General Trend:
- Trump commented on China in an interview
- Japanese equities outperform after holiday on Wed; Softbank tracks recent gains in US tech shares
- BoJ commented on the weights of its ETF purchases after raising the annual purchase amount in March
- Sectors moving higher in China include IT, Telecom Services and Consumer Discretionary
- Aussie energy companies rise on higher oil prices, resources sector supported by higher shipments guidance from Fortescue (iron ore miner)
- US Treasury Sec: White House looking into possibility of storing another several hundred million barrels of oil
- RBA elected to not purchase gov’t bonds on today’s session
- Markets in Hong Kong and South Korea are closed today for holidays
- Various markets are closed on Friday, May 1st (China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand)
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.6%
- ANZ.AU Reports H1 (A$) Cash profit 1.41B v 3.56B y/y; Rev 8.9B v 9.8B y/y
- FMG.AU Reports Q3 Iron Ore shipments 42.3Mt v 38.3Mt y/y; Ore mined 41.9Mt v 48.0Mt y/y; raises FY20 shipment guidance, cuts Capex
- WOW.AU Reports Q3 (A$) Rev 16.5B v 14.9B y/y
- NCM.AU Reports Q3 gold production 518.8K oz v 623.1K oz y/y at AISC $827/oz v $738/oz y/y; Copper production 35.0Kt v 25.3Kt y/y
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): Excess cash at exchange settlement (ES) accounts at A$66.4B v A$67.7B prior
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) adds A$1.61B to banking system through repos v A$669M prior
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$130M in LGFA at QE auction v NZ$130M sought v NZ$130M prior
- (AU) RBA refrained from schedule bond buying operation (1st time)
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q1 EXPORTS PRICE INDEX Q/Q: 2.7% V 3.0%E; IMPORTS PRICE INDEX Q/Q: -1.0% V +1.0%E
- (AU) Australia Mar Private Sector Credit M/M: 1.1% v 0.3%e; Y/Y: 3.6% v 2.8%e
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +1.7%
- (JP) JAPAN MAR PRELIM INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION M/M: -3.7% V -5.0%E; Y/Y: -5.2% V -7.4%E; Govt cuts assessment of industrial production
- 9202.JP CEO: To postpone reception of aircraft to cut costs, employee furloughs will grant ¥1.0B/month of costs reduction benefits group wide – Nikkei
- (JP) Japan PM Abe: Japan health care system remains in a severe state; reiterates to consult experts on whether or not to extend emergency measures
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ): ETF purchases to be 25% of TOPIX, Nikkei 225 and JPX-Nikkei 400; remaining 75% to be Topix linked, effective May 1st
- Softbank, 9984.JP Cuts FY19/20 Net -¥900B (prior -¥750B); Affirms Op -¥1.4B and Rev ¥6.15T, due to increased forecast in non-operating loss in Vision Fund’s investment in WeWork
- (JP) Japan Mar Dept. Store, Supermarket Sales Y/Y: -10.1% v -8.2%e
- (JP) JAPAN MAR RETAIL SALES M/M: -4.5% V -4.5%E; Y/Y: -4.6% V -4.7%E
- (JP) Japan Parliament expected to pass extra budget on Apr 30th – Japan press
Korea
- Kospi closed for holiday
- (KR) South Korea National Assembly passes KRW12.2T extra budget to fund emergency handouts for households to cope with the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak
- (KR) South Korea public company debt increases by record amount of KRW21.4T, +4.1% y/y (most since 2005) – Yonhap
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng closed for holiday; Shanghai Composite opened +0.4%
- (CN) CHINA APR MANUFACTURING PMI (GOVT OFFICIAL): 50.8 V 51.0E
- (CN) China Apr Beige Book: 91% of China companies have resumed business by late April, 4% are operating at full capacity
- (CN) CHINA APR CAIXIN PMI MANUFACTURING: 49.4 V 50.5E; Exports orders declined at fastest pace since 2008 global financial crisis
- (CN) China PBOC reportedly to offer long term funding via RRR, MLF in May – China Press
- (CN) China National Health Commission Coronavirus Update for April 29th: 4 additional cases ( 4 imported v 21 prior) v 22 prior; Additional deaths: 0 v 0 prior; Additional Asymptomatic cases: 33 v 26 prior
- (CN) China Vice Foreign Minister: China opposes international coronavirus investigation that presumes China’s guilt
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.0571 v 7.0704 prior
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips Reserve Repo Operations for the 21st consecutive session; Net CNY0B v CNY0B prior
North America
- (US) Nine US companies including Chevron and Exxon to rent space to store up to 23M barrels of crude in strategic petroleum reserve – US official
- (US) President Trump: China will do anything they can to have him lose 2020 presidential election; Trade deal with China has been upset very badly by coronavirus, can do a lot with retaliation against China for its handling of virus
- TSLA Reports Q1 +$1.24 v -$0.22e, Rev $5.99B v $5.37Be
- FB Reports Q1 $1.71 v $1.72e, Rev $17.7B v $17.3Be
- MSFT Reports Q3 $1.40 v $1.27e, Rev $35.0B v $33.9Be; COVID-19 had minimal net impact on Rev
Europe
- (UK) Mar Auto Manufacturing 78.8K units, -38.0% y/y – SMMT
- IEA Official Birol: OPEC+ needs to consider additional production cuts; global storage could be full by mid-June
- (UK) PM Johnson expected to tell country no changes in lockdown – UK press
Levels as of 1:15ET
- Hang Seng closed; Shanghai Composite +1.2%; Kospi closed; Nikkei225 +2.6%; ASX 200 +2.5%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.6%; Nasdaq100 +1.0%, Dax +0.4%; FTSE100 +1.0%
- EUR 1.0879-1.0852; JPY 106.88-106.50; AUD 0.6565-0.6531; NZD 0.6149-0.6117
- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.8% at $1,726/oz; Crude Oil +14.5% at $17.19/brl; Copper +0.2% at $2.39/lb
