General Trend:
- Kospi lags in Asia amid some talk of selling in the futures market, uncertainty remains regarding relations with North Korea
- China PBOC is expected to leave its loan prime rates unchanged on Monday (June 22nd)
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.6%
- (AU) Australia May Preliminary Retail Sales M/M: +16.3% v -17.7% prior (Largest seasonally adjusted rise ever in 38-year publishing history)
- (AU) Australia PM Morrison: Australia being targeted by Sophisticated State Level cyber attacks; All levels of govt being targeted
- (AU) Australia Fair Works Commission (FWC) raises minimum wage by 1.75% v 3% prior (May 2019); the new minimum wage will be A$19.84/hour
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board member Harper has urged the government to establish a way which would allow it to taper its stimulus programs; would not be helpful if AUD/USD rose back above 70 cents
- (AU) Australia Treasurer: Has directed the ACCC to monitor domestic air passenger services for 3-years; Will monitor airlines in regards to costs and profits
- (AU) Australia sells A$2.0B v A$2.0B indicated in 3.25% April 2025 bonds, avg yield 0.3707%, bid to cover 5.1x
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) buys NZ$305M v NZ$305M prior in government bonds as part of QE v NZ$305M sought
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ): Will seek to purchase NZ$940M v NZ$1.08B prior in government bonds next week
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.4%, Shanghai Composite flat
- (US) Pres Trump: China may have intentionally spread coronavirus to damage other economies – WSJ interview
- (CN) Beijing City’s (China) 2 airports have canceled over 800 flights for Friday [amid recent reports of new coronavirus cases] – Chinese press
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects combined CNY180B in 7-day and 14-day repos v Injects combined CNY120B in 7-day and 14-day reverse repos; Net inject CNY80B v injection CNY40B prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 7.0913 v 7.0903 prior
- (CN) China Finance Ministry (MOF) sells 30-year bonds: yield 3.6173% v 3.59%e (3.5111% prior); bid to cover 2.3x v 2.8x prior
- (CN) China Virus Expert Wu Zunyou: Beijing City can loosen its virus control measures after there are no new cases for 2 weeks, no need to test all Beijing residents for coronavirus; Coronavirus vaccine likely available by the end of 2020 [in line with prior comments out of China]
- (CA) China said to prosecute Canada’s MIchael Kovrig (former diplomat) for suspected spying
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.7%
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Reiterates Economy may have improved last month, economy is showing signs of less deterioration
- (JP) Japan Cabinet raises economic assessment for June (as expected, 1st upward revision since Jan 2018): Says ‘economy has almost stopped deteriorating’, but reiterates it is still in an extremely severe situation
- (JP) JAPAN MAY NATIONAL CPI Y/Y: +0.1% V 0.2%E; CPI EX-FRESH FOOD (CORE) Y/Y: -0.2% V -0.1%E
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.9%
- (KR) South Korea reported it may urge US to ease sanctions on North Korea – Japan Press
- (KR) South Korea President Moon: Accepts resignation of Unification Minister
- (KR) South Korea Finance Min: Reiterates will respond to any financial market volatilities if needed amid escalating tension with North Korea
North America
- (US) Fed Total Balance Sheet Size as of June 17th: $7.17T, -$28.0B w/w [Repurchase agreements: $120.4B, -$63.9B w/w; Central Bank liquidity swaps: $352.6B, -$93.7B w/w]
- (US) SEMI May North America-based Manufacturers of Semi Equipment Billings: $2.35B, +2.9% m/m and +13.1% y/y
- (US) Moody’s revises outlook on San Francisco, CA bonds to Negative from Stable; Affirms GO bond at AAA
Europe
- (UK) UK June Prelim GfK Consumer Confidence: -30 v -36 prior
Levels as of 1:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, +0.4%, ASX 200 +0.1%, Hang Seng -0.1%; Shanghai Composite +0.6%; Kospi -0.4%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.3%, Dax flat
- EUR 1.1213-1.1199; JPY 107.05-106.86 ; AUD 0.6867-0.6840 ;NZD 0.6452-0.6406
- Gold +0.2% at $1,734/oz; Crude Oil +0.9% at $39.20/brl; Copper +0.4% at $2.606/lb
