Weekend News Round Up - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

• US stocks finished mostly lower on Friday with two-way price action at month and quarter-end, while markets digested US PCE data which ultimately printed in line with expectations across the board, while Chicago PMI printed firmer-than-expected and the Final UoM survey for June was revised up but inflation expectations were revised down.
• Chinese Manufacturing PMI matched estimates and remained in contraction territory at 49.5 vs Exp. 49.5 (Prev. 49.5), while Non-Manufacturing PMI missed at 50.5 vs Exp. 51.0 (Prev. 51.1).
• France’s far-right won the first round of the French parliamentary election, according to estimates. IFOP initial estimate showed the far-right National Rally is seen leading after the first round with 34.2% of the popular vote, while left-wing New Popular Front is seen with 29.1% of votes and President Macron’s centrist bloc is seen with 21.5% of votes. Furthermore, IFOP noted that National Rally is expected to win 240-270 seats in the second round of voting on July 7th and Macron’s centrists are to win 60-90 seats, while Elabe initial estimates project 260-310 seats for the National Rally, 115-145 seats for New Popular Front and 90-120 seats for Macron’s centrist block vs 289 seats needed for a majority.
• Looking ahead, highlights include Australian Manufacturing PMI & Retail Sales, BoJ Tankan Survey, South Korean Trade Data, Regional PMIs, Chinese Caixin Manufacturing PMIs, Markets in Hong Kong and Canada are Closed on Monday.

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LOOKING AHEAD

• Highlights include Australian Manufacturing PMI & Retail Sales, BoJ Tankan Survey, South Korean Trade Data, Regional PMIs, Chinese Caixin Manufacturing PMIs, Markets in Hong Kong and Canada are Closed on Monday.
• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

US TRADE

• US stocks finished mostly lower on Friday with two-way price action at month and quarter-end, while markets digested US PCE data which ultimately printed in line with expectations across the board, while Chicago PMI printed firmer-than-expected and the Final UoM survey for June was revised up but inflation expectations were revised down.
• SPX -0.41% at 5,460, NDX -0.54% at 19,683, DJI -0.12% at 39,118, RUT +0.46% at 2,048.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• Fed's Bowman (voter) said on Friday that they have strong employment but have not quite reached the inflation goal and will continue to work towards the inflation goal at their pace.
• US President Biden’s family is urging him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite last week’s disastrous debate performance, according to NYT.
• Boeing (BA) is in talks with the DoJ to resolve charges regarding safety lapses, while it was later reported that US prosecutors are meeting with Boeing crash victims’ relatives ahead of the deadline to decide on criminally charging the company, according to sources cited by Reuters.

DATA RECAP

• US PCE Price Index MM (May) 0.0% vs. Exp. 0.0% (Prev. 0.3%)
• US PCE Price Index YY (May) 2.6% vs. Exp. 2.6% (Prev. 2.7%)
• US Core PCE Price Index MM (May) 0.1% vs. Exp. 0.1% (Prev. 0.2%, Rev. 0.3%)
• US Core PCE Price Index YY (May) 2.6% vs. Exp. 2.6% (Prev. 2.8%)
• US Chicago PMI (Jun) 47.4 vs. Exp. 40.0 (Prev. 35.4)
• US Univ. of Mich. Sentiment Final (Jun) 68.2 vs. Exp. 65.8 (Prev. 65.6)

GLOBAL NEWS

• South African President Ramaphosa reappointed Enoch Godongwana as Finance Minister, while he appointed John Steenhuisien as Agriculture Minister and appointed Ronald Lamola as Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, according to Reuters.

COMMODITIES

• Saudi Aramco’s strategic gas expansion reportedly progresses with USD 25bln of contract awards.

GEOPOLITICAL

MIDDLE EAST

• US proposed new language in an effort to reach a Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal, according to Reuters.
• Hamas officials said there is no progress in ceasefire talks with Israel but it is still ready to deal positively with any ceasefire proposal that ends the war in Gaza, according to Reuters.
• Israel’s Finance Minister extended the waiver allowing cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian banks in the West Bank for four months, according to a spokesperson cited by Reuters.
• Iran’s UN mission said an obliterating war will ensue if Israel attacks Lebanon and that all options including the full involvement of resistance fronts are on the table.
• Iran will hold a presidential election run-off on July 5th as no candidate secured 50% of votes.

OTHER

• Russian President Putin held a Russian security council meeting on the moratorium on the deployment of intermediate-range missiles and said Russia needs to resume production of short and medium-range missiles, according to reports on Friday.
• Russia took control of the settlement of Shumy in Ukraine, while Russian forces also took over Spirne and Novooleksandrivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to RIA citing the Defence Ministry. It was separately reported that a Ukrainian drone attack killed five people in Russia’s borderline Kursk region, while Russia’s Emergency Ministry said four of its employees were injured in Ukraine’s shelling of Donetsk.
• North Korea condemned ‘freedom edge’ joint military drills by the US, South Korea and Japan as provocation, while it said it will make an important announcement and will protect regional peace with an aggressive and overwhelming response, according to KCNA.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• Indonesia is to impose safeguard duties of 100% to 200% on imports ranging from footwear to ceramics, while it mainly imports apparel and clothing accessories from China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, according to Nikkei.
• India’s government source said it is monitoring cheap Chinese imports, while India’s steel ministry is in talks with the commerce ministry over rising imports and the industry has sought a probe.

DATA

• Chinese Manufacturing PMI (Jun) 49.5 vs Exp. 49.5 (Prev. 49.5)
• Chinese Non-Manufacturing PMI (Jun) 50.5 vs Exp. 51.0 (Prev. 51.1)
• Chinese Composite PMI (Jun) 50.5 (Prev. 51.0)

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• France’s far-right won the first round of the French parliamentary election, according to estimates. IFOP initial estimate showed the far-right National Rally is seen leading after the first round with 34.2% of the popular vote, while left-wing New Popular Front is seen with 29.1% of votes and President Macron’s centrist bloc is seen with 21.5% of votes. Furthermore, IFOP noted that National Rally is expected to win 240-270 seats in the second round of voting on July 7th and Macron’s centrists are to win 60-90 seats, while Elabe initial estimates project 260-310 seats for the National Rally, 115-145 seats for New Popular Front and 90-120 seats for Macron’s centrist block vs 289 seats needed for a majority, according to Reuters.
• Belgian public broadcaster RTBF reported that the far-right National Rally was seen leading the first round of the French parliamentary election with 34.5% of votes, while left-wing New Popular Front was seen with 28.5% of votes and President Macron’s centrist block was seen with 22.5% of votes.
• French Interior Ministry said voter turnout was at 59.4% around 17:00 local time in the first round of the French parliament election, while IPSOS France noted French voter turnout was estimated to be the highest since 1986.
• French President Macron called on a wide-ranging rally behind clearly Republican and Democratic candidates for the second round of the French election, while French PM Attal said the lesson from the first round is that the far-right are at the gates of power and said they will work to ensure the National Rally does not get an absolute majority, according to Reuters.
• Marine Le Pen said the French people have put the far-right National Rally in front and have practically wiped out Macron’s camp, while she is hoping to have things in place so that Bardella will become PM. It was also reported that French far-right leader Bardella said next Sunday’s vote will be one of the most important in the history of the French Fifth Republic and he is hoping to be a PM for all citizens if they get an absolute majority, while he added that he would be a PM who would be respectful of the President in cohabitation but ready to stand his ground, according to Reuters.
• European Commission President von der Leyen said European companies are signing deals or MOUs worth over EUR 40bln at the Egypt-EU investment conference, according to Reuters.
• Austria’s far-right Freedom Party chief Kickl said they are forming a new political alliance with Orban’s Fidesz in Hungary and Babis’s Czech ANO party, according to Reuters.
• UK PM Sunak said the UK is a better place to live after 14 years of Tory rule, according to the FT. In relevant news, The Sunday Times newspaper endorsed the Labour Party for the upcoming UK election.