General Trend:
- Asian chip stocks track US gains
- Samsung expected to issue Q1 guidance on Friday, already issued profit warning on March 26th
- Chinese airlines outperform, China said to plan to cut aviation-development fund charges
- Iron ore producers decline in Australia after recent gains
- Marine/Transportation sector out performs in Japan, brokers and real estate firms lag
- Japan Display rises over 5% amid speculation related to Apple Watch, financing agreement
- Tesla’s Q1 deliveries miss ests, affirmed FY delivery target
- Japanese officials dismiss modern monetary theory; BoJ Gov said idea of not considering deficit seems ‘extreme’
- Tencent prices $6.0B in bonds in upsized offering
- Indonesia Rupiah rises on session, central bank said to allow IDR to strength further
- India Central Bank expected to cut rates later today
- China Vice Premier Liu He to meet with US President Trump Thursday, Trump may also announce meeting plans with President Xi
- Japan consumer earnings in focus: Seven & I and Adastria expected to report after today’s close
- Markets in China, HK and Taiwan will be closed on Friday for holiday
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.1%
- GNC.AU To de-merge global demalting business; to combine grains and oils businesses; creating two independent companies listed on ASX
- (AU) Australia sells A$500M v A$500M indicated in June 2019 notes, avg yield 1.7135%, bid to cover 4.3x
- (AU) Australia Shadow Finance Minister comments on recently released budget: the budget is more of an election document – financial press
- SYR.AU Reports Q1 graphite production 48Kt v 11.2Kt y/y v 45Kt guided
- ECX.AU Said to have interest from multiple parties for Grays Online and Right2Drive – Aussie press
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.1%
- 8604.JP Reportedly planning to close about 20% of its Japan retail branches – Nikkei
- (JP) Japan Investors Weekly Net Buying of Foreign Bonds: ¥1.24T v ¥1.8T prior; Foreign Buying of Japan Stocks: +¥0.4T v -¥1.1T prior (first time positive since Jan)
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: Reiterates BOJ needs to continue easing persistently, will take some time to reach price target – speaking before Parliament
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: No plan to tests modern monetary theory in Japan, an extreme idea like modern monetary theory will weaken fiscal discipline and is dangerous to apply to Japan
- (JP) Japan PM Abe: Japan isn’t applying modern monetary theory; Japan is maintaining trust as yen is purchased during times of crisis
- (MX) Mexico Finance Ministry: Meeting in Japan created fruitful dialogue for investment in both countries
- (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥700B v ¥700B indicated in 0.50% (prior 0.70%) 30-yr JGBs, avg yield: 0.540% v 0.587% prior, bid to cover 4.55x v 4.72x prior
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.1%
- (KR) South Korea Feb Current Account Balance: $3.6B v $2.8B prior; Balance of Goods (BOP): $5.5B v $5.6B prior
- 005930.KR Expected to release prelim Q1 earnings guidance on Friday (April 5th) – financial press
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.1%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.5%
- (CN) The momentum to internationalize the yuan (CNY) has eased in recent years – FT
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips for 12th consecutive session: Net: CNY0 v CNY0 prior; Weekly makes no injections or withdrawals via OMO v drain of CNY110B last week
- (CN) China PBoC sets yuan reference rate: 6.7055 v 6.7194 prior
- (CN) China State Council issues draft amendments on several laws related to foreign investment law to ensure its implementation – Xinhua
- 700.HK Prices $6.0B in notes due 2024, 2026, 2029 and 2049 (5 tranches)
- 002396.CN Notes uncertainty regarding bond repayment, cites tight liquidity
- (CN) China to halve payments to civil aviation development fund and national major water conservancy construction – press
- (CN) US reportedly wants to set 2025 target for China to meet trade pledges and wants timetable for purchases of goods and market access, as China Vice Premier Liu He and US Trade Rep Lighthizer begin talks – press
- (US) White House Econ Adviser Kudlow: US-China talks made good headway during trade talks last week; we’re not there yet on trade deal but hope to get closer this week; China delegation is in DC for three days of further trade talks and may stay longer
Other Asia
- 2408.TW Reports Mar (NT$) Rev 3.72B -44.7% y/y v -42.7% prior (multi-year low)
- (SG) Singapore Govt approves plans to invest S$9.0B into two integrated casino resorts – Nikkei
- (TH) Central Bank Gov : Key Rate has been low for too long; financial fragilities remain; Baht is moving in line with fundamentals; monetary policy is data dependent
North America
- (US) MAR ISM NON-MANUFACTURING INDEX: 56.1 V 58.0E (LOWEST SINCE AUG 2017)
- BA ABC News: Ethiopian Boeing 737 MAX suffered a damaged angle-of-attack sensor upon takeoff from a bird or foreign object
- (US) Fed’s Kashkari (dove, non-voter): doesn’t believe US economy is economy or that Fed needs to tap the brakes
- (CA) Canada Trade Tribunal recommends 2 of 7 proposed steel safeguards. removing the bulk of the import restrictions it placed on certain foreign steel products last year
- TSLA Reports Q1 Deliveries 63.0K vehicles v 90.7K q/q; Production 77.1K vehicles v 86.6K q/q; Guides Q1 net profit to be negatively impacted due to delivery volume and pricing adjustments; Affirms FY19 deliveries 360-400K
Europe
- (UK) PM May could request a 9-month delay to Brexit during upcoming EU summit – Sun
- (UK) Parliament passes amendment to making changing Brexit date simpler, blocking a no deal Brexit on April 12th (second vote affirming same vote earlier today)
- (UK) Govt issues statement on Brexit vote today: Disappointing that MPs have chosen to back the EU withdrawal bill; if passed bill would place severe constraint on Govt’s ability to negotiate an extension
Levels as of 1:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, flat, ASX 200 -0.8%, Hang Seng -0.3%; Shanghai Composite +0.7%; Kospi +0.1%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.1%; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax -0.2%; FTSE100 -0.3%
- EUR 1.1249-1.1232; JPY 111.52-111.34 ; AUD 0.7128-0.7110 ;NZD 0.6800-0.6776
- Gold +0.1% at $1,297/oz; Crude Oil -0.2% at $62.34/brl; Copper -0.1% at $2.940/lb
