General Trend
- Asian equities opened mostly higher, currently indices have remained generally in the green; Nikkei has pared the opening gain; Shanghai Composite has outperformed [Consumer Staples, Industrial and IT firms rise; Financials lagged]; ASX 200 underperformed amid losses in Consumer Discretionary and Financial firms; Tech firms trade generally higher
- Japan companies expected to report earnings include Honda, Nissan Motor, Fujifilm, JFE Holdings, NEXON, McDonald’s Japan, Toray, SUMCO, Shiseido, Japan Tobacco, Mitsui Chemicals, Mitsubishi Materials, DeNA, IHI Corp, Idemitsu Kosan, Daikin Industries, Oji Holdings, Mitsui Mining & Smelting, Meji Holdings, Shimano, Tokai Carbon, Taheiyo Cement, Suntory Beverage, Sumitomo Bakelite
- HNA Group affiliate announced debt transfer
- Taiwan Semi is expected to report Jan sales
- China Jan inflation data is due on Wed (Feb 10)
- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include DowDuPont, Goodyear, Hain Celestial, Willis Towers Watson
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.1%
- BLD.AU Reports H1 (A$) underlying Net 156M v 159M y/y; adj EBIT 215M v 234M y/y; Rev 2.70B v 2.96B y/y
- (NZ) New Zealand Fin Min Robertson: Net debt outlook has improved for New Zealand; govt to unveil measures to curb housing demand, particularly from those who are speculating
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Deputy Gov Bascand: to reinstate mortgage lending restrictions, effective March 1st; additional measures to be implemented directed at investors, effective May 1st; Restrictions mean that most owner-occupiers will need a 20% deposit to get a mortgage, while investors will need 30%. From May 1, the required down payment for investors will rise to 40%
- (AU) Australia Jan NAB Business Conditions: 7 v 16 prior; Business Confidence: 10 v 5 prior
- New Zealand Q1 Inflation Expectation Survey: 2-year Outlook: 1.9% v 1.6% prior; 1-year inflation expectations 1.7% v 1.2% prior
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened +0.2%
- (JP) Japan Finance Ministry: Cabinet decided to spend ~¥1.14T of reserves on coronavirus spending measures
- (JP) Japan Jan M2 Money Supply Y/Y: 9.4% v 9.2%e; M3 Money Supply Y/Y: 7.8% (hiest on record) v 7.6%e
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.7%
- 096530.KR To be fined by South Korea regulators for overstating revenue
- (IR) UN report: Iran and North Korea have resumed cooperation on missile tech
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.4%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.2%
- (CN) China PBOC Q4 Monetary Policy Report: will keep prudent monetary policy flexible and precise; Will prioritize stability and will not make sharp turns in policy; To enhance flexibility of Yuan exchange rate
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY50B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY110B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net drain CNY30B v Net Inject CNY10B prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4533 v 6.4678 prior (strongest since June 19th, 2018)
- HUAWEI.CN Founder: Company 5G Networks are strongest, can survive without mobile business; Extremely difficult for Huawei to be taken off US Entity Lis
Other
- (TW) Taiwan Trade Rep Deng: We see opportunities to increase ties with Western countries due to chip shortages – FT
North America
- (US) House Ways and Means Committee releases details of COVID plan: Comprises half of $1.9T COVID relief package, would extend unemployment insurance to Aug 29th
- (US) Fed’s Barkin (voter, hawk) discounts idea of inflation risks coming from COVID-19 stimulus plan – FT interview
Europe
- LONN.CH To divest specialty ingredients business to Bain Capital and Cinven at CHF4.2B
- (DE) German Chancellor Merkel: Virus infections must come down for two more weeks; Possible that 20% of cases in Germany are the UK variant
- (UK) Reportedly EU plans to reject UK calls for a 2-year extension of Northern Ireland grace periods – The Telegraph
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng +0.4%; Shanghai Composite +1.5%; Kospi +0.4%; Nikkei225 +0.3%; ASX 200 -0.9%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 0.0%; Nasdaq100 0.0%, Dax -0.2%; FTSE100 -0.1%
- EUR 1.2082-1.2045; JPY 105.27-104.83; AUD 0.7732-0.7699; NZD 0.7255-0.7218
- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.4% at $1,842/oz; Crude Oil +0.8% at $58.42/brl; Copper +0.2% at $3.69/lb
