Weekend News Round Up - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

• US stocks ultimately finished lower on Friday with two-way price action seen in the aftermath of the latest Non-Farm Payroll report as there was an initial rally on the "dovish" report where although the headline beat estimates, it was offset by downward revisions, soft wages and rising unemployment. However, stocks then retreated with selling pressure exacerbated by a sharp drop in chip shares.
• US President Biden warned that an assault on Rafah is a “red line” but didn’t specify what this meant, while it was separately reported that Israeli PM Netanyahu said he intends to push ahead with an invasion of Rafah and insisted his priority is to prevent another terror attack like the October 7th Hamas raid.
• Looking ahead, highlights include Japanese Revised Q4 GDP & Machine Tool Orders, Indonesia Holiday.

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LOOKING AHEAD

• US clocks moved forward 1 hour which means the time difference between London and New York is now 4 hours.
• Highlights include Japanese Revised Q4 GDP & Machine Tool Orders, Indonesia Holiday.
• Click here for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

US TRADE

• US stocks ultimately finished lower on Friday with two-way price action seen in the aftermath of the latest Non-Farm Payroll report as there was an initial rally on the "dovish" report where although the headline beat estimates, it was offset by downward revisions, soft wages and rising unemployment. However, stocks then retreated with selling pressure exacerbated by a sharp drop in chip shares.
• SPX -0.65% at 5,123, NDX -1.53% at 18,018, DJIA -0.18% at 38,722, RUT -0.10% at 2,082.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• US Senate passed a USD 460bln government funding bill late on Friday which President Biden signed to avert a partial government shutdown and fund some federal agencies through the end of September, according to WSJ.

DATA RECAP

• US Non-Farm Payrolls (Feb) 275.0k vs. Exp. 200.0k (Prev. 353.0k, Rev. 229k)
• US Unemployment Rate (Feb) 3.9% vs. Exp. 3.7% (Prev. 3.7%)
• US Average Earnings YY (Feb) 4.3% vs. Exp. 4.4% (Prev. 4.5%, Rev. 4.4%)

COMMODITIES

• Saudi Aramco CEO said FY saw lower crude oil prices and lower volumes sold, although the CEO said 2023 saw global oil demand reach record levels despite geopolitical tensions and they expect the global oil market to remain healthy this year, while he considers supply and demand to be in reasonable balance. Saudi Aramco CEO said they are ready and able to react to market opportunities and can increase maximum capacity if needed. Furthermore, he said they are interested in LNG in the US and are looking at further opportunities to invest in China, as well as see significant growth in oil demand in China and Asia, according to Reuters.
• Qatar set April marine crude OSP at Oman/Dubai + USD 0.25/bbl and land crude OSP at Oman/Dubai + USD 0.05/bbl, according to a pricing document cited by Reuters.
• India’s Oil Minister said firms are investing USD 96bln to help raise the share of gas in India’s energy mix to 15% from 6%, according to Reuters.

GEOPOLITICAL

MIDDLE EAST

• US President Biden said it is always possible that there could be a Gaza ceasefire before Ramadan and he is not giving up on that, while he said on Saturday that he believes Israeli PM Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” with his approach to the war against Hamas in Gaza and must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost. Furthermore, Biden warned that an assault on Rafah is a “red line” but didn’t specify what this meant.
• Israeli PM Netanyahu said he intends to push ahead with an invasion of Rafah and insisted his priority is to prevent another terror attack like the October 7th Hamas raid, according to POLITICO.
• Five civilians were killed and nine were injured in an Israeli strike on a border village in southern Lebanon, according to Reuters.
• US Central Command said US Army vessel General Frank S. Besson departed for the eastern Mediterranean to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea and is carrying the first equipment to establish a temporary pier vital for humanitarian supplies, according to Reuters.
• US Central Command said US Navy vessels and aircraft along with multiple coalition navy ships and aircraft shot down 15 one-way attack UAVs, while it was later reported that the US military downed a total of at least 28 uncrewed aerial vehicles in the Red Sea on Saturday, according to Reuters.
• UK Defence Minister said HMS Richmond shot down two drones on Friday night to repel a Houthi attack, while it was also reported that the French military destroyed four combat drones heading towards the European naval mission in the Gulf of Aden.

OTHER

• US and Japan are considering defence cooperation which could help Ukraine with the two sides looking at an arms arrangement ahead of a summit next month, according to Yomiuri.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• China’s Housing Minister said they should let some property developers go bankrupt or restructure according to legal and market-based rules, while the official stated that commercial banks have approved over CNY 200bln of loans for housing projects as of February under the coordinated mechanism. The minister said home sales will improve in an orderly and forceful way and China is to improve the supply of government-supported affordable housing, while they will work with the top financial regulator to guide cities to set up the property funding coordination mechanism. Furthermore, it was also stated that the priorities this year are work on construction kick-offs, housing quality and construction security.
• China’s Human Resources Minister said overall employment pressure has not eased and structural problems remain in the jobs market, while the minister added that they are confident they can keep stable employment and that demand for jobs is high in AI and big data sectors, according to Reuters.
• US President Biden’s administration is weighing sanctions on several tech companies including memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies, according to Bloomberg.

DATA RECAP

• Chinese CPI MM (Feb) 1.0% vs. Exp. 0.7% (Prev. 0.3%)
• Chinese CPI YY (Feb) 0.7% vs. Exp. 0.3% (Prev. -0.8%)
• Chinese PPI YY (Feb) -2.7% vs. Exp. -2.5% (Prev. -2.5%)

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• UK PM Sunak is reportedly mulling curbs to welfare spending to fund the government’s ambition of further tax reductions, according to The Sunday Times.
• Exit polls suggest Portugal’s centre-right coalition is on course to narrowly defeat the incumbent socialists but fall well short of a majority in Sunday’s closely fought snap general election, according to The Guardian.