Trump Due To Meet Wall St. Execs At 3 Pm EST

Mar 11 20, 07:22 GMT

General Trend:

Japanese equities decline, banks outperform after recent rise in Treasury yields
Nissan plans to resume production in Hubei (China) this week
Shanghai Composite rises less than 0.5% in early trading; Sectors moving higher include Telecom Services and Property; IT and Financial companies decline
Cathay Pacific reported higher FY19 profit amid lower fuel costs, issued cautious outlook for H1
Australian equities weighed down by Financial and Consumer sectors
RBA Dep Gov commented on unconventional monetary policy, said would aim to keep yields low rather than set a target for bond buying [comments come amid speculation that the RBA could adopt a yield curve control policy (YCC) later in 2020]
Australia consumer confidence declines in March to lowest level since late 2014, confidence declined despite recent RBA rate cut
Australia is expected to disclose stimulus package on Thursday (March 12th), a package of A$10-20B has been speculated
Australia AAA rating affirmed by S&P despite expected stimulus, ratings agency sees recession for the country in 2020

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened +0.5%
(AU) AUSTRALIA JAN HOME LOANS M/M: 4.6% V 3.0%E; INVESTMENT LENDING M/M: 3.6% V 2.3%E
(NZ) New Zealand Feb Retail Card Spending M/M: +0.6% -0.3%e; Total Card Spending M/M: 0.0% v 0.2% prior
(AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Deputy Gov DeBelle: Too uncertain to assess virus impact beyond Q1; economy will be well placed with rebound arrives; rates and fiscal stimulus will help the economy through period ahead; no indication of material disruption to iron ore or coal exports
(AU) Australia expected to announce A$1.56B health package to deal with the coronavirus – Australian press
(AU) Australia Mar Westpac Consumer Confidence Index: 91.9 v 95.5 prior (lowest levels since Dec 2014); M/M: -3.8% v 2.3% prior
(AU) Australia PM Morrison: To announce economic response Thursday, to boost coronavirus response, health package by A$2.4B
(AU) Australia Port Hedland Feb Total Iron ore Exports: 38.8Mt v 40.4Mt prior; iron ore shipments to China: 33.3Mt v 33.98Mt prior
(AU) Australia sells A$1.0B v A$1.0B indicated in 1.50% June 2031 bonds, avg yield 0.7874%, bid to cover 2.11x
(AU) Former Treasury Sec Parkinson: Australia should go big on stimulus or not bother; Q2 GDP outlook is grim, the economy is leaning towards recession
(AU) Australia fiscal stimulus now said to be A$15-20B; Will target payments to pensioners and small businesses – Local press

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened -0.6%
(JP) Some in the ruling Japan LDP party said to believe extra budget of ¥30T is needed to avoid ‘economic depression’ – US financial press
7203.JP Workers agree to avg annual wage icrease of ¥8.6K/month v ¥10.1K sought by union and ¥10.7K in 2019 – Nikkei
(JP) Tokyo Olympic Committee Member Takakashi: If Olympics are not possible this summer the most realistic option would be to delay for 1-2 years
(JP) Japan Coronavirus update March 10th: Additional cases 59 (largest 1 day increase); Total cases 1,278, total deaths 19 (7 from cruise ship)
(JP) Japan Trade Ministry: Agrees with South Korea to continue dialogue on export controls in Korea (no time frame given)
(JP) Japan Ministry of Finance (MOF) Official: Volatility remains high in FX market; FX stability is important, rapid yen swings whether up or down are undesirable
7201.JP Will restart production in Hubei province this week

Korea

Kospi opened +0.1%
(KR) South Korea regulator bans short-selling of ‘overheated’ stocks, new regulation in places for the next 3-months
003490.KR Offered a voluntary leave program to its employees amid coronavirus impact on demand, which has seen it suspend more than 90% of its current flights
(KR) South Korea Feb Unemployment Rate: 3.3% v 4.1%e; Jobs added 492K v 568K prior
(KR) South Korea Ruling Party Official Lee: Govt and Parties to discuss expanding extra budget – Yonhap
(KR) South Korea March 1-10th Exports y/y: +21.9% v +69.4% prior; Chip Exports y/y: +22.0% v +37.8% prior
(KR) South Korea reports 242 additional coronavirus cases in the last 24-hours; total now 7,755

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened +0.3%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.2%
(CN) China National Health Commission Coronavirus Update for March 10th: 24 additional cases v 19 prior; Additional deaths 22 v 17 prior; Hubei: 13 additional cases v 17 prior; additional deaths 22 v 17 prior
300298.CN Coronavirus testing strip is qualified to enter EU market
(CN) China Industry Ministry (MIIT): Nonferrous metals still facing overcapacity risks in 2020; to keep strict control on electrolytic aluminium capacity
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.9612 v 6.9389 prior
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips reverse repo operations for the 17th consecutive session, Net CNY0B v CNY0B prior
293.HK Reports FY19 (HK$) Net +1.7B v +2.3B y/y (2nd consecutive year of profit); Rev 106.9B v 111.1B y/y

Other

(TW) Taiwan Financial Supervisory Commission: Looking at circumstances under which may ban short selling, watching for irrational falls on stock market
(SG) Singapore Central Bank (MAS) Economist Survey: Cuts 2020 GDP to 0.6% (prior 1.5%)

North America

(US) March 10th Avg Traffic Intensity Index in Select US cities -16.8% y/y
(US) Democratic primary Results: Biden leads in early results
(US) Treasury expected to push back April 15th tax filing deadline – financial press
Sen Graham (R-SC) confirms Republican senators had mixed reaction to the payroll tax cut idea; did discuss the idea of a shale industry bailout
(US) Weekly API Crude Oil Inventories: +6.4M v +1.7M prior
(US) VP Pence: Bringing full resources of Fed Govt to virus efforts; got proposal from cruise line industry which includes screening and care at the expense of the cruise line
(US) Oil Lobbyists call on President Trump to snap up barrels for oil reserve

Europe

(DE) Reportedly Chancellor Merkel tells legislators that Germany does not need classic stimulus, it needs liquidity to counter coronavirus impacts – press
(UK) First UK Official, MP Nadine Dorries, diagnosed with coronavirus

Levels as of 12:15ET

Hang Seng -0.9%; Shanghai Composite -0.3%; Kospi -2.7%; Nikkei225 -1.9%; ASX 200 -3.6%
Equity Futures: S&P500 -2.8%; Nasdaq100 -2.7%, Dax -3.6%; FTSE100 -0.6%
EUR 1.1348-1.1277; JPY 105.67-104.17; AUD 0.6518-0.6481; NZD 0.6293-0.6257
Commodity Futures: Gold +0.2% at $1,663/oz; Crude Oil +1.5% at $34.87/brl; Copper -0.4% at $2.53/lb