- Japan Upper House Of Parliament Approves All Three Nominees
- Cabinet Office Raises Economic Assessment For Third Consecutive Month Economic Data
- (JP) JAPAN CABINET OFFICE (GOVT) MARCH MONTHLY REPORT: UPGRADES ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT (THIRD CONSECUTIVE MONTH)
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND FEB BUSINESS NZ PMI: 56.3 V 55.2 PRIOR (1-year high)
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND MAR ANZ CONSUMER CONFIDENCE INDEX: 114.8 V 121.0 PRIOR (3-month low); ANZ CONSUMER CONFIDENCE: -5.1% V 2.3% PRIOR
- (PH) PHILIPPINES JAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 7.1% V 6.8% PRIOR
- (SG) SINGAPORE Q4 FINAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 1.8% V 1.8% PRELIM
- (CL) CHILE CENTRAL BANK LEAVES NOMINAL OVERNIGHT RATE TARGET UNCHANGED AT 5.00%; AS EXPECTED
- Nikkei225 +0.8%
- S&P/ASX +1.2%
- Kospi -0.6%
- Shanghai Composite +1.8%
- Hang Seng +0.7%
- June S&P500 flat at 1,556
- Apr gold +0.1% at $1,591/oz
- Apr Crude Oil % at $93.29/brl
- (US) Weekly Fed Balance Sheet Assets Week ending Mar 13th: $3.147T (record high) v $3.091T prior; M1: +$12.0B; M2: +$19.5B v -$22.6B prior
- EUR/USD rangebound above $1.30 ahead of Eurogroup meetings and Cyprus bailout talks going into the weekend.
- USD/JPY little moved by Kuroda and co. confirmation; Narrow 30pip range around ¥96 handle.
- GBP/USD consolidating sharp gains during USD session around $1.5080 after bullish BOE Gov King comments.
- NZD/USD biggest mover to the downside across the majors as consumer confidence falls and drought-driven dovish RBNZ sentiment permeates. Markets eyeing $0.8150 support after test of $0.82 handle.
- (CN) China Pres Xi Jinping nominates Li Keqiang as Premier (as expected) - Chinese press
- (CN) China LGFV (Local Government Financing Vehicle) risk is controllable - Chinese press
- (NZ) RBNZ Assistant Gov McDermott: Considered Cash Rate cut against effect on house prices; Rate cut may help return CPI to target but also exacerbate home price inflation risks - financial press
- (AU) Sydney Morning Herald op/ed citing Australia Bureau of Stats suggesting the Feb employment data was overstated due to adjustment in household survey metrics
- (JP) Survey of economists find BoJ will not achieve 2% target wtihin next BoJ gov's five-yr term - financial press
- (JP) Former Japan MoF official Sakakibara 'Mr Yen': Difficult for USD/JPY to trade about ¥100; CPI will never reach 2% target; Deflation in Japan is structural - financial press interview
- TM: May top ¥2T op profit in FY13/14, returning as the world's most profitable automaker - Nikkei News
- HMC: Plans to offer hybrid versions of the Accord model in Japan starting this summer - financial press
- Fujitsu 6702.JP: May delay wage increases - Yomiuri News
- Hyundai Motor 005380.KR: CEO Kim: Plans to strengthen small vehicle sales this year - annual shareholders meeting
- Samsung Electronics 005930.KR: Unveils new Galaxy S4 smartphone to be launched in late-April
- LEI.AU: Visionstream unit awarded A$334M 2-yr contract for National Broadband Network (NBN)
- OZL.AU: Receives approval for minerals retention lease in Carrapateena project
- MQG.AU: Hires Deloitte to evaluate Private Wealth division - financial press
- BA: Exec: Battery system measures to include changes to battery, charging unit, installation - slide presentation
- ARO: Reports Q4 $0.24(adj) v $0.24e, R$797.7M v $783Me
Fed releases CCAR results; Requests JPM and GS to strengthen capital plans, impeding dividends and stock buybacks; shares down 1.9% and 1.7% afterhours respectively; Report followed by barrage from other large financials announcing higher dividends and repurchase authorizations.
Japan House of Councillors (upper house) confirms Kuroda as next BoJ Gov, Iwata and Nakaso as next BoJ Dep Govs; BOJ transition to take place as early as next week; Markets on watch for interim policy easing as speculated earlier this week.
Japan Cabinet Office raising economic assessment for third consecutive month, tracking BOJ; upgrades industrial production and corp profits.
NZD underperforms as RBNZ Dep Gov says considered OCR rate cut in yesterday's policy decision.
SMH op/ed attributing 13-year high in Australia job adds to annual reshuffling in households surveyed; Estimate true jobs increase around 11.6K.
Samsung Electronics unveils Galaxy S4 smartphone upgrade featuring eye-tracking sensor, 13mpx camera, octa-core processor.
Boeing holds media conference on Dreamliner fix; To upgrade battery and charging unit insulation and make other changes; Remains committed to li-ion batteries; Optimistic Dreamliner can start flying again within weeks.
Currencies/Fixed Income/Commodities