General trend
- Asian markets are generally higher.
- Shanghai Composite ended the morning session modestly higher after prior gain of 2.4% [Financials extend rise amid dearth of news related to Huarong; Consumer Staples decline after prior gain].
- Hang Seng is near the opening level [TECH index rises ahead of Xiaomi earnings].
- Nikkei has moved higher after the lower open [Topix Electric Appliances index rises; Banks decline after drop in US financials].
- S&P ASX 200 is currently near the opening level [Resources index resumes decline; Consumer Discretionary index rises].
- BOK is due to hold policy decision on Thurs (May 27th).
- Companies seen reporting during the NY morning include Columbus Mckinnon, Capri Holdings.
Headlines/Economic data
Australia/New Zealand
- ASX 200 opened 0.0%.
- FCG.NZ Reports 9M (NZ$) Net 587M, +61% y/y; EBIT 959M v 815M y/y; Guides initial 2021/22 Farmgate Milk Price range$7.25 – $8.75 per kgMS, with a midpoint of $8 per kgMS.
- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): Excess cash at exchange settlement (ES) accounts at A$225.5B v A$223.7B prior (Record high).
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q1 CONSTRUCTION WORK DONE Q/Q: 2.4% V 2.2%E.
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND CENTRAL BANK (RBNZ) LEAVES OFFICIAL CASH RATE (OCR) UNCHANGED AT 0.25%; (AS EXPECTED); Resumes OCR path guidance; raises CPI and GDP guidance.
- (NZ) Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Gov Orr: Price pressures in economy likely temporary; Tentative signs business investment is increasing.
Japan
- Nikkei 225 opened -0.6%
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Member Suzuki: Domestic economy is expected to recover, although level of economic activity will stay low for time being.
- (JP) Tokyo said to be considering extending COVID emergency – Japan press.
- (JP) Japan JSDA said to be relaxing rules on investments into unlisted stocks – Nikkei.
- (JP) Japan Newspaper Asahi Shimbun (official partner of Olympics) Calls for cancelation of the Tokyo Olympics.
- 6758.JP Planning ¥2.0T strategic investment spending over 3-years, will continue focus on Intellectual property, tech, and share buybacks.
- (JP) Japan LDP Party Official Yamamoto: BOJ is making a mistake by tapering as deflation is still a risk; BOJ must seek to weaken Yen further via asset purchases.
- (JP) Japan Mar Final Leading Index: 102.5 v 103.2 prelim; Coincident Index: 93.0 v 93.1 prelim.
Korea
- Kospi opened +0.0%
- (KR) South Korea Fin Min Hong: To invest KRW1.0T to build a big data system on biohealth by 2028 in a bid to sharpen its competitive edge in the health care sector – Yonhap.
China/Hong Kong
- Hang Seng opened +0.5%; Shanghai Composite opened +0.2%.
- (CN) China Securities Journal (CSJ): Analysts expect yuan (CNY) to appreciate further in short term; cite factors including USD weakness, along with China’s trade surplus and domestic recovery.
- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4099 v 6.4283 prior (Strongest fix since June 14 2018).
- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Injects CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos prior; Net CNY0B v Net CNY0B prior.
- (CN) Inner Mongolia China province said to be increasing penalties for mining cryptocurrency – press.
North America
- TSLA CEO Musk: There will be an update of pure vision autopilot production release in 2-weeks, afterwards FSD Beta V9.0 a week after – Tweet.
- LI President Shen: Sold 5,539 cars in April; see deliveries >10K/month by Sept and sales at 10K/month by Sept – press.
Europe
- (IE) Ireland has no plans to sign US President Biden’s global minimum tax plan, will keep its 12.5% rate – Sky News.
Levels as of 01:15ET
- Hang Seng +0.9%; Shanghai Composite +0.3%; Kospi -0.1%; Nikkei225 +0.4%; ASX 200 -0.1%.
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.4%, Dax +0.3%; FTSE100 +0.0%.
- EUR 1.2264-1.2242; JPY 108.83-108.73 ;AUD 0.7797-0.7744; NZD 0.7314-0.7222.
- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.5% at $1,907/oz; Crude Oil -0.1% at $66.03/brl; Copper +0.4% at $4.53/lb.
