General Trend:
- China said the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 5,974 (vs. 4,515 prior), deaths rose to 132 from 106
- Hong Kong gaming companies open lower by over 5%
- Other decliners in HK include property, airline, energy and financial companies
- China equity futures rise over 1.5% in Singapore
- Marine/Transportation and Financial firms are among the gainers in Japan
- Japanese corporate earnings in focus: Companies expected to report results later today include Fanuc, Canon Inc, Advantest, Line Corp, Hitachi Construction and Hino Motors
- Gainers in Australia include Financials and Consumer Discretionary companies
- Treasury Wine Estates drops over 24% in Australia on guidance, weighs on Consumer Staples index
- Apple rose over 1% in afterhours trading following earnings and guidance
- White House decided against suspending US/China flights, but said the idea of the suspension could be revisited
- US companies expected to report earnings during the NY morning include ADP, Boeing, Dow Chemical, GE, Corning, Mastercard, McDonald’s, Oshkosh and AT&T
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.2%
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q4 CPI Q/Q: 0.7% V 0.6%E; Y/Y: 1.8% V 1.7%E; Annual inflation remains subdued partly due to some price falls for housing related expenses
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ ) Assistant Gov Hawkesby: How banks response to capital review an uncertainty, lower NZD helping to insulate the economy
- ILU.AU Reports FY19 production zircon 322Kt v 349K y/y; rutile 184Kt v 163K y/y; Rev A$1.13B v 1.2B y/y
- (NZ) New Zealand Fin Min Robertson announces NZ$6.8B infrastructure program (part of NZ$12B program announced in Dec); investment program will boost the economy and add jobs; Transport projects would create 1.0K jobs in year 1
- (NZ) New Zealand Q4 Job Ads q/q: -0.3% v -0.7% prior (4th consecutive decline)
- TWE.AU Reports H1 Net A$211.4M v A$213.4M y/y, Rev A$1.54B v A$1.51B y/y : Growth rate in FY20 and FY21 will be lower than previously guided
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.4%
- (JP) Japan considering bringing forward CAPEX survey for prelim GDP – Nikkei
- (JP) Japan Health Min Kato: Coronavirus case in Nara may be the 1st person to person infection in Japan
- 7201.JP Nissan to cut over 4,300 white-collar jobs; to reduce number of model lines; to shutter two plants – press
- 4755.JP Reportedly Japan FTC looking into possible antitrust violations related to its free shipping, which could possibly abuse its dominate position over other vendors – press
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.5%
- (KR) South Korea Jan Consumer Confidence: 104.2 v 100.4 prior (highest level since June 2018)
- (KR) US Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Jack Reed (D-RI) sent letter to Sec of State Pompeo and Defense Sec Esper calling on them to reconsider demands for a large increase in South Korea’s contributions to shared defense costs – Yonhap
- (KR) South Korea FIn Min Hong reiterates no plans for extra budget to deal with coronavirus, able to use current budget
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -3.0%; Shanghai Composite closed
- (CN) China updates on Coronavirus: 5,974 cases v 4,515 yesterday; Deaths 132 v 106 prior; total cases now exceeds SARS total
- (CN) China Hubei province reports 840 new confirmed coronavirus cases v 1,291 new cases reported yesterday; reports 25 more deaths – Chinese press
- (HK) Macau Tourism Office: 2020 Fifth Day of Lunar New Year, Jan 28th, Visitor Arrivals 27.1K, -87.3% y/y; Mainland China Visitors: 15.4K, -90.6% y/y
- (CN) China PBOC Beijing branch: Will increase funding support to financial institutions under its administration to help combat the new coronavirus – China Securities Journal
- (CN) China PBOC confirms interbank market to remain closed until Feb 3rd, considering the large scale of funds due for redemption after markets reopen, will use monetary policy tools such as open market operations to release sufficient liquidity to maintain reasonable and sufficient liquidity in the banking system – Xinhua
- 2005.HK Notes antiviral drug Abidol Capsule has been included under list of emergency procurements in China
- (HK) Hong Kong Secretary for Labor and Welfare Law Chi-kwong: See 2020 unemployment at 4-5% v 3.3% in 2019 – SCMP
Other
- 2354.TW Exec: We can confirm that we have measures in place to ensure that we can continue to meet all global manufacturing obligations while dealing with the coronavirus, do not expect it to impact production – Verge
North America
- (US) Weekly API Crude Oil Inventories: -4.3M v +1.6M prior
- AAPL Reports Q1 $4.99 v $4.54e, Rev $91.8B v $87.7Be
- EBAY Reports Q4 $0.81 v $0.75e, Rev $2.82B v $2.81Be; Raises Quarterly dividend 14.3% to $0.16; expands buyback by $5B (17% of market cap)
- SBUX Reports Q1 $0.79 v $0.76e, Rev $7.10B v $7.10Be
- (US) Sen Maj Leader McConnell reportedly told GOP in closed door meeting that he does not have the votes to block impeachment witnesses – press
Europe
- (UK) After 2020 EU ships will need a license to fish in UK waters post Brexit, will ensure sustainability, profitability; Official legislation to be published Wednesday – press
- (UK) Jan BRC Shop Price Index: Y/Y -0.3% v -0.4% prior; Food Y/Y: +1.6% v +1.4% prior
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng -2.4%; Shanghai Composite closed; Kospi +0.7%; Nikkei225 +0.6%; ASX 200 +0.5%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.4%, Dax +0.1%; FTSE100 +0.4%
- EUR 1.1028-1.1013; JPY 109.27-109.08; AUD 0.6777-0.6755; NZD 0.6554-0.6529
- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.3% at $1,564/oz; Crude Oil +1.2% at $54.13/brl; Copper +0.5% at $2.60/lb
