General Trend
- Financial index again weighs on the Hang Seng amid reports related to frozen bank accounts, HSBC extends decline; CNOOC extends losing streak in the face of regulatory uncertainty related to the US; JD Health rises over 50% in debut
- Financial, Property and IT firms are among the losers in Shanghai
- Topix Air Transportation and Pharma indices are among the decliners in Japan; Information/Communication and Marine Transportation indices rise
- Chipmakers decline in South Korea
- Consumer Staples firms rise in Australia, Energy and Resource sectors lag
- Japan’s 3rd extra budget is in line with expectations
- RBNZ sees no demand at first Funding for Lending (FLP) operation [Reminder: RBNZ Gov Orr said: Too early to tell if possibility of negative rates decreased following FLP and LVR review; Confident FLP benefits will be passed through; FLP impact on lending rates will be “significant” (comments from Nov 11th)]
- South Korea’s Finance Ministry commented on excess liquidity
- China regulator commented on fintech and too big to fail
- Taiwan Semi might release Nov sales later today
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.1%
- (AU) Australia ANZ Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence Index: 109.3 v 107.5 prior (highest level this year)
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q3 HOUSE PRICE INDEX Q/Q: +0.8% V -1.7%E; Y/Y: 4.5% V 2.2%E
- (AU) Australia Nov NAB Business Confidence: 12 v 5 prior; Business Conditions: 9 v 1 prior
- WPL.AU CEO Coleman to retire in H2 2021 after more than 10 years as CEO, conducting internal and external search for replacement
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ): Did not lend anything to banks in first Funding for Lending (FLP) operation
- (AU) Australia ACCC: ANZ, Citi and Deutsche Bank to stand trial in criminal cartel case
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.6%
- (JP) JAPAN Q3 FINAL GDP Q/Q: 5.3% V 5.0%E; GDP ANNUALIZED Q/Q: 22.9% V 21.4%E
- (JP) Japan Oct Household Spending M/M: 2.1% v 3.8% prior; Y/Y: 1.9% v 2.8%e
- (JP) Japan Oct Labor Cash Earnings Y/Y: -0.8% v -0.7%e; Real Cash Earnings Y/Y: -0.2% v -0.4%e (8th consecutive decline)
- (JP) Japan PM Suga: Have been able to put together ¥73.6T economic package. including ¥40T in fiscal measures (in line with expectations)
- (JP) Japan Jr Coalition Partner Komeito’s leader Yamaguchi: Economic package to be reflected in 3rd extra budget, will provide payments to support jobs and livelihoods
- (JP) Japan Financial Services Agency to require companies listed on TSE first section to have at least one-third of its board made up of external directors – Japan press
- (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥2.5T v ¥2.5T indicated in 0.10% 5-year JGBs; avg yield -0.118% v -0.105% prior, bid to cover 3.96x v 3.5x prior
- (JP) Japan Nov Eco Watchers Current Survey: 45.6 v 52.8e; Outlook Survey: 36.5 (matches low from May 2020) v 47.9e
Korea
- Kospi opened 0.0%
- 005930.KR According to TrendForce, Samsung is likely to lose foundry market share in Q4; seen at 16.4% v 17.4% in Q3 – Yonhap
- (KR) South Korea Vice Fin Min: Will make sure excess liquidity in market does not ‘heat up’ as asset prices rise; need to be wary of rising property prices when excess market liquidity, vaccine hopes boost investor sentiment
- (KR) South Korea Finance Ministry: To allocate 72.4% of KRW459.9T 2021 budget spending to H1 v 71.4% in 2020
- (KR) South Korea Health Min: Has signed agreements to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for 44M people (~88% of population); has signed agreements with 4 companies (AstraZeneca, Pfizer, J&J, Moderna); Not considering buying vaccines from Russia
- (KR) South Korea President Moon: To consider joining Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – Yonhap
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened -0.2%; Shanghai Composite opened 0.0%
- (CN) China has reportedly commenced purchases of US soybeans from next year’s crop – press
- (CN) CHINA NOV FOREIGN RESERVES: $3.179T V $3.150TE (1st rise in 3 months; highest level since Apr 2016)
- (CN) US places sanctions on 14 China officials (as speculated) – FT
- (CN) US China Business Council Chief: Hopeful US and china will start Phase 2 trade talks under Biden; China Foreign Min Wang Yi underscored commitment to Phase 1 trade deal
- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY60B in 7-day reverse repos v Injects CNY50B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net injection CNY40B v Net drain CNY100B prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.5320 v 6.5362 prior
- 5.HK Hong Kong Church Group account frozen with HSBC, saying it is due to “political retaliation” – financial press
- (HK) Hong Kong Chief Exec Lam: To adopt stronger social distancing measures, to limit the number of people on streets, confirms dining in at restaurants starting at 18:00 today (returns to tightest restrictions)
- (CN) Former China Fin Min lou JiWei: Gap between fiscal Rev and expenditure may widen further in the future
North America
- (US) White House advisor Kudlow: Remain engaged on China trade talks, we are not talking about any new tariffs on China
- CASY Reports Q2 $3.00 v $2.66e, Rev $2.22B v $2.20Be; Raises Quarterly dividend 6.3% to $0.34 from $0.32 (indicated yield 0.72%)
- (US) US Senate Majority Leader McConnell: ‘Optimistic’ on the bipartisan relief talks
Europe
- (UK) Parliament back clauses allowing breach of EU agreement, clauses to be removed if Ireland border deal is reached (as expected)
- (UK) PM Johnson and EU’s Von der Leyen apparently spoke for over an hour before taking a mutual pause on talks – press
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng -0.4%; Shanghai Composite +0.1%; Kospi -1.1%; Nikkei225 -0.1%; ASX 200 +0.2%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.2%; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax +0.3%; FTSE100 -0.2%
- EUR 1.2121-1.2105; JPY 104.09-103.95; AUD 0.7430-0.7410; NZD 0.7046-0.7027
- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.5% at $1,874/oz; Crude Oil +0.6% at $45.50/brl; Copper -0.4% at $3.49/lb