General Trend
- Financial and Property shares decline in China and HK; HSBC drops over 3% [reported Q3 earnings on Oct 27th]; Chinese consumer names track gains in Kweichow Moutai; Alibaba trades at fresh record high amid focus on the Ant IPO
- WH Group (large pork producer) rises over 9% after reporting financial results
- HK/China cos. that might report earnings later today include ZTE and Sinopec
- Topix Insurance, Iron/Steel, Real Estate, Banks and Securities indices decline; Information/Communication index rises after gain on Nasdaq ; Fujitsu declines after Q2 results
- Japanese Telecoms comment on mobile phone plans amid pressure from the gov’t to lower prices
- Japanese companies expected to report earnings include Nomura, Komatsu, Sony, TEPCO and Hitachi
- Australian Consumer firms rise after sales update from Coles Group; Underperformers include Energy and Financial firms
- Microsoft declined by over 1% in afterhours trading following earnings/guidance
- Standard Chartered is expected to report earnings on Thursday (Oct 29th)
- Little initial impact seen after Australia’s Q3 CPI data amid the focus on the RBA’s Nov policy meeting (Nov 3rd)
- RBA’s Harper commented on QE
- ASX again delays the expected ‘go live’ date for its CHESS (clearing platform) replacement
- Xinjiang region (in China) reported over 20 new coronavirus cases
- Philippine miners continue to announce temporary COVID-19 related disruptions
- Bank of Japan (BOJ) is holding its monetary policy meeting Oct 28-29th (Wed-Thurs), the decision and forecasts are due on Oct 29th [there has been speculation that the BOJ might trim its FY20/21 forecasts]
- NAB Australia Q3 business confidence data due on Thursday (Oct 29th) [the data was delayed by 1 week]
- China’s 5th plenary session is being held Oct 26-29th
- Companies expected to report earnings during the NY morning include Boeing, Bunge, Blackstone Group, CME, Foot Locker, GE, Generac, MasterCard, Ryder System, Silicon Labs, Tupperware, UPS
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.1%
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Board member Harper: RBA has scope to ramp up bond buying indefinitely; RBA not lacking in firepower
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q3 CPI Q/Q: 1.6% V 1.5%E; Y/Y: 0.7% V 0.6%E
- (NZ) New Zealand Treasury issues NZ$4.0B in May 0.25% 2028 bonds via syndication; yield to maturity 0.305%
- (AU) Australia PM Morrison: Support for the unemployed is still needed
- (NZ) New Zealand 4-month through Sept milk collections 394.7M kg milk solids,+2.9% y/y – Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.5%
- 7181.JP Plans to increase holdings of alternative assets (such as private equity) in the Oct-March period; FX-hedged foreign bond holdings likely to remain flat during Oct-March
- (JP) Former Japan Energy Minister says Japan might need new nuclear reactor – Japanese media
- (JP) Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Kato: Watching ongoing developments in Gasoline policy; Expects further competition on mobile phone carriers in Japan
- (JP) Japan PM Suga: Consumption tax is a necessary tool for Social Security
Korea
- Kospi opened -0.3%
- (KR) South Korea President Moon: South Korea has contained the coronavirus despite the resurgence risks, will continue economic rebound trend in Q4 after Q3 growth
- (KR) South Korea Oct Consumer Confidence: 91.6 v 79.4 prior (nearly 12-year high)
- 051910.KR State pension fund to vote against spin off plan for battery business
- (KR) South Korea Fin Min Hong: To closely monitor rental deposit ‘Jeonse’ market; WIll monitor property market closely
- 000270.KR Union workers to vote on potential strike next week over wages and performance based bonus
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.1%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.1%
- (CN) China said to have asked banks to suspend counter-cyclical factor (CCF) related to yuan fixing – financial press
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY120B in 7-day reverse repos v Injects CNY100B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net inject CNY40B v Net inject CNY30B prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.7195 v 6.6989 prior
- (CN) China PBOC to conduct CNY5.0B in 3-month central bank bill swap (CBS) operation on today’s session v CNY5.0B prior
Other
- 6502.JP United Microelectronics said to acquire 8 inch fabrication plant in a NT$10B deal – Taiwan press
- (SG) Singapore Central Bank (MAS): Affirms 2020 GDP -7% to -5%; headline and core CPI -0.5% to 0.0%
North America
- (CN) US DOJ to hold a briefing on China related security matters on Oct 28th (Wednesday)
- (CA) US President Trump signs proclamation to remove tariffs on raw aluminum imports from Canada – US press
Europe
- (FR) Follow Up: France expected to implement a 1-month lock down starting Thursday night to slow spread of COVID, measures would be softer than those implemented in March; President Macron to make an address on TV Wednesday
- (DE) Germany Chancellor Merkel to talk about new measures to slow COVID spread Wednesday – press
Levels as of 1:20 ET
- Nikkei 225, -0.4%, ASX 200 +0.1% , Hang Seng -0.4%; Shanghai Composite +0.3% ; Kospi +0.3%
- Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.6%; Nasdaq100 -0.4%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 -0.7%
- EUR 1.1799-1.1769 ; JPY 104.55-104.20 ; AUD 0.7148-0.7112 ;NZD 0.6715-0.6692
- Gold -0.1% at $1,909/oz; Crude Oil -2.2% at $38.70/brl; Copper flat at $3.0882/lb
