Higher pork prices continue to drive above target CPI in China

Asia Market Update: Indices opened generally lower in the face of continued tariff uncertainty; Higher pork prices continue to drive above target CPI in China; Equity futures rise as Kushner commented on China

General Trend:

- Shanghai Composite underperforms in early trading, financial and property shares are among the decliners

- Chinese bond yields rise after higher than expected CPI data

- Hang Seng trades flat in early trading, financials move generally higher while property and gaming companies trade mixed

- Decliners in Australia include Consumer Discretionary, Energy and Financial companies; Resources sector rises

- Japanese equities opened lower amid declines in Marine/Transportation, Iron/Steel and Financial companies

- Japan 10-yr JGB yield trades at highest level since March, JGB Futures declined ahead of 5-yr auction results

- China’s CPI accelerated in Nov, pork prices rose 110% y/y

- RBA Gov Lowe suggested that the weakness in consumption in Q3 was a surprise ; Aussie 3-year yield declines over 2bps during session

- Australian data mixed: NAB business confidence declined m/m, Q3 housing prices rose at fastest q/q pace since 2016

- Hong Kong Chief Exec Lam confirmed upcoming visit to Beijing, characterized the meeting as ‘regular duty visit’

- Taiwan Semi expected to release monthly sales later today

- US House Democrats’ Working Group member said USMCA announcement expected on Tuesday (Dec 10th)

- US Fed FOMC due to hold policy meeting Dec 10-11th (Tues-Wed)

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

- ASX 200 opened +0.1%

- (AU) AUSTRALIA Q3 HOUSE PRICE INDEX Q/Q: 2.4% V 1.5%E (largest rise since Q4 2016); Y/Y: -3.7% V -4.6%E

- (AU) AUSTRALIA NOV NAB BUSINESS CONFIDENCE: 0 V 2 PRIOR; BUSINESS CONDITIONS: 4 V 3 PRIOR

- (AU) Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Gov Lowe: Slow implementation of new payments platform has been disappointing, faster progress needs to be made to take full advantage of digital economy - speech A Payments System for the Digital Economy

-BOQ.AU Chairman: Finalizing strategy to improve performance; Guides FY20 cash earnings lower y/y; Rev in line y/y and to be a difficult year - AGM

-(AU) Australia sells A$150M v A$150M indicated in 0.75% Nov 2027 indexed bonds, avg yield -0.3128%, bid to cover 3.13x

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opened -0.3%

- JGB Japan 10-year JGB yield trades at 0% (highest since March)

- (JP) Japan Econ Min Nishimura: Overall Japan retail consumption weak since Oct, though the drop is not as large as last sales tax hike; see the economy gradually recovering

- (JP) Japan Finance Min Aso said to have noted that PM Abe should not rule out a 4th term - US financial press

- 8058.JP Mitsubishi and Nippon Yusen to join SBM Offshore's floating production storage and offloading facility (FPSO) – Nikkei

- (JP) Japan Cabinet Sec Suga: Important to continue to explain importance of WTO to the US, concerned about WTO appeals court not functioning

- (JP) Japan MoF sells ¥1.9T v ¥1.9T prior in 0.1% coupon 5-year JGB: avg yield: -0.083% v -0.190% prior, bid to cover: 4.0x v 4.0x prior

- (JP) Japan PM Abe: Will not hesitate to hold elections if time is appropriate (overnight)

Korea

- Kospi opened -0.4%

- (NK) North Korea official: President Trump needs to think twice or might see catastrophic consequences, he needs to stop abusive language that may offend leader Kim

- 005930.KR Seoul court handed jail terms of up to 2-years to executives for destroying evidence in relation to an alleged accounting fraud at Samsung BioLogics

- 009540.KR Proposed merger with Daewoo will face a full scale investigation in Europe due to serious EU antitrust concerns – press

- (KR) South Korea expects North Korea provocation and possible engine test by North Korea before Dec 25th - South Korea press

China/Hong Kong

- Hang Seng opened -0.4%; Shanghai Composite opened -0.2%

- (CN) CHINA NOV CPI M/M: 0.4% V 0.9% PRIOR; Y/Y: 4.5% V 4.3%E (highest annual reading since Jan 2012); Pork prices +3.8% m/m: +110% y/y

- (CN) Follow Up: People's Daily: China official digital currency is 'imminent', notes initial trials in Shenzhen are seen at the end of 2019

- (HK) Hong Kong Chief Exec Lam: Will be departing to Beijing on Saturday for regular duty visit; purpose of duty visit is to give full account of what has been happening in the city this year

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan Reference Rate: 7.0400 v 7.0405 prior

- (CN) China PBoC Open Market Operation (OMO): Skips for 15th consecutive session; Net drains CNY0B v CNY0B prior

- (CN) US China trade deal not expected this week, with the US focused on the USMCA deal but sources in both China and the US believe that new tariffs will not go into place as it would place too much economic pressure on both countries - SCMP

- (CN) China Think Tank CASS sees China 2020 GDP at 6% - China Daily

- (CN) China Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (CASDE) Raises 2019-2020 soybean import outlook at 87.7Mt

- (CN) China Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) sees 2019 foreign trade volume at CNY30T, approx flat y/y; expects foreign trade to remain stable in 2020 - financial press (update)

North America

- (US) Democrats and White House reach tentative USMCA trade deal; could hold vote in the House by Dec 18th – CNBC

- (US) US House Majority Leader Hoyer (D) : Reiterates agreement 'close' on USMCA trade deal

-(US) Speaker Pelosi: Final USMCA deal not agreed to, must see our implementating legislation

- (US) White House Adviser Kushner: We are heading in a good direction on China talks; reiterated if the agreement is right for the US, Trump will sign deal with China

- (US) US lawmakers said to reach agreement on $738B annual defense policy bill; Senate and House committees announce the details of the defense bill report - financial press

Europe

- (UK) ICM/Reuters general election poll: Tories 42% (unch), Labour 36% (+1), Lib Dems 12%, Brexit 3%

Levels as of 12:15ET

- Hang Seng -0.1%; Shanghai Composite -0.1%; Kospi +0.4%; Nikkei225 -0.1%; ASX 200 -0.3%

- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq100 +0.1%, Dax +0.1%; FTSE100 +0.2%

- EUR 1.1072-1.1062; JPY 108.67-108.55; AUD 0.6837-0.6819; NZD 0.6568-0.6541

- Commodity Futures: Gold +0.1% at $1,466/oz; Crude Oil -0.1% at $58.94/brl; Copper -0.1% at $2.75/lb