Nasdaq FUTS rise in Asia ahead of month-end, Apple gains after earnings, Samsung commented on HBM

Asia market update: Nasdaq FUTS rise in Asia ahead of month-end, Apple gains after earnings, Samsung commented on HBM; BOJ Gov Ueda scheduled to appear before parliament from 2:35 pm (local time) [12:35 AM EST].

General trend

- Trump reiterated BRICS tariff warning.

- -2-year JGB yield rose above 0.73% after bond auction.

- Seeing less impact from headlines related to DeepSeek.

- No major impact seen from Japan ‘data dump’.

- Korean markets played catchup after extended holiday.

- Chinese markets remain on holiday.

- Corporate earnings still in focus.

- US PCE data also due.

Headlines/economic data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 opens +0.1% at 8,502; The index later trades at a fresh record high of 8,525.

-AOFM [Australia debt agency] to issue 2036 Treasury bond through syndication during the week of Feb 3rd [inline].

-Australia sells A$800M v A$800M indicated in 2030 Bonds: Avg Yield: 3.9547%; bid-to-cover: 4.41x.

-Australia Q4 PPI Q/Q: 0.8% v 1.0% prior; Y/Y: 3.7% v 3.9% prior.

-Australia Dec Private Sector Credit M/M: 0.6% v 0.5%e; Y/Y: 6.5% v 6.3% prior.

China/Hong Kong

-Hang Seng closed for holiday [**Note: HK markets are closed on Jan 29th-31st for the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday.].

-Shanghai Composite closed for holiday [**Reminder: China expanded market closures for Lunar New Year Holiday from 6 to 8 days [Jan 28th through Feb 4th], effective from Jan 28th 2025 - press].

Japan

- Nikkei 225 opens +0.2% at 39,574.

- Japan Jan Tokyo CPI Y/Y: 3.4% V 3.0%E; CPI (EX-FRESH FOOD) Y/Y: 2.5% V 2.5%E.

- Japan Dec preliminary Industrial Production M/M: 0.3% V 0.2%E; Y/Y: -1.1% V -2.2%E.

- Japan Dec Retail Sales M/M: -0.7% V -0.1%E; Y/Y: 3.7% V 3.2%E.

- Japan Dec jobless rate: 2.4% V 2.5%E.

- Japan Dec Annualized Housing Starts: 787K v 777Ke; Y/Y: -2.5% v -3.9%e.

- Japan sells ¥2.6T VS. ¥2.6T indicated in 0.700% 2-year JGB bonds; AVG yield: 0.7270% V 0.6020% prior; bid-to-cover: 4.06 V 3.95X prior.

-Nissan [7201.JP]: Says planning to announce direction of possible integration with Honda by mid- Feb.

Korea

- Kospi opens flat at 2,534.

-Samsung Electronics: Reports Q4 final (KRW) Net 7.58T v 7.05Te , Op 6.49T v 6.50T prelim, Rev 75.8T v 75.0T prelim; affirms 2025 memory Capex to be inline with 2024.

-Samsung: NVIDIA said to approve 8-layer HBM3E AI memory - press [***Note: Nvidia has so far exclusively sourced HBM3E chips from SK Hynix; Aug 6th 2024: Reportedly Nvidia clears Samsung 8-layer HBM3E chips for use in AI chipsets, but 12-layer HBM3E chips have not yet passed Nvidia qualification tests – press].

- South Korea Information Privacy Watchdog Official: to ask DeepSeek about policy on personal information collection and use.

Other Asia

-US probes if Deepseek got NVIDIA chips through Singapore middlemen - press [**Reminder on 12/02 2024 *(CN) Follow up: US reportedly to expand its powers to curb exports of certain advanced chip-making equipment made in places such as Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Israel; Netherlands and Japan exempted from the expanded foreign direct product rule - financial press].

North America

- (US) President Trump: [Again] Warns of 100% tariffs if BRICS seek to replace the USD; Reiterates no chance BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade; 'any country' trying to replace the US dollar will 'face tariffs'.

- (US) Pres Trump announces Canadian and Mexican tariffs will be 25% because of Fentanyl.

- (US) Q4 advance GDP annualized Q/Q: 2.3% V 2.6%E; personal consumption: 4.2% V 3.2%E.

Europe

- ECB cuts key rates by 25bps; as expected.

- (UK) Jan Lloyds Business Barometer: 37 v 39 prior.

Levels as of 00:20 ET

- Nikkei 225, +0.2%, ASX 200 +0.5% , Hang Seng closed; Shanghai Composite closed ; Kospi -1.2%.

- Equity S&P500 Futures: +0.3%; Nasdaq100 +0.5%, Dax flat.

- EUR 1.0407-1.0377 ; JPY 154.70-153.91 ; AUD 0.6230-0.6203 ;NZD 0.5649-0.5624.

- Gold 0.1% at $2,848/oz; Crude Oil +0.9% at $73.36/brl; Copper -0.1% at $4.3070/lb.