Economic Data
(CN) CHINA DEC TRADE BALANCE: $31.6B V $20.0BE; EXPORTS Y/Y: 14.1% V 5.0%E; IMPORTS Y/Y: 6.0% V 3.5%E
(CN) CHINA DEC NEW LOANS CNY454.3B V CNY550BE (lowest since Dec 2009)
(CN) CHINA DEC M2 MONEY SUPPLY Y/Y: 13.8% V 13.8%E; M1 MONEY SUPPLY Y/Y: 6.5% V 6.0%E
(CN) CHINA Q4 FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES: $3.310T V $3.317TE
(AU) AUSTRALIA NOV BUILDING APPROVALS M/M: 2.9% V 3.0%E; Y/Y: 13.2% V 11.6%E
(NZ) NEW ZEALAND NOV TRADE BALANCE (NZ$): -700M V -670ME (fourth consecutive month of deficit); EXPORTS: 3.8B V 3.6BE; IMPORTS: 4.5B V 4.2BE
(NZ) NEW ZEALAND DEC QV HOUSE PRICES Y/Y: 5.7% V 5.7% PRIOR
(NZ) NEW ZEALAND DEC ANZ COMMODITY PRICE: 1.0% V 0.9% PRIOR
(JP) JAPAN DEC OFFICIAL RESERVE ASSETS: $1.268T V $1.270T PRIOR
(JP) JAPAN DEC TOKYO AVERAGE OFFICE VACANCIES M/M: 8.7% V 8.8% PRIOR
(JP) Japan Nov Final Leading Index CI: 91.9 v 92.8 prelim; Coincident Index CI: 90.1 v 90.7 prelim
(KR) SOUTH KOREA DEC BANK LENDING TO HOUSEHOLDS (KRW): 466.5T V 461.6T PRIOR (6-year high)
(KR) SOUTH KOREA NOV L MONEY SUPPLY Y/Y: 0.2% V 0.1% PRIOR; M2 Y/Y: 0.2% V 0.2% PRIOR
(PH) PHILIPPINES NOV TOTAL EXPORTS: 5.5% V 20.1%E; TOTAL MONTHLY EXPORTS: $3.6B V $4.4B PRIOR
(TH) THAILAND DEC CONSUMER CONFIDENCE: 80.2 V 79.1 PRIOR; CONSUMER CONFIDENCE ECONOMIC: 70.6 V 69.4 PRIOR
(MA) MALAYSIA NOV MANUFACTURING SALES VALUE: 7.4% V 3.2% PRIOR
(MA) MALAYSIA NOV INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION Y/Y: 7.5% V 5.9%E
Markets Snapshot (as of 05:00 GMT)
Nikkei225 +0.9%
S&P/ASX +0.3%
Kospi +0.7%
Shanghai Composite +0.5%
Hang Seng +0.9%
Mar S&P500 +0.2% at 1,459
Feb gold +0.1% at $1,656/oz
Feb Crude Oil +0.4% at $93.47/brl
Notes/Observations
Asian equity markets are in the green across the board and US equity futures point to a stronger open as markets digest a much stronger than expected December trade data out of China. Trade surplus was well above consensus, but it was the import/exports components that wet investors appetites - the latter rising by nearly twice the expected growth at 6% and the former by nearly 3x at 14%. Exports to the EU rose marginally by just over 2%, but it still marked the first y/y increase since May.
Exports to the US showed a much more robust growth of 10%. For 2012, iron ore imports increased over 8% and coal shipments spiked nearly 30%. US markets also underscored its relative strength in the global recovery story, replacing Europe to become China's top export destination in 2012. Note the data also outweighed a somewhat disappointing report on new loans that showed December lending at its lowest level in 3 years.
Equities, commodities, and risk-on FX all hit session highs shortly after the China trade data and hardly looked back - Hang Seng is up nearly 1% above 23,400, copper is up nearly 1% above $3.69, and AUD is at 3-week highs against the greenback and 4-year highs against the yen. Japanese currency remained under pressure on more reports from the Japanese press anticipating 2% inflation target and more asset purchases from the BOJ at its next meeting in 2 weeks time as USD/JPY rose back above ¥88 handle. EUR/USD traded slightly weaker as traders priced in potentially more cautious sentiment from the ECB at its upcoming rate decision later today in the wake of recent disappointing data out of Germany.
Stateside, Moody's acknowleged the risk of a default by the US treasury is very low, but also noted the recent budget deal is only marginally positive for rating. Moody's also warned the downward debt path needed to support US credit rating.
Currencies/Fixed Income/Commodities
(CN) PBoC sets yuan mid point at 6.2793 v 6.2262 prior close (highest CNY setting since May 2012)
AUD/USD Rises above $1.0540 after China trade data; 3-week highs
AUD/JPY: Rises above ¥92.90 after China trade data; Highest level since Sept 2008
(AU) Australia MoF (AOFM) sells A$500M in 2023 Bonds; avg yield: 2.96%; bid-to-cover: 6.20x
JGB: (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥0.55T in 1.9% 30-yr JGBs; Avg yield: 1.990% v 1.931% prior, bid to cover: 3.52x v 4.08x prior
(TW) Taiwan sells NT$40.0B in 5-yr Bonds; bid-to-cover: 1.8x
Speakers/Political/In the Papers
(CN) HSBC chief economist for China Hongbin Qu: Targets 2013 GDP at 8.6% and CPI at 3% - China Daily
(CN) Large China iron ore mill exec: Iron ore prices have risen beyond demand, spot price is likely to fall just as quickly as it rose - AFR
(CN) China 2013 crude oil apparent consumption may increase 5.3% - financial press
(CN) China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT): China to support carbon trading trial for steel, cement industry; Wants to reduce CO2 emissions by over 21% by 2015 - financial press
(CN) China Passenger Car Association: Dec vehicle shipments rose 8.6% y/y to 1.56M units; 2012 shipments +6.8% y/y at 14.68M units
(JP) Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ): 2012 global semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales fell 18% y/y to ¥1.36T - Jpaan press
(JP) Japan govt looking to extend the mortgage tax incentives to help reduce the impact from higher (5% to 8%) consumption taxes going into effect in Apr 2014 - Nikkei News
(AU) NAB chief economist: Building approvals data not as positive as it appears; RBA needs to continue cutting rates to further support the housing sector - The Australian
Equities
TM: Awarded dismissal of class action lawsuit regarding Prius brake recall - financial press
Canon CAJ: President: Ideal USD/JPY exchange rate somewhere in ¥90-100 range; Aims to automate high-end digital cameras within three to five years - Nikkei News
Toshiba 6502.JP: Shifted some of the notebook and tablet production in China inland to reduce wage-related and tax costs - Nikkei News
Nippon Express 9062.JP: May report Q2 op profit down 40% around ¥7B; Rev seen flat around ¥400 - Nikkei News
KDDI 9433.JP: Added 239.2K net subscribers in Dec vs 228.8K prior
Softbank 9984.JP: Added 274.7K net subscribers in Dec v 301.9K prior
DoCoMo 9437.JP: Added 235.1K net subscribers in Dec v 40.8K prior
FMG.AU: Iron ore operations proceeding as usual; Monitoring the path of the cyclone off the West coast - financial press
MAH.AU: Discloses it has received a new bid of A$38M for its construction unit from Sembawang (up from A$25M prior offer) - press
RT: Reports Q2 -$0.07 v -$0.07e, R$304.2M v $303Me; Increases Share Repurchase Authorization by 10M Shares (about 16% of shares outstanding); -8.3% afterhours
ROVI: Guides initial FY13 $1.90-2.20 v $2.16e $630-660M v $679Me - 8K filing; -3.4% afterhours
PSMT: Reports Q1 $0.66 v $0.63e, R$535.3M v $537Me; +6.2% afterhours