General Trend:
- Hang Seng underperforms in Asia amid continued focus on the US’ HK bill and trade, HK-listed banks extend declines as PBOC again skipped its daily liquidity injection
- Banks also trade generally lower in Shanghai
- Nikkei declines amid continued press speculation about whether the BoJ is tapering its equity purchases; Softbank declines over 2%, said to seek billions in loans from Japanese banks
- Shares of Westpac have continued to decline after recently disclosed legal proceedings in Australia, weighs on financials index in Australia
- South Korean chipmakers drop as Trump commented on Apple and Samsung
- Korean Won (KRW) underperforms in Asia amid trade concerns, Trump commented on Samsung; US Defense Sec said ‘haven’t heard of reports’ that the US may withdraw forces from South Korea [responded to press speculation]
- White House Trade Advisor Navarro criticized China’s solar policy
- Recap of Oct FOMC minutes (released on Nov 20th): MOST SAW RATES AS APPROPRIATE UNLESS THERE IS A MATERIAL CHANGE; Officials skeptical of caps on long-term Treasury rates; Not ready to commit to long-term market liquidity plans; Policymakers discussed using balance sheet tools to cap long-term Treasury rates; Officials did not see negative rates as useful tool in the US
- China Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) sometimes holds weekly press conference on Thursday’s during European morning
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.1%
- WBC.AU Australia PM Morrison: Board needs to reflect very deeply on senior management team following Austrac proceedings
- MVP.AU Announces Penthrox IND approved in China
- RHP.AU Reports Q1 Rev A$12.8M, +25% y/y; Affirms FY20 Op ~A$16M – AGM
- MCR.AU Announces A$35M capital raise to be used for nickel development
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.3%
- 6740.JP Confirms former accounting exec embezzled over ¥500M
- (JP) Speculation that Japan beef exports to China to resume as early as next year; Japan and China foreign ministers to meet in Tokyo next week – Japan Press
- 2371.JP Announces ¥8.0B share buyback (after the close)
- (JP) Japan Petroleum Assocation Pres: OPEC and other producers are likely to agree to cut oil output by 1.2M bbl/day
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.1%
- (KR) South Korea Unification Min Yeon-chul: Expect the US and North Korea to have 1-2 more opportunities to talk about nuclear weapons program before the end of 2019 – Yonhap
- (KR) South Korea Nov 1-20 Exports y/y: -9.6% v -19.5% prior; Chip Exports y/y: -23.6% v -28.8% prior
- (KR) US Sec Def Esper: US does not regret taking high road on halting joint drills; North Korea response was not positive; havent heard of reports to withdraw forces from S. Korea
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -1.1%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.3%
- (CN) China Vice Premier Liu He: ‘Cautiously optimistic’ about reaching Phase 1 deal; remains confident but confused about US demands – speaking at Dinner Forum
- (CN) China State Think Tank economist: Hong Kong issue is definitely a negative for US China trade talks; still likely for Phase 1 trade deal to be reached this year if there is no ‘disturbance’
- (CN) Pres Trump reportedly is expected to sign Hong Kong bill – press
- (CN) China Premier Li: China has maintained stable economic performance this year; confident we can achieve the main social and economic targets this year; reiterates to keep macro policy stable: proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy
- (CN) China State Council: China will continue to lower the tax burden on individuals by improving and better implementing the special individual income tax deduction mechanism; current tax breaks for the first 9M of this year total CNY440B for 250M individuals – Xinhua
- (CN) China Sept Swift Global Payments CNY: 1.65% v 1.95% prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan Reference Rate: 7.0217 v 7.0118 prior
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips for 2nd consecutive session
- (CN) China Vice President Wang Qishan: International order is under attack; China still faces very severe external and internal challenges – speaking at new economy forum
- (CN) China NDRC Deputy Chief Ning Jizhe: Competition in China’s domestic market is very fierce; China SOEs can compete with world SOEs – speaking at New Economy Forum
- (HK) Hong Kong Government: Strongly oppose US House passing HK bill, US bill won’t help ease social unrest; sends wrong signal to the violent protesters
- (CN) China Former PBoC Gov Zhou: Still has scope to deploy monetary policy; IMF can play an important rule in next crisis as in 2008
Other Asia
- (SG) EU Singapore Free Trade Agreement, which will remove nearly all customs duties, comes into force today
- (SG) Singapore Q3 Final GDP Q/Q: 2.1% v 1.8%e; Y/Y: 0.5% v 0.4%e; Sees 2020 GDP 0.5-2.5%
- (SG) Monetary Authority of Singapore: Stance remains appropriate at this time; Policy will advance as economy evolves; core inflation range remains unchanged from Oct forecasts [2019 core CPI at lower half of 1.0-2.0% range]
North America
- (US) FOMC OCT MINUTES FROM OCT 30TH MEETING: MOST SAW RATES AS APPROPRIATE UNLESS THERE IS A MATERIAL CHANGE; MOST SAW RATES AS WELL CALIBRATED
- TIF LVMH said to raise offer to $130/shr, receives access to Tiffany’s books – press
- INTC Sends letter to customers about shipment delays; Affirms Q4 guidance
- (US) Pres Trump: We’re looking at whether Apple should be exempt from China tariffs, We have a great trade agreement with Korea; have to treat Apple and Samsung on a somewhat similar basis; China wants a trade deal more than I do; China isn’t stepping up to the level I want in trade talks – comments in Austin
- (US) House passes Hong Kong support bill – press (as expected)
- (CN) US White House Trade Advisor Navarro: China is exploiting bifacial loophole in solar tariffs, must close the loophole
Europe
- (DE) Germany Finance Ministry: Oct Tax Rev +2.3% y/y
Levels as of 12:15EST
- Hang Seng -1.7%; Shanghai Composite -0.4%; Kospi -1.6%; Nikkei225 -0.7%; ASX 200 -0.8%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.3%; Nasdaq100 -0.3%, Dax -0.4%; FTSE100 -0.3%
- EUR 1.1073-1.1079; JPY 108.28-108.61; AUD 0.6787-0.6804;NZD 0.6398-0.6420
- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.2% at $1,471/oz; Crude Oil -0.3% at $56.86/brl; Copper -0.3% at $2.64/lb