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Asian Headlines Mainland China led to the downside today, selling off in the afternoon hours on weakness in the IT and Communication space. Turnover was flat ahead a slew of data released after the close and noted below.  Hong Kong fell again with same sectors weak as some previously closed bank branches reopened.  The Nikkei conversely saw mild gains with the Energy sector leading as related names played catch to the attack headlines that hit post yesterday’s close.  Australia closed just above flat with Materials and Energy leading as iron ore continues to strengthen. The AUD$ fell with both National Australia Bank and Royal Bank of Canada both noting they see additional rate cuts ahead.  The Kiwi Dollar also fell on disappointing Manufacturing PMI data. Post the close Chinese Industrial Production grew at 5.0% in May, light of estimates and at the slowest pace in 17 years. Retail sales results were encouraging, ahead of estimates with Property Investment slowing a bit. Sony rallied 3% with a fund investing $1.5B into it with a push coming to offload their semiconductor unit. Bank of East Asia fell 9% on warnings of a “material decrease” in 1H NI, citing an expected impairment loss…

Asian Markets Following the losses in the West on trade concerns, the most of the region’s markets gave ground today.  Hong Kong suffered the most as citizens continue to protest a proposed extradition bill.  This is driving Hibor rates higher.  They are currently at levels not seen since 2008.   We all remember how well that year went. Most sectors end the day red.  Real estate, especially in Hong Kong and IT fell more than 1%.  Materials managed an advance of c. 0.25%. Important Headlines Chinese inflation data for both overall CPI and PPI were inline with expectations.  Food prices continue to accelerate gaining 7.7% y/y vs. the prior reading of 6.1%. Softbank -2.4% reacted to yesterday’s news a consortium of states filed an antitrust suit to block the T-Mobile/Sprint merger. China Tobacco +9.6% was on fire in its trading debut on the Hong Kong Exchange. After the local close, China released various lending data.  New CNY loans for May are below expectations. European Markets The European markets have been lower since the open.  Any attempts to pare the declines have faltered at c. 0.3%.  They are currently trading near the lows. Boris Johnson “officially” declared his candidacy to head the…

As noted earlier several large European markets were shut today with small gains seen today on sharply slower turnover.  Roughly 2/3’rds of the Stoxx 600 sectors finished higher with Basic Resources and Banks leading with gains of over a percent.  It was not only the US that saw merger activity with a few notable acquisitions in Europe as well. On the economic front ECB board members are wondering aloud that inflation continues to ease with a cut in rates being more talked about. Germany’s rep said the US/China trade spat may cut a percent off of global trade with the IMF’s Lagarde citing the spat in noting global GDP could slip .5% next year because of it. Finnish construction equipment seller Ramirent ticked up 65% with French firm Loxam offering to buy the firm for €9.00 a share.  The board recommends shareholders accept the bid.  The combination of company’s will see revenue of about €2.2B yearly with over 1000 branches. Air Liquide fell .7% on word they will offload their industrial gas unit to China’s Fujian, their customer in Southeast China. Finland’s Metso +1.6% is buying Canadian mobile crushing firm McCloskey for €279M. To the downside, gold miner Avesoro Resources…

Asian Markets There was certainly plenty of top down news for the markets to digest today.  Early on, the region was down as Pres. Trump stated “not enough” progress was made in US-Mexican trade talks.  Specifically regarding China, locals were not impressed by a new PBoC medium term loan facility of CNY 500b.  This was an injection of liquidity to offset maturing loans.  A large U.S.-Taiwan arms deal was also not taken well.  The ChiNext closed in bear market territory.  India gave ground following yesterday’s holiday and the RBI cutting its GDP forecasts for FY20.  The central bank now sees growth at 7% vs. 7.2% previously and changed its policy stance to accommodative.  S. Korea was closed in honor of its Memorial Day. However, China provided some lift to the markets which helped Hong Kong end the day higher.  Headlines hit that China intends to “boost” auto, home appliance and electronics consumption.  Details are vague but the markets that were open did catch a bid, as a result.  Most of the core markets were already closed including the Chinese mainland exchanges.  That headline coincided with Pres. Trump stating once again tariffs could be imposed on another $300b worth of Chinese…

Asian Headlines After the disappointing finish in the States Asia closed mixed with a bias towards losses.  Like in the US, defensives saw selling with Consumer Staples and Utilities weighing on the Nikkei with Australia adding Industrials and Discretionary names to that list.  Shanghai managed a small gain with Staples conversely leading higher along with semiconductor-related names. Rare-earth names rallied with China threatening to cut the US off from supplies.  Semis fell elsewhere.   Bonds globally are bid higher after the US 10 year yield fell to levels not seen since September of 2017.  Post his trip to Japan, President Trump said higher tariffs may still be on tap. The PBoC continued to inject funds, this time ~$36B, hoping to sooth minds.  Market confidence continues to wane with concern after the gov took control of Baoshang Bank.  The Yuan continued to weaken despite the US calling the country a currency manipulator in the Semiannual Currency Report issued by the US Treasury.  Vietnam, Malaysia, Italy, and Ireland though were added to a watch list while India and Switzerland were removed. Taiwan saw overseas investors continue selling, 15 straight sessions now with state-owned brokers on their 14th day of acquisitions. Despite the selling the…

Asian Markets The markets were subdued despite the solid performance during the U.S. trading session.   The Nikkei closed flat with the ¥ a bit stronger following mixed April trade data.   Exports again fell 2.4%, worse than expected while imports ticked up leaving a larger trade deficit than expected. Real Estate names were up 60bps while Financials pulled back somewhat. China’s Ambassador to the U.S. said his nation is ready to resume talks to address trade imbalances and offer to purchase more products and services from the US.  One former State Department official said a deal could take place by the end of next month but the recent break in talks will probably lead to a more drawn-out time line.   Adding to the tariff/Huawei mix, the U.S. may add five Chinese video surveillance firms to its list of firms unable to purchase US components.  Chinese espionage and treatment of a minority groups is cited for the possible action.  Despite that, the IT sector led with gains shy of 1% in Shanghai.  However, the nation’s major indices all settled lower. Other Important Headlines The Nikkei reports Tencent -0.6% is seeing slower growth in Chinese video ad sales. An executive of Hangzhou Nikvision…

Perhaps its just a dead cat bounce but European indices did rebound today with many seeing the action moving outside of the downward trend channel we’ve seen as of late.  500 names out of the Stoxx 600 closed up with volume 8% higher. All sectors rallied with the beat up Tech space up 2.22%. Emotions are still being jerked in different directions concerning the trade talks with positive comments from one official being offset with negative comments from another. One report noted top Trumps officials say a deal is not close with a long trade war ahead. Yesterday, headlines alluded to the potentiality that the US and Japan will make a deal that will place China back on their heels. On another macro level, energy prices are up with OPEC today affirming their FY oil demand.  Non-OPEC supply was slightly adjusted lower with FY19 OPEC demand a bit higher. Things are not all going swimmingly for Leroy Seafood -8% with 1Q NI light. 2Q earnings are seen inline with the 1Q.  Harvest volumes have disappointed with higher costs also weighing.  Majority owner Austevoll Seafood fell 8%. Cable producer Prysmian rose 7.2% on a solid report with BofAML stating the trend…

Asian Markets Two major factors caused the markets to trade lower.  Those are: the disappointing Sino-U.S. trade talks and resulting negative commentary by both parties + tensions in the Persian Gulf.   Following last weeks warnings by the U.S. that Iran and/or its “proxies” are prepared to attack shipping in the region, Saudi Arabia announced two tankers in the Persian Gulf were damaged by acts of sabotage.  The commodity markets are seeing both crude and gasoline higher by more than 1%.  Hong Kong was closed for Buddha’s birthday. This resulted in all the major sectors ending the day to the downside.  IT, financials and materials end the day off by at least 1%.   Important Headlines Softbank -3.3% following Uber’s decline during Friday’s trading debut. Commonwealth Bank of Australia -2.5% took additional charges for compensation to customers harmed in the “fees for no service” scandal. During the session, reports indicated Renault % has made a formal merger offer to Nissan +0.8%.  After the close, this was downplayed.  The idea of a merger continues to be discussed but Nissan remains reluctant. Clayton’s favorite plumbing parts supplier, Reliance Worldwide -15.6% issued a profit warning.  The company lowered its Fy19 EBITDA guidance citing weakness…

After spending much of the day working back to yesterday’s lows, European indices blew through those levels post the US open.  Weakness in the US exacerbated selling with most indices down over a percent.  Unfortunately volume ticked up over 25% on the Stoxx 600 with 453 names down on the day.  On the sector front Utilities managed gains with the balance of sectors lower.  Energy, Banks, and Chemicals fell over 2%. The FTSE 100 violated both its 400 and 50 day with the DAX also through the 400 day.  While lower the CAC40 ended right at the 50 day with a sizable loss on the Stockholm 30 today as it fell 1.9% and closed at its 50 day as well. Infineon -3% weighed in the tech space as they see 3Q sales flat.  Their Digital Security unit revenue is seen falling by mid-single digit %’s with Power Mgmt also a bit weaker. Hitting the chemical space, Solvay slipped 6.7% despite better 1Q earnings. 1Q polymer volumes though were off 10% as semiconductor investment demand fell. Online furniture seller Westwing Group fell 18% after paring revenue growth forecasts.  EBITDA is seen as being flat which further weighed. Tonight, China releases trade…

European indices closed mixed on the session with several markets closing early or not even opening today.  On the week the UK FTSE 100 closed up 57bps with France up 1.73% and Germany up 2.41%.  Most sectors finished higher, led by Autos and Tech names.  Healthcare again moved off.  Volume in Europe was off 11%. The Media space was supported by Mediaset +3.6%, with their board preventing Vivendi from participating in their AGM. Engineering firm Arcadis rallied 10% on solid 1Q results. One broker sees margin improvement ahead despite tough sledding in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Other names seeing earnings include Unilever +3%, Nestle +.8%, and Pernod Ricard -1%. On concerns Bain Capital and Carlyle may not complete their takeover of the firm, Osram Licht fell 5.5%.  Both investors are expressing concerning post weaker earnings at the firm. Cigarette firms turned lower post headlines that Senator Mitch McConnell seeks to raise the tobacco age in the US to 21 from the current 18. The move would include vaping devices.   Imperial Brands fell .8% with BATS off 1.4%.  ***Note that only mainland China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey are open Friday.*** Monday, Canada and Mexico are open…