Economic Data
(CN) CHINA MAR CONFERENCE BOARD LEADING ECONOMIC INDEX M/M: 0.0% V 1.3% PRIOR (9-month low)
(US) North America MAR SEMI book/bill ratio: 1.14 v 1.10 prior (3rd consecutive above-parity print after 9 months below-parity)
(CO) COLOMBIA FEB TRADE BALANCE: $386.4M V $204.5ME; IMPORTS CIF: $4.5B V $4.8BE
(US) Weekly Fed Balance Sheet Assets Week ending Apr 17th: $3.25T (record high) v $3.21T prior; M1: -$68.5B v +$53B prior; M2: -$26.3B v +$67.8B prior
Markets Snapshot (as of 03:30 GMT)
Nikkei225 +0.6%
S&P/ASX flat
Kospi +0.2%
Shanghai Composite +1.4%
Hang Seng +1.0%
June S&P500 +0.4% at 1,541
Jun gold +0.3% at $1,396/oz
May Crude Oil +0.3% at $88.00/brl
Observations/Insights/Currencies
Asian equity markets are shrugging the selling in U.S. indices with a rally that is nearly across the board. Australian miners were particularly strong, even as front month copper futures fell sharply below $3.12 in the Asia session. Several analysts attributed the rally to short-covering, calling this week's selloff overdone. Yen weakness also drove investors into riskier assets.
Goldman Sachs cut China's 2013 GDP growth target to 7.8% from 8.2%. Also in China, Conference Board leading index for March remained flat at 258.3. This prompted investors to speculate that China's economic momentum may be showing signs of abatement following recent local government property tightening measures and weaker industrial activity. The Chinese press speculated Shenzhen may join Shanghai and Chongqing as two cities with implemented trial property tax in the near term. Analysts are also on the lookout for the PBoC to widen the yuan trading range against the dollar - the last adjustment took place about a year ago, and over the weekend.
Fixed Income/Commodities/Currencies
(JP) Japan BoJ offers to purchase ¥500B in 5- to 10-yr debt - financial press.
(AU) Australia MoF (AOFM) sells A$600M in 4.75% 2016 Bonds; Avg yield 2.6972%; Bid-to-cover 3.32x
(JP) Japan Iron and Steel Federation: Reports Japan FY12/13 crude steel production +0.8% at 107.3M tons, first y/y rise in 2 years.
GLD: SPDR Gold Trust ETF daily holdings fall by 1.8 tons to 1,133.0 ton (lowest since 1,130.7 in Apr of 2010)
(CN) China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT): will strictly control new capacity in steel sector - financial press.
Much of the action in the currency markets revolved around the Japanese Yen and the apparent level of comfort with the latest BOJ policy actions expressed at the G20. The yen fell across the board, as the USD/JPY hit session highs above ¥98.60, following commentary from Japan's finance minister Aso who said the G20 had no opposition to its deflation policy. On the yen crosses, traders also bid up some of the higher yielding currencies - AUD/JPY and NZD/JPY were up about 100 and 90 pips off session lows, reaching ¥101.90 and ¥83.30 respectively. AUD and NZD were also up about 50 pips off the lows. They rose as high as $1.0330 and $0.8450, reversing the early weakness that followed comments from Dep Managing Director Zhu, noting the AUD and NZD overvalued by 10%.
Speakers/Political/In the Papers
(JP) Japan FM Aso: Japan encountered no opposition at G20 to its message its policy is aimed at defeating deflation.
(JP) All 11 members in TPP talks expected to approve Japan's participation - Japan press.
(JP) Former Japan FM official Sakakibara ('Mr Yen'): Japan economy is in recovery process - financial press.
(JP) U.S. Treasury Sec Lew reaffirmed G20 commitments with Japan FM Aso - financial press.
(JP) Japan BoJ Gov Kuroda: Does not expect G20 to discuss BoJ easing as devaluation - financial press.
(CN) Goldman Sachs cuts China 2013 GDP growth target to 7.8% from 8.2% - financial press.
(CN) Shenzhen may launch a trial of property tax in near term - Chinese press.
(CN) China Ministry of Land and Resources: Q1 residential land prices rose 4.1% y/y and 1.8% q/q to CNY4.7K/sqm - China Daily.
(CN) IMF head of Asia Pacific Singh: no change to China forecast despite Q1 weaker GDP.
(CN) China Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) researcher Wang: China exports still face big headwinds in H1.
(CN) China state researcher Zhu Baoliang: China economy may rebound in Q2 and Q3; possibly grow by 8% in Q2.
(CN) China State researcher Zhang Monan: Need to strengthen local govt debt control - Chinese press.
(CN) China Dep PBOC Gov: Could use temporary capital controls in extreme cases; have the conditions to encourage capital account liberalization.
(KR) South Korea's extra budget may delay achievement of a fiscal balance until 2016 - Korean press.
(KR) According to South Korea real estate market researcher Budongsan Serve, house transactions in Q1 fell to 141K, only 57% of y/y levels - Korean press.
(AU) Australia Treasurer Swan: Faced with revenue write downs due to stubbornly high AUD.
(AU) IMF Dep Managing Director Zhu: AUD, NZD overvalued by 10%, RBA has room to further cut rates - financial press.
(US) FBI comments on Boston bombings: Two suspects identified; photos released - press conference.
(US) Gunshots reported in the area of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); area has been cordoned off - financial press.
NPD: March Videogame sales -10% y/y to $992.5M.
(DE) German FM Schaeuble: Europe is fighting unbearable unemployment.
(EU) OECD's Gurria: Global economy stands to gain from Japan monetary easing - financial press.
Equities
DELL: Blackstone said to be ending pursuit of Dell due to being disappointed with revenue outlook; Remaining bidders are now Icahn and Michael Dell - financial press.
AMD: Reports Q1 -$0.13 v -$0.17e, R$1.09B v $1.07Be; -4.0% afterhours.
GOOG: Reports Q1 $11.58 v $10.63e, R$11.01B (ex TAC) v $11.2Be; +1.4% afterhours.
COF: Reports Q1 $1.79 v $1.64e, R$5.6B v $5.62Be; +1.3% afterhours.
ISRG: Reports Q1 $4.65 v $4.00e, R$611.4M v $581Me; -3.0% afterhours.
IBM: Reports Q1 $3.00 (adj) v $3.06e, R$23.4B v $24.6Be; -4.3% afterhours.
CMG: Reports Q1 $2.45 v $2.14e, R$726.8M v $725Me; +3.5% afterhours.
MSFT: Reports Q3 $0.65 (adj) v $0.67e, R$20.5B v $20.7Be; CFO Klein to leave the company; +2.9% afterhours.
Samsung, SK Hynix, and S Korea government said to be on track to invest as much as KRW25B in semiconductor business over the next 5 years - Korean press.
STO.AU: Reports Q1 Rev A$713M v A$754M y/y, Production 12.1MMBOE v 12.4MMBOE y/y; maintains FY13 production guidance at 53-57MMBOE.
PRU.AU: Reports Q3 gold output 57.2Koz v 51.1Koz q/q
SYD.AU: Reports Mar traffic +3.5% y/y v +2.3% prior.
JX Holdings 5020.JP: May report FY12/13 pretax profit down 20% y/y around ¥340B v ¥345B prior forecast; Rev may be up 4% y/y around ¥11.19T - Nikkei News.
KDDI 9433.JP: E-mail services said to have returned to normal operations; investigating sources of disruption - financial press.