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Economic Data
- (AU) RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA (RBA) APR MINUTES: INFLATION OUTLOOK GIVES SCOPE TO EASE FURTHER IF NEEDED
- (SL) SRI LANKA LEAVES REVERSE REPO RATE UNCHANGED AT 9.50% (EXPECTED); LEAVES REPURCHASE RATE UNCHANGED AT 7.50% (EXPECTED)
- (AU) AUSTRALIA MAR NEW MOTOR VEHICLE SALES M/M: -0.6% V -0.1% PRIOR (third consecutive decline); Y/Y: 4.5% V 9.4% PRIOR
Markets Snapshot (as of 03:30 GMT)
- Nikkei225 -1.1%
- S&P/ASX -0.6%
- Kospi -0.6%
- Shanghai Composite -0.6%
- Hang Seng -0.8%
- June S&P500 +0.5% at 1,551
- Jun gold -1.0% at $1,347/oz
- May Crude Oil -2.1% at $86.86/brl
Wall Street suffered from steep declines as the disappointing Chinese economic data continued to weigh on weak investor sentiment. The Dow declined by 1.8% the largest single-day loss since November of last year. Gold was also affected by weak Chinese industrial data, as it ended the session with a loss of over $140, the worst single day performance since the early 1980s. Explosions during the Boston Marathon added further anxiety to investor sentiment. Late in the day, US officials indicated that contrary to earlier press reports, there are no suspects in the investigation that caused the deaths of 3 people and left over 100 injured.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released minutes from the April meeting, which were similar to the prior month's minutes, reiterating that the inflation outlook allowed scope for rate cuts. The high AUD and the slowdown in mining investments were seen as downside risks, with the most prudent course to hold cash rate steady, albeit leaving the door open to more easing if necessary. In China, PBoC drained liquidity by CNY58B - a symbolic statement reflecting concerns over inflation just a day after the disappointing Q1 GDP data.
Fixed Income/Commodities/Currencies
- JGB: (JP) Japan's MoF sells ¥2.48T in 0.3% 5-yr notes; Avg yield: 0.269% v 0.120% prior; Bid to cover: 3.09x v 3.12x prior
- (CN) PBoC sets yuan mid point at 6.2408 v 6.1871 prior close (highest level since 2005 revaluation)
- GLD: SPDR Gold Trust ETF daily holdings fall by 4.3 tons to 1,154.3 ton (lowest since 1,152 in Apr of 2010)
- (US) CME Group raises gold (increases by 18.5%), silver margins (increases by 18.4%); effective April 16th
- SLV: iShares Silver Trust ETF daily holdings fall to 10,451 from 10,497.6 tons as of Apr 11th, lowest since Feb 7th
Despite the selloff in the equity markets, risky FX has staged some short-covering from the accelerated selloff in the late US session. AUD and NZD were up about 60 and 80 pips higher respectively against the greenback, trading above $1.0360 and $0.8470 respectively. AUD strengh was contained by RBA minutes that kept the door open on further easing, in line with the policy statement on Apr 2nd. USD/JPY pair briefly fell below ¥96 amid extreme risk aversion in late US hours following the Boston marathon carnage, but regained some ground to trade above ¥97.60 in the late Asian hours. Likewise, EUR/USD was off the lows, rising about 40 pips above $1.3070 late in the day.
Speakers/Political/In the Papers
- (CN) PBoC offers CNY58B 28-day repos at 2.75% (drains liquidity) - financial press
- (CN) China Bank of Communications (BoCom) chief economist Lian Ping: Unexpected slowdown in Q1 GDP to result in a halt of govt tightening policies when inflation recedes - Shanghai Daily
- (CN) China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has escalated its warnings about banks' exposure to local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) - HK press
- (CN) Moody's affirms China sovereign rating at Aa3; Lowers outlook to Stable from Positive
- (JP) Japan PM Abe: US-Japan must push China to increase pressure on North Korea - addressing parliament
- (JP) Japan Abe Cabinet approval rating rises to 74% (fourth consecutive monthly rise, record) v 72% m/m - Yomiuri News
- (KR) South Korea Defense Ministry: Sees no unusual changes in North Korea missile readiness; North Korea may fire short-range missiles vs Musudan - financial press
- (KR) South Korea proposes KRW17.3T including KRW5.3T in additional stimulus
- (KR) South Korea March house transactions: +40.9% m/m, -1.4% y/y at 66.6K cases - Korean press
- (KR) South Korea Finance Ministry: 2013 GDP seen around 2.7-2.8%; 2.3% target announced last month did not account for supplementary budget and other stimulus measures - Korean press
- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK): Recent decline in gold prices is not a big concern - financial press
- (NZ) New Zealand PM Key: New Zealand GDP to continue to grow at 2-3% pace - financial press
- (NZ) New Zealand Fin Min English: Agrees with RBNZ that the NZD is overvalued; High NZD curbs export profits - addressing parliament
- (AU) RBA Assistant Governor Debelle: AUD higher than expected due to capital inflows
- (EG) IMF concludes mission to Egypt without a loan; Said to have made progress in talks, looking to create conditions for economic recovery
- Sharp 6753.JP: Sharp-Hon Hai JV reported 9-month net loss of ¥7.4B - Nikkei News
- 4063.JP: May report FY12/13 Pretax slightly above ¥170B prior guidance, Op profit seen in line with ¥160B prior guidance, Rev slightly more than ¥1.0T - Nikkei News
- Softbank 9984.JP: Expects deal with Sprint to close July 1st; Dish's offer was "highly conditional and preliminary", deal with Sprint offers superior short and long term benefits
- Bridgestone 5108.JP: To establish production facility in Russia by end of June - Kyodo News
- (AU) Australian miners Rio Tinto, BHP, and Fortescue Metals expected to report lower iron ore shipments in March-quarter because of unfavorable weather conditions in WA and Queensland - AFR
- RIO: Reported to have asked workers at Kennecott operations to take vacation, unpaid leave due to limited running capacity - financial press
- PBY: Reports Q4 -$0.27 (gaap, incl items) v $0.05e (not comparable); R$530.8M v $499Me; +1.8% afterhours
- NTGR: Reports prelim Q1 $0.45-0.50 v $0.58e, R$290-295M v $307Me (guided $290-305M prior); -4.0% afterhours
- HCA: Guides Q1 Rev $8.44B v $9.48Be; Affirms FY13 guidance; -4.7% afterhours
- SRPT: FDA to consider accelerated approval for Eteplirsen; FDA requests additional information from the existing eteplirsen dataset; -6.5% afterhours