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Asian Markets The story of the day is the arrest of Huawei Tech CFO Meng Wanzhou.    Apparently, she has been arrested in Canada at the request of the United States.  Reports indicate the arrest occurred while Pres. Trump and Prem. Xi were conducting trade talks!  China is voicing its outrage and calling for her immediate release.  Here are more details pertaining to the story.  Naturally, the markets are worried about the impact this will have on trade negotiations. This drove all the Asian markets lower and most by well over 1%.  Sector performance was terrible.   All the major sectors were well to the downside.  Health care gave way by 3% with IT and telcos off by 2.5% or more.  Within IT, Apple suppliers ended the day down by 3.8%, as a whole.  (See Largan comments below.) Other Important Headlines The Huawei story wasn’t the only negative for the tech sector.  Apple supplier Largan Precision -9.95% sees December sales falling m/m.  This follows November sales which slumped 29.0% y/y. Sources allege Softbank’s -4.9% IPO of its telecom unit is fully subscribed including the over allotment shares.  That is a total of 176b shares, raising c. $24b.  The shares commence trading…

Asian Headlines A mixed close to the day with a mostly disappointing finish. While mainland China and Hong Kong managed small gains the balance of the major markets gave back most of yesterday’s gains.  The Nikkei underperformed even more so, giving back gains made over the last 4 days on broad weakness.  Moves in energy names in the region have been to the downside even as oil prices continue to rebound.  Markets may have gotten ahead of themselves on US/China deal hopes with WH EcoAdv Larry Kudlow stating there exists a 90 day timetable for a deal which could extend to April 1st, if a deal at all materializes. Of interest the China Daily today yesterday reported the country is considering lowering US auto tariffs.  The China Securities Daily later noted officials are in talks with expectations of tariffs returning to original levels.  On that autos Chinese automakers fell Tuesday. Chipmakers slipped as well with one broker noting DRAM prices, and NAND, continue to move south. Samsung Electronics fell 2.5% while Hynix fell 2.1%.  In Korea GDP met estimates, holding steady at .6% QoQ growth but inflation fell in November a bit more than expected. Sharp closed down 5.7% with…

Asian Headlines Another mixed session in Asia with mainland China regaining a good bit of Thursday’s losses.  This was post Manufacturing PMI that while remained in expansion territory missed estimates.  For November the reading came at 50.0, a hair light of the previous 50.2 reading and like estimate. New export orders saw some growth but remained under the 50 level with a 47.0 reading.  Non-manufacturing missed as well but markets there shook off the news to see almost all sectors to the upside.  Elsewhere gains and losses were kept in check except for Australia which saw some sizable losses in Consumer Staple names along with RE and some discretionarys. Volumes today were higher with the MSCI rebalance taking effect. Also in focus the G20 kicks off tonight with Presidents Trump and Xi to dine while a new trading agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico is expected to be signed. In addition to China’s PMI Industrial production in Japan beat estimates while construction orders fell 16.5% in October.  Industrial Production moved back to positive levels in South Korea with their central bank upping their repo rate 25bps as expected. SK’s central bank also weighed on semis there today with a…

Asian Headlines For the most part Asia did not take the cue from the US post its strong run on Wednesday.  Gain were slight with markets that were up with mainland China disappointing on the session.   Ahead of official PMI readings tonight the Shenzhen was off over 2% with sizable weakness in IT and Financials with the same weighing on the Shanghai. Japan edged higher with Health Care and Industrials better with retail sales exceeding estimates.  South Korea’s indices were mixed with department store sales there disappointing.  Tomorrow their central bank is expected to increase their 7 day repo rate by 25bps to 1.75%.   Down Under IT names were better bid with Materials also to the upside.  Markets of course are interested if any progress will be made at this weekend’s G20 meeting to be held in Buenos Aires.   One highlight expected is that President Xi will tell President Trump they are continuing to open markets there adding the government will lessen support for SOE’s. Movers include Mitsui & Co +.9% with the conglomerate increasing their stakes in Asia’s largest private hospital group for ¥230B. Softbank rallied 3.1% on word they attained their ¥2T retail sales target for their telecom…

Asian Markets A mixed day around the region as the markets had some conflicting trade related comments balanced by a strong start to the U.S. holiday retail season.  A perfect example of the mix in the indices is Greater China.  Hong Kong and Shanghai ticked down small while Shenzhen and Taiwan advanced.  JP Morgan is cautious on Chinese equities over the next 3-6 months. Here is a recap of the trade banter highlighted above.  Pres. Trump indicates additional tariffs may be imposed upon $267b of goods.  That could include a 10% tariff on mobile phones and laptops manufactured in China.  The markets had a mild uptick when a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry stated Pres. Trump and Premier Xi had reach an agreement.  However, he was referring to the call held back on Nov. 1st.  Equities quickly gave back the advance once that became apparent. All the above created the following sector performance.  IT, consumer discretionary and telcos were better by more than 0.5%.  Within IT, Apple suppliers were mixed.  Those with manufacturing in Chine lagged while those in operations in other markets outperformed.  Consumer staples and health care gave way by about 0.5%. Headlines from the Region Australian bankers…

Asian Markets Most of the region traded lower.  However, volumes were low following the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and given Japan and India were closed.  The Chinese markets suffered heavy selling pressure on trade concerns.  The Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. is asking allies to refrain from purchasing telecommunications equipment from Huawei Technologies.   Australia traded higher for the second consecutive session with Goldman noting the risk of a recession Down Under are small.  All the major sectors ended the day lower. Basic resources and miners were the hardest hit falling by a touch more than 1.0%. Important Headlines ZTE and suppliers to Huawei traded lower on the story noted above. Chinese rail stocks initially chugged higher before paring gains.  The high speed rail unit of state owned China Railway Corp. will list during H1 of next year, according “sources.”  The report indicates the deal will be in the neighborhood of c. $4.3b After yesterday’s close, Nissan officially dismissed Mr. Ghosn from the board.  The company indicates it wishes to maintain and strengthen the alliance with Renault. Bernstein sees top miners including BHP and Rio Tinto cutting iron ore shipments 6.4% y/y during Q4. European Markets Europe spent the first half…

Asian Markets Following the U.S. tech route, the Asian markets were lower across the board.  Malaysia and Thailand were closed.   The dominant theme was the impact of yesterday’s Wall Street Journal Apple report.  Our basket of Asian Apple suppliers ended the day c. 1.8% lower.  IT as a whole was off more than 2%.  All the other major sectors were also to the downside, most more than 1%. Other Important Headlines Following yesterday’s arrest of Carlos Ghosn, Nissan Motors -5.5% and Mitsusbishi Motors -6.9% were a focal point in Japan.  While all companies involved are taking action to remove Mr. Ghosn from their respective boards, the market is pondering the future of the strategic, global alliance. Another theme carrying through from yesterday was the BAML report warning about slowing Chinese watch demand. Chow Tai Fook -1.5% and peers sold off. Fletcher Building -10.8% adds to concerns for the housing market Down Under.  It sees a decline to H1 earnings noting a challenging Australian market. Xiaomi +8.4% bucked the day’s trend.  Q3 revenues and NI beat as emerging markets offset slowing smartphone sales. European Markets Europe started to the downside hitting a low of c. 1% a little more than 2 hours…

Markets Overview Today was all about Brexit.  (You may have heard of it.)  PM Teresa May is now in the political fight of her life.  She spoke to Parliament for well over 3 hours.  Her Brexit minister resigned along with several other cabinet ministers.  To top it off,  Pro-Brexit leader Rees-Mogg is gathering parliament members for a no-confidence vote.  This link is a good recap of it all including the sticking points.  For its part, EU members are considering an upcoming meeting on Nov. 25th to prepare for a No Brexit scenario.  Stay tuned. This kept the markets lower for most of the session.  Interestingly, the U.K. managed to end the day basically flat.  However, that was largely due to energy and miners.  The £ suffered heavy selling pressure.  The concern is not simply related to Brexit.  There are worries this could lead to the Labour (not a typo) party gaining control of Parliament. Other than the two sectors we highlighted above, the rest ended the day lower.  The vast majority by at least 1%.  Losses of 2% or more were scene among travel/leisure, financials, retail and utilities. The energy markets have crude higher by more than 1% as well…

Action was fairly volatile today with the early selloff giving way to a move higher that took European indices to gains and the high of the day at the US open.  From there as the US sold off so did Europe finishing the day with mostly mild losses. As noted earlier Sweden continued to lag with Switzerland and Italy also skewing the average. On a sector basis the Autos ended up 80bps with a reprieve for now on tariffs while Utility and Travel names saw some gains.  Basic Resources ended down 1.65%, joining Chemicals, Industrials, and Health Care with losses of over a percent. Back to Brexit, headlines hit the Cabinet meeting with PM May has been extended and could run until 7:00 locally.  Push back is expected with one news outlet noting 10 ministers may express they do not support the deal as written and demand change.  While higher on the day the Pound has pulled back as the meeting wears on.   ***As this goes to print TTN reports a BBC reporter has quoted a senior Tory saying Brexiteer anger is so high that is seems likely a no confidence vote will be called tomorrow***  On that the Pound…

A couple of late session headlines boosted indices in Europe to close better on the day.  First, WH Econ Adviser Kudlow made comments on CNBC that discussions with China are back on, inline with yesterday’s headlines. Second, the UK Times said a high level cabinet meeting will occur tomorrow ahead of a larger meeting in what could be a signing off of the Brexit deal.  Post the close headlines note a deal is quite possibly imminent but comments from conservatives and Boris Johnson show not all are onboard. The Pound was a steady gainer today, blipping higher on the headlines and regaining the 1.30 level.  On the session the FTSE 100 closed flat, helped by the strong performance in Vodafone +7.8%.  The sentiment extended to the Euro as well as the currency held the 1.12 level.   The rebound in tech names and automakers pushed the DAX to lead on the session.  Across the region Travel names were also in the mix of winners with all but a few sectors higher. On continued weakness in oil prices Energy finished down 1.8% on the day. Tobacco names continued south today in face of the FDA’s focus on menthol flavoring in cigarettes. BATS…