General Trend
- NZD rises amid better employment data, more analysts see rates on hold;
- Equities trade mixed after the generally higher opens; Little volatility has been seen during session
- Australian Financial and Energy firms outperform, Resources index lagged; Amcor rose amid raised guidance
- Hang Seng lags in Asia, Property and Finance indices drop; Alibaba declines over 4% post earnings; TECH index tracks rise in the Nasdaq; Lenovo beat ests
- Shanghai Composite ended the morning session higher by 0.2%; Financials outperformed, IT index lagged
- Topix Air Transportation index rises over 4%, automakers also outperform in Japan; Securities Broker index rises ahead of earnings from Nomura; Electric Appliances index lags
- Panasonic rose after raising its outlook
- Japan companies expected to report earnings include Sony, Hitachi, Mitsui & Co., Nomura Holdings, Eisai, Square Enix, Kao Corp
- Kia Motors rises over 8% on additional reporting related to Apple; Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Mobis also rise
- Silver FUTs rise over 2% after prior decline
- Little initial market impact seen from the RBA Gov Lowe’s comments
- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include AbbVie, Apollo Global, Biogen, Boston Scientific, Humana, Silicon Labs, Spotify
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened +0.1%
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Gov Lowe: Upward pressure on AUD if bond buying program ended in April; Need to consider shifting YCC target from Apr 2024 – National Press Club
- (AU) AUSTRALIA DEC BUILDING APPROVALS M/M: 10.9% V 3.0%E; Private Sector Houses Approvals M/M: 15.8% v 6.1% prior
- FCG.NZ Raises 2020/21 milk price forecast to NZ$6.90-7.50 (prior 6.70-7.30)
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q4 UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 4.9% V 5.6%E
- (NZ) ANZ sees Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) keeping cash target rate unchanged at 0.25% (prior to cut to 0.1% in May)
- (AU) Australia sells A$1.5B v A$1.5B indicated in 1.00% Dec 2030 bonds, avg yield 1.13%, bid to cover 5.92
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.4%
- 7201.JP Spokesperson: To suspend some truck production in Mississippi due to chip Shortages
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Deputy Gov Wakatabe: To examine impact of YCC easing on economy and CPI, taking some time to shift price expectations, no need to change YCC framework at review, do not intend to lessen easing
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.4%
- (KR) South Korea Jan Foreign Reserves: $442.8B v $443.1B prior (1st decline since March 2020)
- 000270.KR Apple said to invest KRW4.0T in Kia for EV JV, deal expected to be signed on Feb 17th with first Apple car in 2024 – Korea Press
- (KR) South Korea said to potentially make decision on extending short selling ban Feb 3rd (Wednesday) – Press
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.2%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.1%
- (CN) CHINA JAN CAIXIN PMI SERVICES: 52.0 V 55.5E (9TH CONSECUTIVE EXPANSION, lowest since April 2020); PMI Composite: 52.2 v 55.8 prior, slowest growth in 9 months (9th consecutive expansion, lowest since April 2020)
- (CN) China Securities Time: Recent open market operation (OMO) patterns shows PBOC aiming to keep liquidity “tightly balanced” to prevent risks from over leveraging
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY100B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY80B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net Drain CNY80B v Net injects CNY78B prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4669 v 6.4736 prior
- 992.HK Reports Q3 Net $395M v $258M y/y, Rev $17.3B v $14.1B y/y (record high Net and Rev)
Other
- (SG) Singapore Jan PMI (Whole Economy): 52.9 v 50.5 prior (2nd consecutive expansion, highest since April 2019)
North America
- (US) House of representative Democrats said to be addressing debt limit in FY22 budget – Press
- (US) Treasury Sec Yellen: Recent CBO forecast has shown desperate need for aid package; Will be years until US Reaches full employment again
- (US) Bipartisan lawmakers call on White House econ adviser Deese to address global chip shortage
- MMM Elects Dow Chairman and CEO Jim Fitterling to board; raises dividend 1% to $1.48 from $1.47 (implied yield 3.38%); Increases board size from 11 to 12
- BABA Said to issue up to $5.0B in USD denominated bonds, to hold investor meetings starting Feb 3rd on offering – press
Europe
- (IE) Ireland Jan PMI Services: 36.2 v 50.1 prior; PMI Composite: 40.3 v 46.7 prior
- (IT) Former ECB chief Draghi reportedly frontrunner to serve as next Italian PM – press
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng -0.7%; Shanghai Composite +0.2%; Kospi +0.5%; Nikkei225 +0.8%; ASX 200 +0.9%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.5%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 +0.3%
- EUR 1.2050-1.2034; JPY 105.08-104.92; AUD 0.7620-0.7601; NZD 0.7226-0.7187
- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.5% at $1,842/oz; Crude Oil +0.4% at $54.99/brl; Copper -0.3% at $3.51/lb
