Weekend News Round Up - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

• US stocks gained on Friday with outperformance in financials after JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), and BlackRock (BLK) benefitted from their earnings updates, while participants also digested mixed PPI data and a weaker University of Michigan preliminary release. Nearly all sectors finished higher although consumer discretionary and tech lagged with Tesla (TSLA)(-8.8%) heavily pressured after its Robotaxi event disappointed investors, while the treasury curve steepened and chopped to the US PPI data and soft UoM survey but ultimately settled in the green as a dovish leaning Logan and lower oil prices supporting the move.
• China’s Finance Minister Lan Foan said local governments have CNY 2.3tln in local funds to spend in the last three months of the year which includes debt quotas and unused funds. Lan stated that the central government has relatively large room to issue debt and increase the budget deficit, while they will better use policy measures to support the economy. Furthermore, they will implement fiscal and tax reforms in a step-by-step way and will roll out some reforms over 2024 and 2025 but did not announce the size of the stimulus.
• Looking ahead, highlights include New Zealand Performance of Services Index & Electronic Card Retail Sales, Chinese Trade Data, Singapore GDP, MAS Policy Announcement, China's Infrastructure Ministry, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and State Administration for Market Regulation Press Briefing, Supply from Australia, Holiday Closures in Japan, Thailand & Canada.

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LOOKING AHEAD

• Highlights include New Zealand Performance of Services Index & Electronic Card Retail Sales, Chinese Trade Data, Singapore GDP, MAS Policy Announcement, China's Infrastructure Ministry, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and State Administration for Market Regulation Press Briefing, Supply from Australia, Holiday Closures in Japan, Thailand & Canada.
• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

US TRADE

• US stocks gained on Friday with outperformance in financials after JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), and BlackRock (BLK) benefitted from their earnings updates, while participants also digested mixed PPI data and a weaker University of Michigan preliminary release. Nearly all sectors finished higher although consumer discretionary and tech lagged with Tesla (TSLA)(-8.8%) heavily pressured after its Robotaxi event disappointed investors, while the treasury curve steepened and chopped to the US PPI data and soft UoM survey but ultimately settled in the green as a dovish leaning Logan and lower oil prices supporting the move.
• SPX +0.61% at 5,815, NDX +0.15% at 20,272, DJIA +0.97% at 42,864, RUT +2.10% at 2,234.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• US Energy Secretary Granholm said about 75% of power was restored across Florida and the vast majority of power in Florida is expected to be restored by the end of Tuesday.

GEOPOLITICAL

MIDDLE EAST

• US President Biden said he is sending THAAD missile defence to defend Israel, according to WSJ.
• US Secretary of Defence Austin expressed deep concern over reports that Israeli forces fired on UN peacekeeping positions in Lebanon and called for the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese armed forces during a call with Israel’s Defence Minister Gallant.
• Israeli PM Netanyahu urged UN Secretary-General Guterres to remove UNIFIL forces from combat areas in Lebanon, while it was also reported that Israel’s Foreign Minister declared UN chief Guterres persona non grata over his Iran stance, according to Reuters.
• Israel’s military said an IDF tank that was trying to evacuate injured soldiers backed several meters into a UNIFIL post in southern Lebanon and once enemy fire had stopped and following the evacuation of injured soldiers, the tank left the post. Furthermore, the Israeli military said no danger was posed to UNIFIL soldiers by IDF activity throughout the entire incident, according to Reuters.
• UN spokesperson said UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon remain in all positions and UNIFIL is taking all possible measures to ensure the protection of its peacekeepers, while the spokesperson added that the UN Secretary-General called on all parties including the Israeli military to refrain from any actions that put peacekeepers at risk, according to Reuters.
• Israel’s military ordered the residents of 22 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate north of the Awali River, while the Israeli military declared areas around a number of towns in northern Israel as closed to the public, according to Reuters. Furthermore, the Israeli army said Hezbollah fired 25 rockets from nearby positions of UNIFIL forces towards IDF positions and Israeli towns.
• Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it attacked a Golani Brigade camp in northern Israel with a swarm of drones which was reported to have injured more than 60 people and it warned Israeli settlers against staying near army bases in northern Israel until further notice, according to Reuters. It was separately reported that Hezbollah said it shelled with rockets enemy forces in the settlement of Al-Manara for a fifth time.
• Iran’s Foreign Minister commented on X that they have no red lines in defending their people and interests.
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards aerospace commander Hajizadeh said Tehran is ready to respond to any misstep by Israel, according to Tasnim.
• French President Macron urged Iranian President Pezeshkian to support a general de-escalation in the Middle East during a conversation, while Macron stressed in another discussion with Lebanon’s caretaker PM Mikati the ‘absolute necessity’ to obtain a ceasefire without further delay, according to the Presidential Office.
• Turkish President Erdogan said Israel is a concrete threat to regional and global peace, while he said it is essential for Russia, Iran and Syria to take effective measures when asked about Israel’s strike on Damascus.
• Pentagon said US forces conducted a series of strikes against multiple Islamic State camps in Syria.

OTHER

• Ukrainian President Zelensky said Russian forces tried to push back Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, while he added that Ukraine is holding out positions.
• Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday morning that Russia launched 68 drones and four missiles that targeted Ukraine.
• Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said a Chinese aircraft carrier group entered the Bashi channel on Sunday and will probably be operating in the western Pacific.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• PBoC injected CNY 23.2bln via 7-day reverse repos on Saturday with the rate kept at 1.50%.
• China’s Finance Minister Lan Foan said local governments have CNY 2.3tln in local funds to spend in the last three months of the year which includes debt quotas and unused funds. Lan stated that the central government has relatively large room to issue debt and increase the budget deficit, while they will better use policy measures to support the economy. Furthermore, they will implement fiscal and tax reforms in a step-by-step way and will roll out some reforms over 2024 and 2025 but did not announce the size of the stimulus.
• China’s Vice Finance Minister said they will take measures to promote stability in the property market, while they will expand the scope of usage for local government debt and will complete the issuance of CNY 1tln in special treasury bonds in 2024. Furthermore, the official said it is necessary to support large state banks to increase first-tier core capital and will support large banks’ operations and profitability to support the economy.
• China’s MOFCOM said there are still major differences between both sides in China-EU tariff negotiations and a mutually acceptable solution has not been reached so far, while the Chinese side officially invited the European side to send a technical team to China ASAP to continue face-to-face negotiations. Furthermore, MOFCOM said Chinese companies have authorised the China Chamber of Commerce for Machinery and Electronics to propose a price commitment plan that represents the overall position of the industry, and it warned against the European side conducting separate price commitment negotiations with some companies.
• China’s MOFCOM said Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party has not taken any practical measures to lift trade restrictions on the mainland, while it added relevant departments are studying further measures based on the conclusions of the ministry’s investigation into trade barriers by Taiwan against the mainland.
• Vietnam and China agreed to boost defence and security cooperation, as well as promote economic and trade ties, while they will prioritise cooperation in railway links and Vietnam will facilitate Chinese investment in large, high-tech projects in the country, according to the Vietnamese government.

DATA RECAP

• Chinese CPI MM (Sep) 0.0% vs Exp. 0.4% (Prev. 0.4%)
• Chinese CPI YY (Sep) 0.4% vs. Exp. 0.6% (Prev. 0.6%)
• Chinese PPI YY (Sep) -2.8% vs. Exp. -2.5% (Prev. -1.8%)

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• UK Business and Trade Secretary Reynolds added to speculation that the government is planning to increase payroll taxes for businesses by raising their national insurance contributions as he insisted that the Labour government’s manifesto had only promised not to hike the contributions for employees, according to an interview with Sky News cited by Bloomberg.