Volatility in Japanese yen and equities ahead of weekend upper house elections

Asian Market Update: Volatility in Japanese yen and equities ahead of weekend upper house elections; Google, Microsoft earnings disappoint

Economic Data

- (US) NORTH AMERICA JUNE SEMI BOOK/BILL RATIO: 1.10 V 1.08 PRIOR (6th straight month above parity)

- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND JUN NET MIGRATION: 2330 V 1790 PRIOR

- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND JUN CREDIT CARD SPENDING M/M: +2.6% V -0.4% PRIOR; Y/Y: 5.4% V 2.6% PRIOR (highest level since Dec 2011) - (US) Weekly Fed Balance Sheet Assets Week ending July 17th: $3.495T (record high) v $3.462T prior; M1: -$32.9B v +$27.9B prior; M2: -$8.8B v +$81.1B prior

- (JP) Japan investors bought net ¥1.1T in Foreign Bonds last week (2nd consecutive net purchase) vs bought net ¥973.1B prior week; Foreign Investors bought net ¥398.2B in Japan stocks last week vs bought net ¥486.9B in prior week week

Markets Snapshot (as of 03:00 GMT)

- Nikkei225 -1.1%

- S&P/ASX -0.5%

- Kospi +0.2%

- Shanghai Composite +0.2%

- Hang Seng +0.2%

- Sept S&P500 -0.2% at 1,677

- Aug gold +0.2% at $1,288

- Aug crude oil +0.1% at $108.12/brl

Observations/Insights/Currencies

- Google misses on Revenue as costs per click fall 6%, Shares down over 4% in extended session; Microsoft misses on top and bottom lines, citing decline in PC market, as shares fall over 6%.

- PBoC continues to set Yuan weaker, as fin min officials turn cautious on H2; China banking regulators also increasingly concerned over the banking sector, while Shibor rates rise again.

- Australia's Orica down sharply after guiding FY net down 10% y/y; Santos down 3% after downgrade of oil output forecast.

- Rising Yen and falling Nikkei225 increasingly volatile - traders said to adjust positions in the futures markets ahead of the upper house elections on Sunday; Nikkei225 down over 1% coming out of its midday break, while USD/JPY falls below ¥100 - down about 100pips from session highs.

- EUR/USD rises about 50pips to $1.3140 from the lows, AUD/USD up 30pips above $0.9190. Copper and gold tracking weaker USD to the upside.

Fixed Income/Commodities

- GLD: SPDR Gold Trust ETF daily holdings fall by 0.9 tons to 935.2 ton (lowest since 935.1 tons in Feb of 2009)

- SLV: iShares Silver Trust ETF daily holdings rise to 10,284 tons from 10,209 tons (highest since 10,321 on May 16th)

- (CN) PBoC sets yuan mid point at 6.1751 v 6.1413 prior close (weakest Yuan setting since July 7th)

Speakers/Political/In the Papers

- (CN) China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) official Xu: China banks hold CNY9.85T deposits, sufficient to deal with any liquidity issues

- (CN) China state economist Zhu forecasts 2013 GDP 7.5% (in line with official target) - Chinese press

- (CN) China vice Fin Min Zhu: China face more complex external environment in H2 - Chinese press

- (CN) China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) official Wang: China banking sector face severe risks - Chinese press

- (JP) Japan govt to lower fees levied on mobile carriers for use of radio bandwidth beginning FY14 - Japanese press

- (JP) Japan PM adviser Hamada: Japan needs to raise sales tax in medium to long-term - addressing Keidanren forum

- (AU) According to Commonwealth Bank's (CBA) Business Sales Indicator (BSI), Australia June consumer spending rose 8.7% y/y; 10th consecutive increase and 5 1/2 year high - SMH

- (TW) Australia and Chile may consider free trade talks with Taiwan - Taiwan press

- (US) MOODY'S CHANGES US SOVEREIGN OUTLOOK TO STABLE FROM NEGATIVE, AAA RATINGS AFFIRMED

- (US) MUNIS: City of Detroit files for bankruptcy, as expected

- (BR) Fitch affirms Brazil sovereign rating at BBB; Outlook Stable

- NPD: June total video game sales $593.3M v $386.3M m/m, -15% y/y

Equities

- GOOG: Reports Q2 $9.56 v $10.79e, R$11.1B v $11.3Be; -4.1% afterhours

- MSFT: Reports Q4 adj $0.52 (includes charges) v $0.74e, R$19.9B v $20.6Be; -6.3% afterhours

- AMD: Reports Q2 -$0.09 v -$0.12e, R$1.16B v $1.11Be; -3.9% afterhours

- CYT: Reports Q2 $1.51 (adj) v $1.27e, R$514M v $505Me; -4.6% afterhours

- ISRG: Reports Q2 $3.90 v $4.05e, R$578.5M v $575Me (*Note: reported prelim Q2 R$575M on 7/8); -5.7% afterhours

- CE: Reports Q2 $1.12 v $1.16e, R$1.65B v $1.66Be; -6.3% afterhours

- BA: Japan Airlines 787 Dreamliner flight said to have been rerouted back to Boston due to a mechanical issue - financial press citing a Twitter post; -1.3% afterhours

- CYH: Reports prelim Q2 Rev $3.24B v $3.88Be; Guides FY13 EPS $2.95-3.25 v $3.65e, Rev $13.0-13.4B v 15.5Be; -17.8% afterhours

- COF: Reports Q2 $1.87 v $1.74e, R$5.64B v $5.52Be; +2.3% afterhours

- CMG: Reports Q2 $2.85 (ex $0.03 tax adjustment) v $2.82e, R$816.8M v $803Me; +5.3% afterhours

- SYD.AU: Reports Jun traffic +2.7% y/y v +2.8% prior

- ORI.AU: Guides FY13 NPAT: -10% y/y; -13%

- STO.AU: Reports Q2 Rev A$797M +8% y/y, production 12.4Mmboe v 13.5Me; lowers FY13 output guidance by 3% to 52-55Mmboe (53-57MMBOE prior) on deferred production; -3%

- MGX.AU: Reports Q4 iron ore sales 2.34MT v 1.16MT y/y

- TEPCO 9501.JP: Nuclear regulator states plant restart will take over a year - Japanese press

- Ikyu 2450.JP: May report Q1 pretax ¥400M +26% y/y (record high), Rev ¥1.2B +17% y/y - Nikkei News

- Sharp 6753.JP: May report Q1 Op loss ¥7-8B; Considering plans to raise ¥100B through share issuance - Japanese press

- Fujitsu 6702.JP: To partner with Nippon Telegraph And Telephone Corp on the development of video compression chips for next-generation television broadcasting systems - Nikkei News