Chinese markets lag, UST yields and USD trade higher, Fed’s Powell is due to speak later on Thurs

General trend

- 10-yr JGB yield remains above 25bps.

- BOJ to conduct unlimited fixed rate operation on 10-year JGBs for consecutive days until Tuesday, Apr 26th [the next BOJ policy meeting is scheduled for Apr 27-28th].

- Japan Fin Min Suzuki and US Treasury Sec Yellen to meet this week, possibly on Apr 21st (Thurs) – Press.

- NZD declines as CPI accelerated less than expected.

- Offshore Yuan (CNH) extends drop; Yuan was again fixed weaker, Chinese equities decline.

- Shanghai Composite extended declines during morning trading [Industrial and Consumer stocks lagged]; Xi spoke.

- CNOOC rises over 40% in Shanghai debut.

- Hang Seng declines by over 1.5%.

- Nikkei 225 outperforms amid the weaker yen.

- S&P ASX 200 trades slightly higher.

- BHP drops after issuing production update.

- Nasdaq FUTs rise after results from Tesla.

- China’s Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) sometimes holds weekly news conferences on Thurs.

- Japan Mar CPI data due on Fri (Apr 22nd).

- Companies due to report during the NY morning include American Airlines, AutoNation, The Blackstone Group, Quest Diagnostics, Danaher, Dow Inc, Freeport-McMoRan, Genuine Parts, Marsh & McLennan, Nucor, Philip Morris, Pentair, Pool Corp, Sonoco Products, AT&T, Union Pacific.

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened 0.0%.

- (NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q1 CPI Q/Q: 1.8% V 2.0%E; Y/Y 6.9% V 7.1%E.

- (NZ) New Zealand Q1 RBNZ Sectoral Factor Model inflation Index Y/Y: 4.2% v 3.8% prior; Sectoral Factor Model Non-Tradable Core Y/Y: 4.4% v 4.2% prior.

- BHP.AU Reports Q3 Iron Ore production (100% basis, Waio) 66.7Mt v 66.7Mt y/y; Waio Iron Ore Shipments 67.1Mt v 66.0Mt y/y; Attributable Iron ore production Mt v 59.9Mt y/y.

- BXB.AU Reports 9M Rev $4.1B v $3.8B y/y; Raises FY guidance.

- STO.AU Reports Q3 Rev $1.92B v $964M y/y; Production 26.0 MMBOE v 24.8 y/y.

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened +0.2%.

- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Gov Kuroda: Reiterates that important FX reflects fundamentals.

- (JP) Japan Ruling Parties said to have agreed to create a FY22 extra budget - Japanese press.

- (JP) Japan Govt said to aim to increase battery storage production by 20x by 2030 – Press.

- (JP) Japan Investors Net Buying of Foreign Bonds: -¥72.7B v +¥10.2B prior; Foreign Net Buying of Japan Stocks: ¥406.5B v ¥1.68T prior.

- (JP) Japan Fin Min Suzuki: Currency not major discussion at G7; Will maintain existing G7 agreements on FX.

Korea

- Kospi opened +0.3%.

- (KR) South Korea Mar PPI M/M: 1.3% v 0.5% prior; Y/Y: 8.8% v 8.4% prior.

- (KR) South Korea Apr 1-20th Exports Y/Y: 16.9% v 10.1% prior; Imports Y/Y: 25.5% v 18.9% prior; Chip Exports y/y: 22.9% v 30.8% prior.

- (KR) IMF Official Kaufman: South Korea should continue with policy normalization, need to under take structural reforms, calibrate scale and scope of stimulus.

- (KR) South Korea Fin Min: Calling for policy coordination for fallout from Ukraine war.

- (KR) South Korea said to reconsider planned stock capital gains tax – press (after the close yesterday).

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened -0.8%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.4%.

- (CN) China President Xi: Global Economic recovery is weak; Calls for coordinated macroeconomic and coronavirus policies among countries - Boao forum comments.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.4098 v 6.3996 prior.

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY10B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B prior; Net CNY0B v Net CNY0B prior.

- (CN) Shanghai reports 18,495 coronavirus cases v 18,901 prior.

- (CN) China still has room to cut the LPRs, cites analysts [PBOC unexpectedly left the loan prime rates unchanged on Apr 20th] – China Securities Journal.

- (CN) China Sec Times: CNY has room to fall due to weaker exports, possible fund outflows from emerging markets and faster Fed rate hikes.

- (CN) China reported to be pushing personal pension development; To set upper limit on individual pensions at CNY12K - Press.

- (CN) Shanghai, China Local Banking and Insurance Regulator: To step up financial support related to the resumption of production.

North America

- UAL Reports Q1 -$4.24 v -$4.19e, Rev $7.57B v $7.68Be; Sees strongest demand environment in decades.

- TSLA Reports Q1 $3.22 v $2.15e, Rev $18.8B v $17.3Be.

Europe

- (IE) Ireland Apr Consumer Confidence: 57.7 v 67.0 prior.

- (DE) German Fin Min Linder tested positive for coronavirus.

Levels as of 00:15ET

- Hang Seng -1.4%; Shanghai Composite -1.2%; Kospi +0.5%; Nikkei225 +1.2%; ASX 200 +0.3%.

- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.4%; Nasdaq100 +0.7%, Dax +0.1%; FTSE100 +0.3%.

- EUR 1.0857-1.0824; JPY 128.63-127.83; AUD 0.7455-0.7421; NZD 0.6811-0.6767.

- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.0% at $1,953/oz; Crude Oil +0.8% at $103.05/brl; Copper -0.4% at $4.65/lb.