Weekend News Roundup - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

• US stocks ultimately closed mixed on Friday on what was a choppy session amid quad witching but with outperformance in the Nasdaq as mega-cap stocks caught a bid in the final minutes of trade, while T-notes steepened with bonds fluctuating alongside the volatile risk environment.
• US President Trump plans his tariff 'Liberation Day' with a more targeted push, while a separate report noted that the "White House Narrows April 2 Tariffs" with "Tariffs on industrial sectors like cars and microchips are no longer expected to be announced on that date, though major trading partners will still be hit with so-called reciprocal tariffs".
• Ukraine and US delegations began talks in Saudi Arabia, while Ukrainian President Zelensky said the Ukrainian delegation is working in a completely constructive way and the conversation is quite useful. There were also comments from the Ukrainian Defence Minister that the agenda for talks included proposals to protect energy facilities and critical infrastructure.
• Looking ahead, highlights include Australian, Japanese & Indian Flash PMIs, Singapore CPI, Supply from Australia.

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LOOKING AHEAD

• Highlights include Australian, Japanese & Indian Flash PMIs, Singapore CPI, Supply from Australia.
• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

US TRADE

• US stocks ultimately closed mixed on Friday on what was a choppy session amid quad witching but with outperformance in the Nasdaq as mega-cap stocks caught a bid in the final minutes of trade, while T-notes steepened with bonds fluctuating alongside the volatile risk environment.
• SPX +0.08% at 5,668, NDX +0.39% at 19,754, DJI +0.08% at 41,985, RUT -0.56% at 2,057.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

TARIFFS/TRADE

• US President Trump plans his tariff 'Liberation Day' with a more targeted push, according to Bloomberg. Furthermore, WSJ also reported that the "White House Narrows April 2 Tariffs" with "Tariffs on industrial sectors like cars and microchips are no longer expected to be announced on that date, though major trading partners will still be hit with so-called reciprocal tariffs".
• Canadian PM Carney said they aim to have free internal trade by Canada Day on July 1st and can increase GDP by CAD 150bln by reducing internal trade barriers between provinces, while he added they will allow businesses to defer corporate income tax payments and GST and HST remittance due to new US tariffs. Furthermore, PM Carney called for a general election on April 28th and proposed a middle-class tax cut to reduce the lowest tax bracket by 1%, as well as noted that Trump’s tariffs and threat actions create the most significant crisis of our lifetime and said Trump wants to break them so the US can own them.
• China reportedly explores limiting exports to mollify US President Trump and may offer to curb the quantity of certain goods exported to the US, according to WSJ citing advisers to the Chinese government. Furthermore, it was also reported that Trump directed US federal agencies to assess the economic relationship between the US and China with the review due in early April.
• China’s Foreign Minister Wang said China wants to pursue trade talks with other countries.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• US President Trump signed a memorandum aimed at preventing abuses of the legal system and federal courts and directed the Attorney General to seek sanctions against lawyers and law firms that engage in frivolous unreasonable and vexatious litigation against the US government or departments and agencies of the government.
• US President Trump’s administration revoked temporary legal status for 530k Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the US effective April 24th.

GLOBAL NEWS

• Turkish court formally arrested Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu after prosecutors asked the court to keep Imamoglu and four aides in jail pending their trial on terrorism and corruption charges. It was also reported that Turkey’s Central Bank Governor said in a meeting with bank executives that the central bank will do whatever is necessary within market rules, while the Capital Markets Board announced a ban on short selling on the Istanbul Stock Exchange until April 25th, eased the equity ratio requirement for credit capital markets transactions and removed the maximum limit for the total amount to be used for share buybacks of listed companies.

COMMODITIES

• US President Trump reportedly told oil executives in a meeting during the prior week that he would consider efforts the administration might take to help oil firms fend off legal risks over climate issues, according to WSJ.

GEOPOLITICAL

MIDDLE EAST

• Israeli PM Netanyahu spoke with US Secretary of State Rubio and discussed regional developments including the release of hostages and resumption of fighting in Gaza.
• Israel’s military said a projectile was launched from Yemen towards Israel which was intercepted and it conducted strikes on Rafah and Khan Younis, while Israel’s military also said the division that operated in Lebanon is preparing for Gaza activity.
• Israel conducted an air strike which killed Hamas political leader Salah Al-Bardaweel in the southern Gaza Strip and targeted the surgery department at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital which killed Hamas political bureau member Ismail Baarhoum.
• US peacekeepers said an escalation of the volatile situation at the Lebanon-Israel border could have serious consequences for the region, while it was reported that Israeli PM Netanyahu ordered strikes against dozens of targets in Lebanon in response to rocket fire although Hezbollah denied any link to rocket launches from southern Lebanon on Saturday.
• White House National Security Adviser Waltz said the US took out key Houthi leadership during strikes in Yemen, as well as weapons factories and some drone facilities, while he added that the US is seeking full dismantlement of the Iranian nuclear program in a way the entire world can see.
• US envoy Witkoff said Hamas is the aggressor here and had every opportunity to demilitarise and accept the bridging proposal but they elected not to. Witkoff also stated that their signal to Iran is let’s sit down and see if we can get to the right place through diplomacy, while he added that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb which cannot and will not happen.
• Iran’s Foreign Minister Araqchi said talks with the US are impossible unless Washington changes its pressure policy.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

• Ukraine and US delegations began talks in Saudi Arabia, while Ukrainian President Zelensky said the Ukrainian delegation is working in a completely constructive way and the conversation is quite useful. There were also comments from the Ukrainian Defence Minister that the agenda for talks included proposals to protect energy facilities and critical infrastructure.
• White House National Security Adviser Waltz said the US is talking through a number of confidence-building measures to end the Russia-Ukraine war including the future of Ukrainian children taken into Russia.
• US envoy Witkoff said the US expects a lot more progress on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and that Russian President Putin does not want to take all of Europe with the situation much more different than WW2.
• White House is aiming for a Russia-Ukraine truce agreement by April 20th, according to Bloomberg.
• Russia’s Kremlin said the Putin-Trump call was a step towards a face-to-face meeting and talks in Saudi Arabia will be as well. It was also reported that the Russian Defence Ministry said Russian forces took control of Sribne in eastern Ukraine, according to IFAX.

OTHER

• South Korea’s Foreign Minister said sanctions against North Korea must be carried out faithfully and that North Korea should not be rewarded for its wrongdoing in the course of the war in Ukraine.
• Venezuela’s government said it will resume repatriation flights of migrants from the US beginning on March 23rd.

ASIA-PAC

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• Chinese Premier Li said at a business forum it is necessary for countries to open up their markets in an increasingly fragmented world and countries must work to resist risks and challenges from rising instability and uncertainty. Li also stated that China was ready for any “unexpected shocks” and they will focus on combining policy intensification with stimulating market forces, as well as deepen reform of the economic system and will strive to open up chokepoints of the economic cycle.
• US GOP Senator Daines met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Saturday and noted that they are at a time when they have important issues to discuss between the two countries, while Senator Daines also met with Premier Li Qiang on Sunday in Beijing.

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• Chancellor Reeves ordered GBP 2bln of Whitehall cuts to help fix the nation’s finances, according to FT. It was separately reported that Reeves said the UK will cut 10,000 civil service jobs, according to Bloomberg. Furthermore, Reeves will stick to fiscal rules despite global turmoil which raises the prospect of belt-tightening measures in the budget update this week, according to Reuters.
• Czech Republic is to rescue Radio Free Europe after US President Trump’s funding cuts, according to FT.