General Trend
- Asian markets are broadly lower following the mixed openings; Equity indices are currently near session lows
- Hang Seng underperforms on plan to raise the stamp duty for equity trading [Finance index drops amid declines in HKEX and HSBC; TECH index drops over 4%]; Tech firms also drop in Japan after Nasdaq decline; Australia’s Telecom index dropped amid Telstra ex-dividend; Consumer stocks continued to weigh on the Shanghai Composite
- Earnings reactions: [Australia]: Nine Entertainment, Woolworths, WiseTech, Viva Energy, Sydney Airport, Ridley Corp, Ioof Holdings, Blackmores, Bega Cheese, Idp Education, HT&E, Healius rise; Nanosonics, Mayne Pharma, Appen, Perseus Mining, Scentre Group, Eagers decline
- RBNZ: The recent resilience in the domestic economy implies that no significant additional stimulus is required at this time
- Japan Fin Min commented on Q1 GDP, stimulus and JGBs
- Standard Chartered may report FY earnings on Thursday (Feb 25th)
- Companies expected to report during the NY morning include Clean Harbors, Casper, Entergy, Exelon, TechnipFMC, IronMountain, Cheniere Energy, Lowes, Office Depot, Owens & Minor, Overstock.com, Photronics, RBC, Siteone Landscape Supply, Six Flags, Renesola, Tenneco, TJX Companies, Tenaris, Wyndham Destinations
Headlines/Economic Data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened -0.2%
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND CENTRAL BANK (RBNZ) LEAVES OFFICIAL CASH RATE (OCR) UNCHANGED AT 0.25%; (AS EXPECTED); Maintains QE bond purchases at NZ$100B; Withdraws OCR rate path guidance; initiates baseline scenario for year ending in March 2021 OCR avg 0.3%
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Gov Orr: Wants to retain all stimulus options; Have always spoken about negative rates as option – post rate decision press conference
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Assistant Gov Hawkesby: Global growth and inflation outlook are driving yields, want to be a downward influence on yield curve – post rate decision comments
- WOW.AU Reports H1 (A$) Net 1.14B v 0.9B y/y; EBIT 2.1B v 1.8B y/y; Rev 35.9B v 32.4B y/y
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q4 WAGE PRICE INDEX Q/Q: 0.6% V 0.3%E; Y/Y: 1.4% V 1.1%E
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q4 CONSTRUCTION WORK DONE Q/Q: -0.9% V +1.0%E
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.5%
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: Not considering fresh economic stimulus beyond what is currently planned; no doubt Q1 GDP will be lower than Q4
- 9984.JP Spokesperson: Said to plan billions to invest in biotech stocks, investments are said to come from SB Northstar
- South Korea Mar Business Manufacturing Survey: 85 v 81 prior; Non-Manufacturing Survey: 73 v 70 prior
- 6758.JP Availability of PlayStation 5 expected to be constrained due to chip shortages – press
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: BOJ Income is decided by various factors
Korea
- Kospi opened 0.0%
- (KR) South Korea says to submit extra budget to Parliament on March 4th (Thurs)
- 051910.KR Unit says battery cell cannot be seen as direct cause of fire risk in Hyundai Motor Electric Vehicles (EV); Hyundai Motor misapplied fast charging logic that was suggested
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.2%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.1%
- (HK) Hong Kong Financial Sec Chan: Confirms forecast 2021 GDP at 3.5-5.5% Confirms >HK$120B in counter cyclical measures v HK$120B y/y; Sees deficit HK$101.6b v deficit HK$37.8B y/y – 2021/22 budget address
- (HK) Hong Kong confirms increase to stamp duty on stock trading from 0.1% to 0.13% – 2021/22 budget
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net injects CNY10B v Net injects CNY10B prior
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4615 v 6.4516 prior
- 388.HK Reports FY20 (HK$) Net 11.5B (record high) v 9.4B y/y, EBITDA 14.6B v 12.3B y/y; Rev 19.2B v 16.3B y/y
North America
- DDD Discloses in preparing FY20 results have discovered certain internal control deficiencies; as a result, the company may report one or more material weaknesses in internal controls; Affirms Q4 Op $11-19M v $5.6M y/y; Rev $170-176M v $172Me
- (US) House Majority Leader Hoyer (D): House of Representatives to vote Friday (Feb 26th) on coronavirus stimulus plan
- GME CFO Jim Bell resigns, effective Mar 26, 2021, intends to appoint Diana Jajeh interim CFO
Europe
- (UK) PM Johnson reiterates stance of being optimistic to fully reopen Britain on Jun 21st but not guaranteed
Levels as of 12:15ET
- Hang Seng -2.6%; Shanghai Composite -1.6%; Kospi -1.6%; Nikkei225 -1.2%; ASX 200 -0.9%.
- Equity Futures: S&P500 -0.3%; Nasdaq100 -0.6%, Dax -0.3%; FTSE100 -0.4%.
- EUR 1.2166-1.2144; JPY 105.53-105.19; AUD 0.7945-0.7903; NZD 0.7384-0.7315.
- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.1% at $1,807/oz; Crude Oil -1.1% at $61.03/brl; Copper -1.2% at $4.17/lb.
