General Trend:
- China gov’t official expressed concern about local gov’t rules that prevent companies from reopening [Shenzhen gov’t previously announced that all businesses must apply for permission before they resumed work after the extended holiday break]
- HK gaming companies rise over 1% in early trading
- South Korean automakers and parts companies rise, Hyundai said to resume production at one of its domestic plants
- Sectors moving higher in Australia include Telecom and Financial.
- Shares of Sprint rose over 65% in afterhours trading, T-Mobile US rose over 7%; US district judge expected to rule in favor of the merger between the two companies (US financial press)
- Chinese steel and iron ore futures rise, steel mills in Hebei (largest steel producing province in China) could be forced to cut production due to the coronavirus
- South Korea early Feb exports +69.4% y/y, car exports +114.5% y/y; semiconductor exports +37.8% y/y
- US Fed Chair Powell is due to testify before the House Financial Services committee on Feb 11th, Senate banking committee testimony is expected on Feb 12th
- RBNZ is due to issue its monetary policy statement on Wed, consensus is for unchanged rates
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.1%
- SUN.AU Reports H1 (A$) Cash earnings A$365M v 413M y/y; Net 642M v 250M y/y
- COH.AU Cuts FY20 underlying net A$270-290M (prior 290-300M) due to coronavirus
- (NZ) New Zealand H2 Budget surplus NZ$437M v deficit of NZ$82M expected
- (NZ) New Zealand Jan Heavy Truckometer M/M: +4.8% v -2.5% prior (1st increase after 2 consecutive declines)
- (AU) Australia sells A$100M v A$100M indicated in 2.50% Sept 2030 indexed bonds, avg yield -0.32%, bid to cover 8.40x
- (AU) JAN BUSINESS CONFIDENCE: -1 V -2 PRIOR; Business Conditions: 3 v 3 prior
- (AU) AUSTRALIA DEC HOME LOANS M/M: 4.4% V 1.6%E; INVESTMENT LENDING: 2.8% V 1.6%E
Japan
- Nikkei 225 closed for holiday
- (JP) IMF Japan Mission Chief Cashin: coronavirus spread poses risk to Japan’s economy
- 6501.JP Said to be targeting FY21 Op ¥900B (record high) v ¥669B Op guidance for FY20 – Nikkei
- (JP) Japan companies expect FY20 net income to decline by 8.4% y/y – Nikkei
- 7267.JP Plans to resume 5 China factories on Feb 17 at the earliest – US financial press
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.6%
- (KR) South Korea Feb 1-10th Exports y/y: +69.4% v +5.3% prior; Chip Exports Y/Y: +37.8%
- 051910.KR Planning to IPO battery business after spinoff is complete – Korean press
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +1.0%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.1%
- (CN) On Monday ‘hundreds of thousands’ of workers said to have returned to work in Shenzhen (China) after extended Lunar New Year holiday – SCMP
- (CN) China National Health Commission Feb 10th: 2,478 additional coronavirus cases v 3,062 prior; Death toll of 108 v 97 prior
- (CN) China Hubei Coronavirus update Feb 10th: 2,097 additional cases v 2,618 prior; Death toll 103 v 91prior
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY100B in 7-day reverse repos v injects CNY900B in 7-day and 14-day prior; Net drain CNY280B v CNY0B prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan Reference Rate: 6.9897 v 6.9863 prior
- 0175.HK Reportedly in prelim talks with Volvo on business combination; VOLVOCARS.IPO Intends to list Combined company in Stockholm as well – press – press
- (CN) Over 300 companies (including tech firms) in China are seeking a total of at least CNY57.4B in bank loans in order to deal with the impact of the coronavirus; the loans may be issued at preferential rates and the approval process may be fast-tracked – financial press
- (CN) China Hubei removes head of Health Commission Liu Yingzi and Party Chief Zhang Jin – local media
- (CN) China NDRC: Will work to reopen businesses smoothly; local rules that prevent reopening are not good
- (CN) China Human Resources Min: Overall job situation is stable despite coronavirus; specific measures implemented to stabilize employment in small and medium enterprises
- 9988.HK Shares said to be blocked from HK/China stock link – US financial press
North America
- US district judge expected to rule in favor of merger with T-Mobile, decision to be announced Feb 11th – US financial press
- (US) USTR has narrowed an internal list of developing/least developed countries in order to reduce the threshold for triggering an investigation into whether nations are harming US industries with unfairly subsidized exports – financial press
Europe
- (IE) Ireland election Final Results: Fianna Fáil largest party with 38 seats
- (KZ) Kazakhstan Energy Min: OPEC+ meeting may be held end of February, may have to cut production 20-30K bpd
- (EU) ECB strategic review to be divided into 8 topics, CPI target could be set by July under review
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng +1.3%; Shanghai Composite +0.5%; Kospi +1.0%; Nikkei225 closed for holiday; ASX 200 +0.6%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.5%, Dax +0.5%; FTSE100 +0.4%
- EUR 1.0917-1.0908; JPY 109.91-109.74; AUD 0.6714-0.6683; NZD 0.6393-0.6378
- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.5% at $1,571/oz; Crude Oil +1.3% at $50.22/brl; Copper +0.9% at $2.58/lb
