Economic Data
- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q3 PRODUCER PRICE INDEX (PPI) Q/Q: 0.6% V 1.0%E (4-quarter high); Y/Y: 1.1% V 1.6%E
- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND OCT ANZ COMMODITY PRICE: 1.3% V 3.5% PRIOR (third straight increase)
- (JP) JAPAN OCT MONETARY BASE Y/Y: 10.8% V 9.0% PRIOR (8-month high)
- (TH) THAILAND OCT CONSUMER CONFIDENCE: 77.8 V 77.0 PRIOR; CONSUMER CONFIDENCE ECONOMIC: 68.1 V 67.5 PRIOR
- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) policy minutes for Oct 4th meeting: Sept easing measures seen as reasonable in market
- Markets Snapshot (as of 04:30GMT)
- Nikkei225 +1.1%
- S&P/ASX +0.1%
- Kospi +1.1%
- Shanghai Composite -0.3%
- Hang Seng +1.3%
- Dec S&P500 -0.1% at 1,422
- Dec gold -0.2% at $1,713/oz
- Dec Crude Oil -0.3% at $86.85/brl
Asian equity markets are trading mixed as investors brace for the last non-farm payrolls report before next week's U.S. presidential elections. Private sector ADP data released in the US on Thursday beat expectations by about 20K at 158K, but still marked the lowest level in five months. Analysts are questioning ADP's predictive powers given some of it recent methodology changes, however the jobs report, combined with a five-month high ISM Manufacturing print, helped the key U.S. indices rise over 1% on Thursday.
Nikkei225 is among the outperformers regionally as USD/JPY continued to bounce from its key former resistance turned support of ¥79.20 marked earlier this week. The pair returned above the ¥80 handle, coming within 10pips of its multi-month high of ¥80.38. Surprising strength out of Japanese automakers also helped the bounce in Tokyo, as Toyota and Honda rose over 1% and 3% respectively following their monthly sales metrics. Lastly, fairly dovish BoJ meeting minutes from early October further induced JPY weakness, with aggressive tone from policymakers leading up to this week's BoJ easing, affirming BoJ/cabinet officials stance to achieve the central bank's inflation target.
In other USD major pairs, AUD/USD weakened below $1.04 and remained under pressure late in the day after worse than expected Q3 PPI data from Australia. EUR/USD was down about 20 pips below $1.2930 amid concerns over the Greek banking sector, and cable retreated toward the $1.61 handle ahead of UK construction data later in European session. Out of China, PBoC was rumored to be looking to lower serve requirement ratio (RRR) for qualified small financial firms in an effort to narrow the focus of its policy easing efforts.
Fixed Income/Currencies/Commodities
- SLV: iShares Silver Trust ETF daily holdings rise to 9,947 tons from 9,923 tons (highest since Sept 27th)
- JGB: (JP) BoJ's JGB buying operation for bonds due within 1-year had total offers of ¥808B, accepted offers ¥310B
- (U.S.) Weekly Fed Balance Sheet Assets Week ending Oct 31st: $2.805T v $2.823T prior; M1: -$12.9B v +$29.1B prior; M2: +$1.0B v +$28.9B prior
- (CN) China State Council researcher Cheng Guoqiang: 2013 exports may be even worse than 2012 amid persistent weak global demand - China Daily
- (CN) According to China Orient Asset Management Corp, bad loans among commercial lenders will rise about 10% in 2012 vs 2011 - China Daily
- (CN) China New Yuan Loans for 4 largest banks thru Oct 28th at CNY125B vs. CNY160B m/m - financial press
- (JP) Japan LDP leader Abe to join parliamentary deliberations on debt bill - Japanese press
- (AU) Australia Energy Min Ferguson: Expects to see a gas supply shortage in NSW - financial press
- (NZ) New Zealand apartment prices expected to rise - New Zealand Herald
- (GR) Bundesbank's Dombret: Greece is way behing on bailout goals
- (ES) Institute of International Finance (IIF) chief Dallara: Bailout request from Spain would benefit the country and Europe - Spanish press
- (U.S.) Fed's Rosengren (dovish, alternate): Supports bond purchases until unemployment declines to 7.25%
- TM: Reports Oct US sales +15.8% y/y at of 155.2K units v 167Ke
- HMC: Reports Oct US sales +8.8% y/y v+17.5%e
- NSANY: Reports Oct US sales -3.2% y/y at of 79.6K units v 87Ke
- NSANY: To invest THB11B in Thai facility; initial capacity of 75K to gradually increase to 150K units - financial press
- Hyundai Motor 005380.KR: Overnight decline attributed to speculation of potentially large recall in US markets - Korean press
- Hyundai Motor 005380.KR: Reports Oct Sales 412.2K, +14% y/y
- Kia Motors 000270.KR: Reports Oct US vehicle sales +12.6% y/y; to 42.4K units
- Mitsubishi Corp 8058.JP: Reports H1 Net ¥190.4B v ¥246.6B y/y, Op Profit ¥55.7B v ¥168.6B y/y, Rev ¥9.65T v ¥10.01T y/y
- Sojitz 2768.JP: Reports H1 Net ¥3.0B v ¥10.2B y/y, Op Profit ¥16.8B v ¥22.7B y/y, Rev ¥1.95T v ¥2.20T y/y
- Samsung Engineering 028050.KR: Awarded $2.4B contract to build carbon black and delayed coker units in the United Arab Emirates - Korean press
- QAN.AU: Exec: This is a challenging year; portfolio performing well apart from Qantas international
- FSLR: Reports Q3 $1.00 v $1.10e; R$839M v $985Me; -6.1% afterhours
- FLR: Reports Q3 $0.86 v $0.97e, R$7.14B v $7.19Be; -4.4% afterhours
- HIG: Reports Q3 $0.83 v $0.82e, R$6.44B v $6.6Be; -1.9% afterhours
- NEM: Reports Q3 $0.86 adj v $0.90e, R$2.48B v $2.53Be; -1.4% afterhours
- LVS: Reports Q3 $0.46 v $0.60e, R$2.71B v $2.88Be; +1.0% afterhours
- SBUX: Reports Q4 $0.46 v $0.45e, R$3.36B v $3.39Be; +7.5% afterhours
- LNKD: Reports Q3 $0.22 v $0.12e, R$252M v $244Me; +8.0% afterhours
- PCLN: Reports Q3 $12.40 v $11.81e, R$1.7B v $1.66Be; +9.5% afterhours