General Trend:
- Japanese equities rise after the recent move higher in USD/JPY; Gainers include automakers, transport firms and financial cos.
- Japanese cos. expected to report earnings include Docomo, Suzuki Motor, Eisai and Japan Airlines.
- Hang Seng lagged as HSBC declined ahead of results; Casino names drop amid release of July gaming revenues
- Shanghai Composite rises over 1% during morning session, gainers include IT companies
- Financials decline in Australia, gainers include Consumer Staples and Resource cos.
- RBA due to hold monetary policy decision on Tuesday (Aug 4th)
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX200 opened flat
- (AU) Victoria (Australia) has declared state of ‘disaster’ related to coronavirus, announced nightly curfew for Melbourne; further restrictions for Victoria businesses may be announced on Monday (Aug 3rd) – financial press
- (AU) Australia July Final CBA PMI Manufacturing: 54.0 v 53.4 prelim (Confirms 2nd month of expansion)
- (AU) Australia July AiG Performance of Manufacturing Index: 53.5 v 51.5 prior
- (AU) Australia July Melbourne Institute Inflation M/M: 0.9% v 0.6% prior; Y/Y 1.3% v 0.7% prior
- (AU) Australia Jul Corelogic House Price Index M/M: -0.8% v -0.8% prior
- (AU) Australia July ANZ Job Advertisements M/M: 16.7% v 41.4% prior
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.1%, Shanghai Composite opened +0.7%
- (CN) CHINA JULY CAIXIN PMI MANUFACTURING: 52.8 V 51.1E (3rd straight expansion, Highest PMI since Jan 2011)
- (HK) Macau Jul Gaming Rev (MOP): 1.3B v 716M prior; Y/Y: -94.5% (vs -95.0%e) v -97.0% prior
- TikTok has been in the headlines; President Trump to allow Bytedance 45 days to negotiate sale of TikTok; Microsoft says it will continue talks in acquiring TikTok US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia assets
- (HK) On Sunday (Aug 2nd), team of China health officials arrived in Hong Kong to conduct ‘widespread’ COVID-19 testing in HK – financial press
- (CN) China PBoC said to extend grace period for wealth management rules until end of 2021 (from July 31st)
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.9980 v 6.9848 prior
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips reverse repos v Injects CNY20B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY100B v Net injection CNY20B prior
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +1.1%
- Softbank [9984.JP]: Softbank reportedly plans to keep a stake in Arm Holdings even if it sells part of it to Nvidia – press
- (JP) JAPAN Q1 FINAL GDP Q/Q: -0.6% V -0.7%E; GDP ANNUALIZED Q/Q: -2.2% V -2.8%E; Business Spending Q/Q: 1.7% v 1.0%e
- (JP) Japan July Final PMI Manufacturing: 45.2 v 42.6 prelim (Confirms 15 months of contraction)
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) announces Bond purchases for month of Aug: To maintain current pace of purchases in all maturities (from July 31st)
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.1%
- (KR) South Korea July PMI Manufacturing: 46.9 v 43.4 prior (7th straight contraction)
- (KR) South Korea Jul Trade Balance: $4.3B; Exports Y/Y: -7.0% (5th straight decline, slowest decline in 4 months); chip or semiconductor exports +5.6% y/y
Other Asia
- (ID) Indonesia July PMI Manufacturing: 46.9 v 39.1 prior (4th straight contraction)
- (MY) Malaysia July Manufacturing PMI: 50.0 v 51.0 prior
- (PH) Philippines July PMI Manufacturing: 48.4 v 49.7 prior (5th straight contraction)
- (TH) Thailand July PMI Manufacturing: 45.9 v 43.5 prior (7th straight month of contraction)
- (TW) Taiwan July Manufacturing PMI: 50.6 v 46.2 prior (1st expansion after 3 contractions)
- (VN) Vietnam July PMI Manufacturing: 47.6 v 51.1 prior
North America
- (US) FITCH REVISES UNITED STATES SOVEREIGN RATING OUTLOOK TO NEGATIVE FROM STABLE; AFFIRMS AAA RATING (from July 31st)
- (US) Fed said to consider effectively ending strategy of pre-emptive rate hikes to slow inflation, notes prior comments from Fed officials – US financial press
- (US) Fed’s Kashkari (dove, FOMC voter) said to have noted US economy could benefit if the country were to ‘lock down really hard’ for 4-6 weeks, noted economy would only be allowed to have robust recovery if the coronavirus were brought under control – financial press
- Marathon Petroleum [MPC]: 7-Eleven confirms acquisition of Speedway unit for $21.0B in cash
- Varian [VAR]: To combine w Siemens Healthineers AG for $177.50/shr cash in $16.4B deal (42% premium)
Europe
- NeuroRx, Inc. and Relief Therapeutics Holdings AG announce RLF-100 (aviptadil) clinical trial showed rapid recovery from respiratory failure and inhibition of coronavirus replication in human lung cells
Levels as of 1:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, +2.2%, ASX 200 -0.2% , Hang Seng -1%; Shanghai Composite +1.4% ; Kospi flat
- Equity S&P500 Futures: flat; Nasdaq100 +0.4%, Dax +0.4%; FTSE100 +0.2%
- EUR 1.1796-1.1740 ; JPY 106.43-105.71 ; AUD 0.7150-0.7117 ;NZD 0.6640-0.6614
- Gold +0.4% at $1,981/oz; Crude Oil -0.6% at $40.02/brl; Copper -0.3% at $2.8632/lb
