Quiet equity trading session seen amid holidays and dearth of major weekend news

General trend

- 2-yr UST yield trades slightly higher following holiday, 10-yr yield moves slightly lower.

- Modest decline seen for WTI Crude FUTs.

- US Natural Gas FUTs rise by >4.5%.

- US equity FUTS have remained slightly higher.

- Nikkei 225 eased after opening flat; index heavyweights decline [Fast Retailing, Softbank Group].

- Shanghai Composite erases slight advance.

- AU and NZ markets resume trading on Wed (Dec 29th).

Headlines/Economic data

Australia/New Zealand

-ASX 200 closed for holiday.

- (AU) South Australia reimposing some COVID restrictions, with record COVID cases over Christmas break.

Japan

-Nikkei 225 opened 0.0%.

- (JP) Bank of Japan (BOJ) Summary of Opinions for Dec Meeting: Sees CPI rising moderately into positive territory in the short run due to rise in energy prices.

- (JP) Japan PM Kishida cabinet approval rating +4ppt to 65% - Nikkei.

- 6503.JP Japan Defense Ministry: Cyberattack in January last year included data files that may impact Japan’s national security – press.

- (JP) JAPAN NOV RETAIL SALES M/M: 1.2% V 1.3%E; Y/Y: 1.9% V 1.7%E (3rd consecutive increase); ex-fuel -0.5% y/y.

- 9843.JP Reports 9M Net ¥75.7B v ¥76.7B y/y, Op ¥108.0B v ¥118.5B, Rev ¥606.2B v ¥540.2B y/y (reported Friday, shares down -9.5%).

- (JP) Japan MOF sells ¥3.0T v ¥3.0T indicated in 0.00% 2-year JGBs: Avg Yield: -0.093% v -0.121% prior; bid-to-cover: 4.25x v 4.05x prior.

- (JP) Japan Industry Ministry: To hold auction on Feb 9th to sell 100K kilolitres of oil from national reserve.

Korea

-Kospi opened +0.1%.

-(KR) South Korea Fin Min Hong: Seeking to submit application for Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in April.

- (KR) South Korea President Moon calls on companies like Samsung to quicken the rate of youth employment.

China/Hong Kong

-Hang Seng closed for holiday; Shanghai Composite opened -0.1%.

- (CN) China PBoC quarterly meeting: Pledges more support for the real economy along with more "proactive" use of policy tools, which is more targeted and autonomous; reiterates prudent policy to be flexible and appropriate.

- 2382.HK Sunny Zhejiang Optics and others subscribe for capital of CNY22B by way of capital injection into Sunny Optical Technology.

- (CN) China Nov Industrial Profits Y/Y: 9.0% v 24.6% prior.

- 3333.HK Chairman Yann: Will deliver 39K units of properties in Dec v less than 10K from the last 3 months combined.

- (CN) China PBOC sets Yuan reference rate: 6.3686 v 6.3692 prior.

- (CN) China PBOC Open Market Operation (OMO): Sells CNY50B in 7-day reverse repos v CNY10B prior; Net inject: CNY40B v CNY10B prior.

- (CN) China approved 3 new IPOs for ChiNext board - Xinhua.

- (CN) China said to be considering to cut 2022 GDP Growth target to 5.5-6.0% - Nikkei (Friday after the close).

- (HK) Authorities removed a part of the "Pillar of Shame" statue by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot which paid tribute to the victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing, at the University of Hong Kong, the remainder of the statue was covered – press.

- (CN) China CSRC (securities regulator) issues market consultation on overseas listing rules: qualified VIE structures will be eligible for listing.

- (CN) China Ministry of Finance (MOF): To implement bigger tax, fee cuts in 2022, fiscal spending to be more targeted in 2022.

Other

- (TR) Turkey President Erdogan said to have told his economists Turkish lira (TRY) to appreciate slowly – press.

North America

- (US) US airlines have cancelled additional 1,000 flights Sunday due to COVID infections impacting staffing.

- MA Reports holiday shopping sales from Nov 1 to Dec 24th +8.5% y/y.

- REGN US has halted the distribution of Regeneron and Eli Lilly COVID antibody treatments, cited omicron efficacy concerns - US financial press.

Europe

- ROG.CH COVID-19 At-Home Test granted FDA Emergency Use Authorization to expand access to rapid self-testing solutions in the United States.

- (RU) According to Germany's Gascade, on Dec 26th Yamal-Europe pipeline (delivers Russian gas to Western Europe) was sending the fuel back to Poland for 6th consecutive day – press.

- (RU) Russia President Putin: Efforts to contain inflation must be continued; European Union can only blame its own policies for record gas prices as some of its members resell cheap Russian gas at much higher prices within the bloc.

Levels as of 00:15ET

- Hang Seng closed for holiday; Shanghai Composite -0.2%; Kospi -0.4%; Nikkei225 -0.4%; ASX 200 closed for holiday.

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

- EUR 1.1326-1.1311; JPY 114.47-114.31; AUD 0.7242-0.7222; NZD 0.6828-0.6801.

- Commodity Futures: Gold -0.1% at $1,810/oz; Crude Oil -0.9% at $73.16/brl; Copper -0.7% at $4.37/lb.