USD Rises After Prior Loss

Dec 18 20, 06:01 GMT

General Trend

Australian equities lagged; decliners included Energy, Financial and Consumer firms; Resources index outperformed
Hang Seng Financials, TECH and Property indices decline
Financials declined in Shanghai during the morning session, Industrials rose
Decliners in Japan include Real Estate firms; Transport and Information/Communication indices are among the gainers
BOJ Gov Kuroda to hold post rate decision press conference at 01:30 ET (06:30 GMT)

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened +0.1%
(AU) States in Australia have imposed border curbs amid cluster in Sydney – financial press
(AU) Victoria to issue permit system for entering the state from New South Wales
(AU) Australia PM Morrison: Announces reshuffle of ministry, names Dan Tehan as the new Trade Minister
(AU) Australia AOFM (debt agency) cut 2020/21 bond issuance program by A$10B to A$230B
(NZ) New Zealand Nov Trade Balance (NZD): 0.3B v 0.3Be
(NZ) New Zealand Dec Consumer Confidence: 112.0 v 106.9 prior
(NZ) New Zealand ANZ Dec Final Business Confidence: +9.4 v -6.9 prelim

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened -0.1%, Shanghai Composite -0.1%
(US) Treasury Dept reportedly looking to weaken Pres Trump’s executive order banning Americans from investing in Chinese companies with ties to the military, according to 1 source; The US Treasury Dept wants to publish a clarification related to the Trump executive order; It is not currently known when the Treasury will issue the clarification guidance. – FT
(CN) President Trump Admin said to plan to add ~80 companies ( including SMIC) to US Commerce Dept Entity List on Dec 18th (Friday)
Alibaba [9988.HK]: Dismayed that Alibaba Cloud developed facial recognition technology that includes ethnicity as an attribute
(CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.5315 v 6.5362 prior
(CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY0B v Net drain CNY0B prior
(CN) China Ministry of Finance (MOF) sells 3-month and 50-year bonds

Japan

Nikkei225 opened -0.1%
(JP) BANK OF JAPAN (BOJ) LEAVES INTEREST RATE ON EXCESS RESERVES (IOER) UNCHANGED AT -0.10%; AS EXPECTED; Maintains policy framework of “QQE with Yield Control” from around 0.00%; Maintains asset purchases at annual pace of ‘unlimited’; Maintains Annual ETF purchases at ¥12.0T; Will assess framework on YCC at March 2021 Meeting; Extends virus program by 6-months until Sept 2021 (as speculated); To extend the duration of additional purchases of commercial paper and corporate bonds by 6 months [until the end of Sept 2021]
(JP) JAPAN NOV NATIONAL CPI Y/Y: -0.9% V -0.8%E, CPI EX-FRESH FOOD (CORE) Y/Y: -0.9% V -0.9%E (Largest since Dec 2010)
(JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) expected to say it will examine the factors for the delay in hitting the 2% inflation target; the results of the examination are expected to be disclosed at upcoming meetings – Nikkei
(JP) Japan govt said to be planning to sell $423B in new bonds issuance in FY21/22 (next fiscal year) – financial press
(JP) Japan Govt estimate for outstanding debt to hit ¥990.3T at end of FY21/22, with Debt to GDP at 177.0%

Korea

North America

(US) House Speaker Pelosi: ‘We’ll see’ if House will pass COVID and govt funding bill tomorrow
(US) Sen Maj Leader McConnell: US may need a short-term stopgap funding bill; Bipartisan agreement on coronavirus relief appears to be close at hand
(US) Sen Thune (R-SD): It’s possible the US govt could shut down over the weekend; senators will object to a new short-term stopgap bill
Moderna [MRNA]: Confirms receives FDA Advisory Committee vote supporting emergency use for vaccine against COVID-19 in the US
Microsoft [MSFT]: Follow Up: Says it found SolarWinds intrusion in company systems, but no evidence that hackers accessed customer data
(US) SEMI Nov North America-based Manufacturers of Semi Equipment Billings: $2.61B, -1.4% m/m and +23.1% y/y

Europe

(UK) EU chief negotiator Barnier: Brexit deal still possible by Friday, Dec 18th
(EU) EU Commission Von Der Leyen: big differences remain in Brexit talks, especially on fisheries, and it will be very challenging to bridge them
(UK) Govt spokesperson: the PM underlined that the negotiations are now in a serious situation; UK says EU’s position in fishing was simply not reasonable and it must shift significantly for there to be a deal
(EU) Germany and the EU Parliament said to have reached an agreement on a €672.5B economic recovery facility for coronavirus recovery in 2021 – Press
(UK) Dec GfK Consumer Confidence: -26 v -31e (Largest m/m increase since 2012)

Levels as of 00:20 ET

Nikkei 225, -0.3%, ASX 200 -1.2% , Hang Seng -1.2%; Shanghai Composite -0.7% ; Kospi +0.1%
Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.4%; Nasdaq100 -0.3%, Dax -0.6%; FTSE100 -1.2%%
EUR 1.2272-1.2238 ; JPY 103.48-103.07 ; AUD 0.7630-0.7592 ;NZD 0.7156-0.7125
Gold -0.1% at $1,889/oz; Crude Oil -0.2% at $48.25/brl; Copper +0.7% at $3.6362/lb