Nasdaq FUTs Drop After Earnings From Apple And AMZN, Commodity Currencies Decline

General Trend:

• Trump: I have seen evidence that the coronavirus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China; could use tariffs to respond to China
• White House econ adviser Kudlow denies reports about US canceling debt obligations to China (CNBC)
• Declining sectors in Japan include Automakers, Insurance and Iron/Steel
• Aussie Resources and Energy indices decline by over 5%; Financials drop by over 4% amid NAB’s ex-dividend
• Aussie jobless claims add to concerns about labor market
• April Final manufacturing PMI data from Australia and Japan showed continuing contractions
• Australia largest pension fund said it can meet the billions of dollars in redemption requests – FT
• South Korea confirmed first trade deficit since 2012, April exports had largest decline since 2009
• Korean Won (KRW) drops amid data, holiday, global equity declines and continued uncertainty about the North Korean leader
• Canadian dollar (CAD) tracks the general weakness in the commodity currencies, a new Bank of Canada Gov may be announced later today (press)
• Japan markets to be closed for Golden Week holiday on May 4-6th

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

• ASX 200 opened -1.9%
• (AU) Australia PM Morrison: National cabinet has agreed to bring forward consideration of relaxing social distancing restrictions to May 8th (Friday), 11 out of 15 conditions have been met to lift restrictions; Unemployment may surpass 10%
• (AU) Australia Dept of Social Security data showed the number of Australians receiving unemployment benefits rose to 1.3M as of April 24th vs 800K as of the end of 2019 – press
• (AU) Australia largest pension fund said it can meet the billions of dollars in redemption requests, the fund expects A$4.0B in emergency cash withdrawals – FT
• (AU) Australia Fin Min: China people would likely also want virus inquiry probe
• (AU) Australia Apr AiG Performance of Manufacturing Index: 35.8 v 53.7 prior (record decline)
• (AU) Australia Apr Final CBA PMI Manufacturing: 44.1 v 45.6 prelim (record low, second straight contraction)
• *(AU) AUSTRALIA Q1 PRODUCER PRICE INDEX (PPI) Q/Q: 0.2% V 0.3% PRIOR; Y/Y: 1.3% V 1.4% PRIOR
• (AU) Australia Apr CoreLogic House Prices m/m: 0.2% v 0.7% prior
• (AU) Australia sells A$3B v A$3.0B indicated in 0.25% Nov 2024 bonds, avg yield 0.3866%, bid to cover 4.9x
• (NZ) New Zealand Apr ANZ Consumer Confidence: 84.8 v 106.3 prior; M/M: -20.2% v -12.9% prior
• (NZ)Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$450M v NZ$450M prior in government bonds as part of QE operation
• (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Will seek to purchase NZ$1.35B in govt bonds next week under QE program v NZ$1.35B w/w
• (NZ) New Zealand reported to provide interest free loans to small companies – press

China/Hong Kong

• Shanghai Composite closed for holiday, Hang Seng closed for holiday
• (US) Trump Administration considering order to block Government investment funds from investing into China companies that are considered a national security risk – US financial press
• (HK) Macau Apr Gaming Rev (MOP) 0.8B, Y/Y: -96.8% v -79.7% prior
• (CN) China National Health Commission Coronavirus Update for April 30th: 12 additional cases ( 6 imported v 4 prior) v 4 prior; Additional deaths: 0 v 0 prior
• (CN) China is receiving debt relief requests for its Belt and Road initiative loans – FT

Japan

• Nikkei 225 opened -1%
• (JP) Japan Apr Tokyo CPI Y/Y: +0.2% v 0.2%e; CPI (ex-fresh Food) Y/Y: -0.1% v 0.1%e (first negative reading since 2017)
• (JP) Japan Apr Final PMI Manufacturing: 41.9 v 43.7 prelim
• (JP) Japan Apr Vehicle Sales Y/Y: -25.5% v -10.2% prior
• (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) minutes for March 16th intra-policy meeting (2 meetings ago): Consumer and household sentiment could sour if situation deteriorates rapidly
• (JP) Follow Up: Japan expected to extend coronavirus emergency by as soon as Monday – Japan media [in line with recent speculation]
• (JP) Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will offer up to ¥1T in dollar based low interest loans to support overseas operations of Japan companies hurt by the coronavirus – Nikkei

Korea

• Kospi closed for holiday
• *(KR) SOUTH KOREA APR TRADE BALANCE ($): -0.95B v +4.6B PRIOR (first deficit since 2012)
• (KR) North Korea Leader Kim reported to be sick according to Taiwan intel chief – Korea Press [Update]
• (KR) South Korea Retail investors April purchases of foreign stocks reaches $2.0B, a record high – Yonhap

Other Asia

• (MY) Malaysia PM Muhyiddin: Beginning May 4th, most economic sectors will be allowed to reopen subject to conditions; Malaysia to lose MYR30B if lockdown extended 1 month, has lost MYR63B so far
• (SG) Singapore extends stay at home order for construction workers by two weeks until May 18th

North America

• (US) President Trump: US has no plans to take equity stakes in energy companies – Energy Dept spokesperson
• Amazon [AMZN]: Reports Q1 $5.01 v $6.36e, Rev $75.5B v $74.4Be; Guides Q2 op income -$1.5B to +$1.5B v $3.08B y/y
• Apple [AAPL]: Reports Q2 $2.55 v $2.09e, Rev $58.3B v $53.7Be; Boosts buyback by $50B (3.9% of market cap); Increases dividend 6% to $0.82/shr; Did not provide Q3 outlook
• Boeing [BA]: Does not plan to seek additional funding through capital markets or the US government options at this time; Pleased with results of bond offering, Offering is one of several steps to maintain liquidity
• Moderna [MRNA]: Moderna and Lonza announce 10-year global strategic collaboration to manufacture Moderna’s vaccine (mRNA-1273) against novel coronavirus
• (US) Federal Reserve expands access to its Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility (PPPLF) to additional lenders, and expands the collateral that can be pledged
• (US) Fed Total Balance Sheet size as of April 30th: $6.70T (record) v $6.62T prior
• (US) Nevada State Governor: Casinos will not reopen in Phase 1 of coronavirus reopening; Coronavirus peak was Apr 24th
• (CA) Canada PM Trudeau reported to announce a new Bank of Canada (BOC) Chief on May 1st – Press
• (US) White House: President Trump to visit Camp David on May 1st

Europe

• (IE) Ireland Apr PMI Manufacturing: 36.0 v 45.1 prior
• (FR) France April Car Registrations: 21K units, -88.8% y/y (vs -72.3% prior)
• (KZ) Kazakhstan Energy Min: Kazakhstan to reduce its oil production as part of the OPEC+ deal

Levels as of 1:20 ET

• Nikkei 225, -2.8%, ASX 200 -3.7%, Hang Seng closed; Shanghai Composite closed; Kospi closed
• Equity Futures: S&P500 -1.4%; Nasdaq100 -1.9%, Dax closed; FTSE100 -1.5%
• EUR 1.0955-1.0934 ; JPY 107.40-107.02 ; AUD 0.6512-0.6455 ;NZD 0.6128-0.6085
• Gold -0.4% at $1,688/oz; Crude Oil +2.4% at $19.30/brl; Copper -2.1% at $2.295/lb