General Trend
- Japanese equities trade broadly higher; Topix Securities, Iron/Steel, Real Estate and Transport-related indices are among the outperformers
- Japanese companies expected to report earnings include NTT Data and ORIX.
- Consumer-related firms rise in Australia; Financials trade mixed amid earnings from Westpac, Tuesday’s RBA decision is in focus; Energy sector tracks the decline in oil prices; CSR rises after earnings report and special dividend announcement
- Hang Seng Finance index rises on China bank earnings; Gaming firms trade generally higher after better than expected Oct Casino revenue data, MGM China lags
- IT firms lag in early Shanghai trading
- CICC rises over 30% in Shanghai debut
- AUD/USD holds above $0.70 ahead of Tuesday’s (Nov 3rd) RBA decision
- WTI Crude traded at the lowest level since May (below $34/bbl); UK announced its 2nd national lockdown, Saudi Aramco said to consider price cuts in Asia
- Bank of Korea Gov Lee announces BOK meeting Nov 4th to review impact of US elections
- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include Clorox, Estee Lauder, FirstEnergy, Henry Schein, Lumber Liquidators, Marathon Petroleum, Waste Management
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.1%
- (AU) AUSTRALIA SEPT BUILDING APPROVALS M/M: 15.4% V 1.5%E
- WBC.AU Reports FY20 (A$) Cash Net 2.6B v 2.6Be v 6.8B y/y; adj Cash net 5.2B v 7.9B y/y
- (NZ) New Zealand PM Ardern to announce her new Cabinet and new Deputy PM today
- (AU) Australia Oct Final PMI Manufacturing: 54.2 v 54.2 prior (5th consecutive month of expansion)
- CSR.AU Reports H1 (A$) adj Net 66.4M v 71.6M y/y, EBIT 86.6M v 113.1M y/y, Rev 1.08B v 1.15B y/y; declares special divided of A$0.04/shr
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): Conducting study on wholesale digital currency; partners with Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Perpetual and ConsenSys Software on Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency Research Project
- (AU) Australia sells A$1.5B v A$1.5B indicated in 0.25% Nov 2025 bonds, avg yield 0.2745% v 0.3143% prior, bid to cover 6.3x v 6.2x prior
- (NZ) New Zealand PM Ardern Appoints Fin Min Grant Robinson as Deputy PM; To hold both positions and take on infrastructure role
- (AU) China Customs is delaying imports of certain lobster from Australia, Chinese officials have increased inspections related to Australian lobster – Australia press
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.6%
- 7201.JP Nissan to sell only electric or hybrid cars in China by 2025 – Nikkei
- (JP) Japan Oct Final PMI Manufacturing: 48.7 v 48.0 prelim (Confirms 18 months of contraction, highest reading since January)
- (JP) Japan Foreign Min Motegi: Confirms in talks with China on long term stays and restarting business travel – speaking in parliament
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.4%
- (KR) South Korea Oct PMI Manufacturing: 51.2 v 49.8 prior (1st expansion 10 months, highest reading since Sept 2018)
- (KR) South Korea PM Chung announced a new social distancing scheme based on five levels instead of three, new plan aims to improve anti-virus measures in a tailored fashion amid criticism the current system is too broad – Korean press
- (KR) South Korea COVID cases above 100 for 5th consecutive day Nov 1st due to cluster infections and fell back to double digits today
- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov Lee: Will closely monitor markets ahead of US elections; To hold meeting on Nov 4th to review impact of US elections
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.7%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.1%
- (CN) CHINA OCT MANUFACTURING PMI (GOVT OFFICIAL): 51.4 V 51.3E
- (CN) CHINA OCT CAIXIN PMI MANUFACTURING: 53.6 V 52.8E (6th consecutive month of expansion, highest since Jan 2011)
- (CN) PBoC Gov Yi Gang: Contactless Banking will raise challenges for Central Banks; Digital Yuan pilot program has been smooth
- (HK) Macau Oct Casino Rev (MOP): 7.3B v 2.2B prior; Y/Y: -72.5% v -90.0% prior
- (CN) China President Xi: China must set up a self reliant and safe industry chain – China press citing speech from late April
- HUAWEI.CN Planning to make a dedicated chip plant in Shanghai that would not use US technology, which would allow them to get around US sanctions – FT
- (CN) China Leading infectious disease specialist Zhong Nanshan: Even though China continued to battle sporadic outbreaks, existing controls meant there was unlikely to be a resurgence of widespread transmission “in the tens of thousands” – SCMP
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY50B in 7-day reverse repos v Injects CNY100B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net inject CNY0B v Net inject CNY30B prior
- (CN) China Premier Li calls for high standards in formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development to secure a good start in fully building a modern socialist country, more work should be done to make targeted major polices and ensure the implementation of key tasks underscored in the five-year plan
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.7050 v 6.7232 prior
- (HK) Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Official Yu: Hong Kong Financial Market and dollar peg are operating effectively; Banking sector is resilient
North America
- BYTEDANCE.IPO US expected to “vigorously defend” Ticktok executive order – US financial press
- (US) President Trump planning to declare a victory ‘even if Electoral College outcome still hinges on large numbers of uncounted votes’ – Axios citing 3 sources with connections to Trump
Europe
- (UK) PM Johnson announced second national lockdown starting lasting to Dec 2nd to prevent a “medical and moral disaster” for the National Health Service
- AZN.UK UK health regulator has started an accelerated review (where clinical data can be seen in real time) of potential coronavirus vaccine
Levels as of 1:15ET
- Hang Seng +0.8%; Shanghai Composite -0.3%; Kospi +1.2%; Nikkei225 +1.4%; ASX 200 +0.4%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.2%; Nasdaq100 +0.2%, Dax -0.4%; FTSE100 -0.6%
- EUR 1.1651-1.1630; JPY 104.77-104.54; AUD 0.7026-0.6996; NZD 0.6612-0.6591
- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.1% at $1,881/oz; Crude Oil -3.5% at $34.53/brl; Copper -0.4% at $3.04/lb
