRAM bit shipments to grow sequentially, and grow at much higher rates in Q4; NAND bit shipments modest sequential decline, growth to resume in Q4 – earnings call
- (BR) BRAZIL CENTRAL BANK (BCB) LEAVES SELIC TARGET RATE UNCHANGED AT 6.50%; AS EXPECTED
- (US) White House Economic Adviser Hassett: Sees 2019 GDP at 3.0% – CNN
Europe
- (UK) PM May: UK will not leave EU on time on March 20th as previously expected; not ready to delay Brexit any further than June 30th
- (NL) Netherlands provincial election exit poll: Dutch ruling coalition to lose its Senate majority
- (DE) German Finance Ministry: Feb Tax Rev -1.6% y/y; YTD +0.2% y/y; German growth likely to remain subdued through H1; Brexit disputes dampening expectations
Levels as of 1:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, closed, ASX 200 flat, Hang Seng +0.2%; Shanghai Composite +0.7%; Kospi +0.4%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.3%, Dax +0.5%; FTSE100 +0.3%
- EUR 1.1438-1.1412 ; JPY 110.74-110.40 ; AUD 0.7168-0.7113 ;NZD 0.6939-0.6863
- Gold +1.3% at $1,319/oz; Crude Oil flat at $60.25/brl; Copper +0.9% at $2.953/lb
