Global Courant 2023-04-28 09:13:41
Bank of Japan maintains negative interest rates, does not change yield curve control
The Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged during the first policy meeting of newly appointed Governor Kazuo Ueda.
The decision was in line with economists’ expectations that the benchmark interest rate would remain unchanged, which had been held at minus 0.1% since the central bank cut rates below zero in 2016.
The Japanese yen weakened further to 134.6 against the US dollar and the yield on the 10-year Japanese government bonds amounted to 0.460%.
Ueda stressed earlier this week that inflation needs to be “quite strong and close to 2%” – the central bank’s target – before making adjustments to yield curve control policies.
— Jihye Lee
Top Chinese chipmaker SMIC will ‘struggle’ to make advanced chips competitive: analysts say
Top Chinese chipmaker SMIC will not be able to produce advanced chips without access to high-tech machinery, analysts told CNBC.
SMIC, or Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co., has been unable to get its hands on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, which are critical to producing advanced chips at lower cost at scale.
EUV machines can only be made by one company in the world, namely a Dutch company ASML.
“It’s just not commercially profitable for SMIC to make those chips with less sophisticated equipment,” said Phelix Lee, equity analyst for Morningstar Asia.
Dutch regulations specified that ASML must apply for a license to export its EUV machines. ASML has not yet shipped these advanced machines to China.
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—Sheila Chiang
House prices in Singapore rose faster at 3.3% in the first quarter
Private house prices in Singapore increased by 3.3% in the first quarter of 2023, a faster pace than the 0.4% increase in the previous quarter.
Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority revealed that land-related property prices increased by 5.9%, while land-related property prices increased by 2.6% in the first quarter of 2023.
This compares to a 0.6% increase for landed properties and a 0.3% increase for non-landed properties in the previous quarter.
Separately, rents rose by 7.2%, slightly less than the 7.4% increase in the previous quarter.
This comes on the back of surprise cooling measures taken by Singapore late on Wednesday, with the country raising taxes on property purchases amid concerns that rising prices could “outpace economic fundamentals”.
— Lim Hui Jie
Nikkei reports that the Bank of Japan has begun talks to change forward guidance
Bank of Japan officials have begun planning a “broad policy review”, including talks about a change to its forward guidance, Nikkei reports that.
The report added that while the talks, which include delaying a decision on YCC tweaks, there is a possibility that a follow-up will take about a year after the review.
Nikkei also reported that the central bank is moving towards a change in guidance to remove the reference to monitoring Covid effects and will discuss whether to drop language on its willingness to ease further if necessary.
— Jihye Lee
ANA’s annual results are black again for the first time since 2020
Japanese airline All Nippon Airways posted a net profit for the full year of 89.5 billion yen ($668 million) for fiscal year 2022 ending March, its first full-year profit since 2020.
This was a reversal from the loss of 143.6 billion yen in the previous fiscal year and higher than the 2019 net profit of 28 billion yen.
Operating profit for came in at 120 billion yen, compared to last year’s operating loss of 173.1 billion yen. Sales were 1.7 trillion yen, a peak of 67% year-over-year.
In an editionANA said the airline industry was “improving rapidly,” adding that both domestic and international flights benefited from the easing of Covid-19-related restrictions.
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CNBC Pro: Stocks of this weight-loss drug are up 20% this year — and Barclays sees it rise
The pharmaceutical stock behind a popular weight-loss drug is up 137% since the treatment was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
The Barclays investment bank expects the stock to rise further as the market for obesity treatment drugs could exceed $100 billion, according to Barclays.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Ganesha Rao
CNBC Pro: Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Say These Chip Stocks Have More Upside – Nearly 50%
Chip stocks have bounced back this year after underperforming in 2022.
The PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index is up nearly 17% year to date, making this sector one of the brightest spots in the market turmoil.
CNBC Pro takes a closer look at semiconductor stocks where the banks further capitalize.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
Japan’s unemployment rate rises to 2.8%, industrial production is rising
Japan’s unemployment rate rose from 2.6% in February to 2.8% in March, government data showed.
The value was higher than Reuters’ projections of 2.5%, marking the highest since January 2022. The country’s jobs-per-applicant ratio stood at 1.32, below Reuters’ projections of 1.34.
Meanwhile, industrial production rose 0.8% month-on-month in March after rising 4.6% in the previous month. This beats Reuters forecasts of a 0.5% increase for this month.
Year-over-year, the value fell 0.8% in March, after falling 1.4% in February.
March numbers were driven by automotive equipment, semiconductors and flat panel displays, while declines were seen in memory chips and active LCD displays.
— Jihye Lee
South Korea reports a smaller-than-expected drop in industrial production for March
South Korea’s industrial production has come in at a decrease of 7.6% year over year, a smaller decline compared to economists’ expectations of a 10.1% decline.
This is also the second consecutive month that industrial production has risen, following a 13.4% drop in January and an 8% drop in February.
On a monthly basis, industrial production rose 5.1%, a reversal from the 2.7% decline in February.
— Lim Hui Jie
Inflation in Tokyo beats expectations, ticking above the central bank’s target
The consumer price index in Japan’s capital ticked higher, rising 3.5% in April, government data showed on Friday.
The value beat forecasts in a Reuters poll, expecting an increase of 3.2% for the month, following a slightly lower inflation rate of 3.2% in March.
Excluding fresh food, Tokyo’s consumer price index rose 3.5%, also above the central bank’s inflation target of 2%.
The Japanese Yen stood at 133.83 against the US dollar shortly after its release. The yield on Japanese 10-year government bonds was 0.476%, close to the upper ceiling of the central bank’s tolerance margin of 50 basis points above and below 0%.
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The US economy grew more slowly than expected in the first quarter
The US economy grew 1.1% in the first quarter, a much slower pace than expected, according to the US Department of Commerce. Economists had forecast growth of 2%, per Dow Jones. The report showed stronger inflation with prices rising by 4%, compared to an estimate of 3.7%.
— Jeff Cox
The communications services sector is heading for its best day since February
Communications services stocks are on track for their best day since Feb. 2, with the sector last up about 5.8%. meta drove industry gains after publishing first-quarter results that beat analysts’ expectations. The technology share was recently up more than 15%.
— Sarah Min
First Republic shares stabilize
Shares of beleaguered regional bank First Republic were climbing on Thursday, delaying the stock after two days of heavy selling.
The stock was up 71 cents, or about 12%, but still trades below $7 a share.
Shares of First Republic closed at $16 a share on Monday before the bank released its first-quarter results, which showed deposits shrank about 40% in the first three months of the year.
First Republic and its advisers are trying to convince other banks to buy some of its assets at above-market rates so that First Republic can reform its balance sheet, CNBC reported Wednesday.
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First Republic
Analysts update price targets on Meta after better-than-expected earnings
parent company of Facebook Metas better-than-expected quarterly results have led to further analyst optimism.
Companies including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup have updated all price targets for the stock.
“Developing more open source models (including LLMs) and helping create an open ecosystem is another area of focus, as an open ecosystem should allow META to stay ahead of the game and drive infrastructure efficiencies over time Morgan Stanley’s Brian Nowak wrote on Thursday.
Meta beat Wall Street estimates on both adjusted earnings per share and revenue on Wednesday despite concerns about slower ad sales. The stock gained as much as 12% after the results.
“Meta-revenue demonstrates the company’s commitment to cost discipline as it drives NT’s revenue growth and also continues to invest in longer-term transformational technologies such as AI and the metaverse,” said JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth.
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— Brian Evans
