General Trend
- Australia’s Energy and Resources indices rise, BHP gained after production update; Financials lagged
- Hang Seng TECH and CEI indices outperform, Finance and Property cos. lag; Alibaba rises on report related to Jack Ma
- Shanghai traded flat during the morning session; Property index declined; Consumer Discretionary and Industrial cos. rose; Steel giant Baosteel rose over 9% amid guidance/buyback announcement
- Nikkei lagged as large components declined (Fast Retailing, Softbank); Topix Transport indices decline, along with financials
- Kia Motors rises over 8% on the Apple news
- Netflix rose over 12% in afterhours trading following quarterly earnings/guidance
- US Soybean FUTs extended declines in Asia
- Volkswagen affirms expectation for chip supply shortage to last into Q1
- PBOC stepped up daily cash injection, China money market rates still rise
- US President-elect Joe Biden to be inaugurated on Wed (Jan 20th)
- BOJ is holding its policy meeting on Jan 20-21 (Wed-Thurs), expected to release economic forecasts on Thurs.
- Australia’s Dec labor force data due on Thursday (Jan 21st)
- US President-elect Biden has promised to release details on trade plan on Jan 21st (Thursday)
- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include Bank of NY, Fastenal, Morgan Stanley, Procter & Gamble, UnitedHealth
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.1%
- BHP.AU Reports Q2 Waio iron ore production: 70.4Mt v 68.0Mt y/y, Attributable iron ore production 62.4Mt v 60.4Mt y/y, to record $1.15-1.25B impairment charge related to NSWEC and associated deferred tax assets
- (AU) Australia Jan Westpac Consumer Confidence: 107.0 v 112.0 prior; M/M: -4.5% v +4.1% prior
- (AU) Australia sells A$1.8B v A$1.8B indicated in 1.50% June 2031 bonds, avg yield 1.0937%, bid to cover 4.86x
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.6%
- (JP) Japan PM Suga: Will decided is special employment support will be extended beyond March based on jobs situation; Denies Virus policy has been delayed by groundless optimism – speaking to Parliament
- (JP) Japan planning to extend employment subsidies – Nikkei
Looking ahead: BOJ rate decision expected tomorrow around 22:00EST (03:00GMT), though there is no set time
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.7%
- (KR) South Korea said to offer KRW38.4T in financial support before Lunar New Year Holiday in Korea – Press
- (KR) South Korea Govt and ruling party in talks about extending short selling ban for 3 months (through June) – Korean press
- 000270.KR Reviewing EV cooperation with multiple foreign companies; No decision has been made so far
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.5%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.1%
- (CN) CHINA PBOC MONTHLY LOAN PRIME RATE (LPR) SETTING: 1-YEAR AND 5-YEAR RATES UNCHANGED (UNCHANGED FOR 9TH CONSECUTIVE MONTH)
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4836 v 6.4883 prior
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY280B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY80B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net Inject CNY278B (largest injection since Sept 22nd) v Net inject CNYB prior
- 700.HK Signs pact with Geely to create driverless car systems – Sina (late yesterday)
- (CN) China reports 103 new COVID cases (8th day above 100) v 118 prior
- (CN) China 2020 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) CNY999.98B, +6.2% y/y (record high)
- (CN) China to implement 2021-2035 new energy vehicle (EV) industry plan; In 2021 to focus on Improve infrastructure system and improve the convenience and reliability of new energy car…
- (CN) China President Xi is seeking additional development of high speed rail – Xinhua
- Jack Ma said to have made appearance in video conference with rural teachers – press
- (CN) Shanghai said to have strengthened home pre-sale rules to cool down the local property market – Press
Other
- (TW) Taiwan Legislative Yuan passed NT$229.8B special budget for the third stage of the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program – local press
- S68.SG Targeting to be the first Asian bourse to list Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACS) – FT
North America
- US NOV TOTAL NET TIC FLOWS: China Total holding of US Treasuries: $1.063T v $1.054T prior (1st increase in 6 months)
- (US) Treasury Sec-designate Yellen: will work over time for a second relief package; China is clearly the most important strategic US competitor, US needs to take on China’s abusive practices – testimony to Congress
- (US) President Trump issues executive order on Cyber-enabled attacks; order includes record keeping on foreign transactions
Europe
- (EU) ECB SAID TO PURSUE STRATEGY OF YIELD SPREAD CONTROL; however policy makers are said to not be in favor of explicit yield targets (in line) – PRESS
- VOW3.DE Reports 2020 China vehicle sales 3.85M; Audi targeting to sell 1M cars/yr in China in 2023 v 726K in 2020
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng +0.6%; Shanghai Composite +0.2%; Kospi -0.1%; Nikkei225 -0.5%; ASX 200 +0.5%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.4%, Dax -0.4%; FTSE100 +0.2%
- EUR 1.2150-1.2124; JPY 103.94-103.73; AUD 0.7725-0.7692; NZD 0.7135-0.7116
- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.5% at $1,849/oz; Crude Oil +0.8% at $53.39/brl; Copper +0.1% at $3.63/lb
