Equity Markets Opened Mostly Higher Ahead Of Fed Meeting

General Trend:

• Shanghai Composite drops in early trading; decliners include Telecom Services, IT, property and financial firms
• ZTE rises after issuing results and guidance
• Shares of HSBC have remained weaker after recently reported earnings, weighs on Hang Seng
• Pork producer WH Group rises over 6%; The company reported growth in 9 month results, positive analysts’ commentary seen
• Japanese banks rise amid rise in Treasury yields and focus on upcoming BoJ meeting [Oct 30-31st]
• Japanese corporate earnings in focus: Canon Inc and Fanuc decline on reduced guidance
• Japanese companies expected to report results later today include Nomura Holdings
• Australian equities trade flat as gains in Resources sector offset by declines in Energy and financial companies
• Coles rises over 2% in Australia, reported Q1 sales growth
• Midway [Aussie pulp/paper company] declines over 20% on profit warning, noted impact of excess stocks in Brazil and US tariffs on Chinese paper
• PBOC skips reverse repo operation, allows CNY250B to be drained from financial system; China 10-yr bond yield rises
• Tokyo Oct core CPI misses estimates amid sales tax increase in Japan
• US Fed to meet Oct 29-30th (Tuesday-Wed)
• Australia Q3 CPI due for release on Wed (Oct 30th), AUD/JPY rises ahead of the data
• US companies expected to report during the NY morning include AutoNation, Cummins, ConocoPhillips, Callaway Golf, Eaton Corp, Corning, GM, HCA Inc, Ingersoll-Rand, Kellogg, MasterCard, Merck, Penske Auto Group, Pfizer, Steven Madden, Shopify, S&P Global, Xerox and Zebra Technologies

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

• ASX 200 opened +0.1%
• BGA.AU Guides FY20 (A$) normalized EBITDA 95-105M v 115M y/y
• QMS.AU Confirms to be acquired by Quadrant Private Equity at A$1.22/shr cash
• (NZ) New Zealand Superannuation Fund CEO Whineray: Will review NZ$ investment hedging – NZ press
• (NZ) New Zealand Treasury: Sees risk of S&P removing positive rating outlook citing recent Wellbeing Budget that increased social spending

Japan

• Nikkei 225 opened +0.4%
• (JP) Japan Oct Tokyo CPI Y/Y: 0.4% v 0.7%e; CPI Ex-Fresh Food Y/Y: 0.7% v 0.7%e
• 7751.JP Reports 9M Net ¥92.4B v ¥181.0B y/y. Op ¥122.0B v ¥243.4B y/y, Rev ¥2.64T v ¥2.89T y/y; Cuts FY19/20 Net ¥140B; Op ¥188.0B (prior Net ¥160B; Op ¥215B)
• (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Do not expect a big pullback in demand after sales tax hike in Oct
• (JP) Japan Econ Min Kajiyama: Seek to strictly address problems at Kansai Electric, working with other countries to finish RCEP this year
• (JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Suga: Have classified typhoon Hagibis as a major disaster, will consider extra budget if needed to deal with impact
• (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥2.0T v ¥2.0T indicated in 0.10% 2-year JGBs, avg yield: -0.208% v -0.333% prior, bid to cover 4.81x v 3.75x prior

Korea

• Kospi opened +0.5%
• (KR) South Korea Nov Business Manufacturing Survey: 72 v 73 prior; Non-Manufacturing Survey: 72 v 74 prior
• 207940.KR Prosecutors demanded jail terms of up to 4-years for Samsung Electronics Co. and Samsung BioLogics Co. executives on suspicion of destroying evidence in relation to allegations of accounting fraud – Yonhap
• (KR) South Korea PM Lee: Dropping WTO special treatment status as developing nation, can be a chance for S. Korean agriculture to upgrade – Yonhap

China/Hong Kong

• Hang Seng opened +0.5%; Shanghai Composite opened flat
• (CN) China People’s Daily Op Ed: Speculation through blockchain should be prevented
• ZTE, 763.HK Reports Q3 (CNY) Net 2.66B v 0.56B y/y, Rev 19.6B v 19.3B y/y
• (CN) USTR said it will start on Nov 1st a process for considering extending for up to 12 months certain exclusions from additional tariffs on China imports that were granted in Dec 2018 – update
• (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips for second consecutive session; Net drains CNY250B v drains CNY50B prior
• (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan Reference Rate: 7.0617 v 7.0762 prior (strongest level since late August)
• (HK) Hong Kong Chief Exec Lam: Expects negative economic growth for 2019; will closely monitor economic situation
• (CN) China Energy Regulator: Approved Sept YTD Construction of 40 coal mines with 196Mt in capacity
• (CN) China Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM): China welcomes more US companies to come to CIIE trade expo; 192 US firms to attend this year, +18% y/y

North America

• (US) Pres Trump: looking to be ahead of schedule on signing of ‘Phase 1’ of US-China trade deal; expects to sign pact at APEC meeting in Chile
• (US) House Democrats plan to vote on a resolution supporting an impeachment inquiry on Thursday – press

Europe

• (UK) Parliament defeats govt motion that sought early elections on Dec 12th date
• (UK) Parliament schedules Tues debate on bill that sets Dec 12th election – press
• (UK) EU’s Tusk: EU to agree to Brexit delay until Jan 31, 2020 (as anticipated)

Levels as of 1:20 ET

• Nikkei 225, +0.4%, ASX 200 +0.1%, Hang Seng -0.4%; Shanghai Composite -0.5%; Kospi -0.1%
• Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.2%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 -0.1%
• EUR 1.1103-1.1094 ; JPY 109.00-108.93 ; AUD 0.6852-0.6834 ;NZD 0.6376-0.6346
• Gold -0.1% at $1,494/oz; Crude Oil -0.3% at $55.64/brl; Copper -0.2% at $2.677/lb