Week ahead: PMI in Asia Pacific, trade data, price readings
Economic factors in Asia and the Pacific next week will be dominated by the Index Manager’s sales in the region.
China’s Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to officially release manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI prints on Saturday. Reuters expects China’s factory activity to show a decline with a reading of 48.
South Korea is also scheduled to report its December trade data at the end of the week, where economists polled by Reuters see a drop of 10.1% compared to last year.
Singapore is scheduled to release manufacturing PMI readings next week, while S&P Global is scheduled to release its PMI readings for South Korea, Indonesia and India on Monday.
Weather data from the Philippines and Indonesia will also be closely watched, with releases scheduled for Tuesday and Monday.
Japan’s PMI reading and China’s private PMI survey will be released on Wednesday. Singapore will release November sales on Thursday as well as South Korea’s unemployment rate for December.
– Jihye Lee
Yamaguchi is emerging as a candidate for the next governor of the Bank of Japan: Sankei
The former deputy governor of the Bank of Japan, Hirohide Yamaguchi, is emerging as a candidate to lead the central bank, Japanese media Sankei reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Yamaguchi, who held the position at the central bank until 2013, has been a vocal critic of current governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s ultra-dovish monetary policy.
The newspaper added that Yamaguchi will indicate a change from the former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe’s economic stimulus plan which is also known as “Abenomics.”
Sankei reported that Yamaguchi is targeting Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s exit from the stimulus package, and that the appointment for the next head of the central bank will be clear next month.
– Jihye Lee
Foreign talent less likely to come to Singapore after Hong Kong reopens, UOB says
With the reopening of Hong Kong, foreigners may no longer want to move to Singapore, said Alvin Liew, senior economist at United Overseas Bank.
“Singapore has benefited in terms of talent coming here because of the stricter regulations in Hong Kong itself,” said Liew, adding that the influx of workers has moved to Singapore. “may have seen a slight decrease” now that the city has reopened.
“The talent pool itself may not want to move here,” said the Singaporean businesswoman.
Liew also added that Hong Kong’s reopening is a step in the right direction for the region to “return to business as usual,” Liew said.
China’s markets see “tactical” recovery next year, analysts say
China’s markets are likely to see a “tactical bouncing” recovery next year, Port Shelter Investment Management said.
“It’s only clear to say that it’s likely that we’re going to see a technical crisis,” said Richard Harris, the company’s chief executive to CNBC.
“It will be used, because China, at the end of the day, has to match the rest of the world,” he said.
Harris expects China to recover in the first quarter of the year, and the sentiment to continue in the second quarter.
This recovery also depends on many unknown factors, such as how much stimulus will be injected into the Chinese economy, and what will be done to the price the economy when the economy grows, he added.
— Lee Ying Shan
New China tech ETF could ‘bring sales’ to Singapore market: Investment company
CSI Star and the ChiNext 50 Index Exchange Traded Fund listed in Singapore can bring liquidity from mainland China to Singapore, Ding Chen, CEO of CSOP Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
The company’s ETF was listed on the Singapore Exchange on Friday and is a sub-fund of the CSOP SG ETF Series I, a trust in Singapore, according to the fund’s website.
“Through SGX, Singapore investors and global investors can also gain access to ETFs listed in China,” said Ding, adding that Chinese investors can also then invest directly in Singapore ETFs.
When asked about the development of the company’s ETF, Ding said it will “bring more, younger generation of technology companies” on the market.
– Sheila Chiang
South Korea’s inflation was unchanged in December
Consumer prices in South Korea in December rose by 5% on an annual basis, figures from the Bank of Korea showed.
The readings held cold conditions for the month and remained unchanged from November.
The print is in line with the expectations of investors surveyed by Reuters.
– Jihye Lee
Stocks closed higher Thursday
All major averages finished higher on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 345.09 points, or 1.05%. The S&P 500 gained 1.75% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.59% to 10,478.09.
— Tanaya Machel
CNBC Pro: Chip stock has been bad this year – but this fund manager is still strong, named 2 to buy
The unemployment file appeared last week; Continued claims were the highest since February
Jobless claims rose last week, amid efforts by the Federal Reserve to ease the economy and especially the labor market.
Initial filings for unemployment benefits were 225,000 for the week ended December 24, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s an increase of 9,000 from last week and well above the 223,000 estimate from Dow Jones.
Long-term, continuous, which runs a week behind the title number, jumped to 1.71 million, an increase of 41,000 to the highest level since the beginning of February.
The numbers at this time of year are always noisy because of the holidays. Seasonally adjusted claims rose to 23,146, a 9.3% increase.
—Jeff Cox
CNBC Pro: Citi names its top biotech stocks for 2023 – and gives 73% upside.
Biotech is poised to remain a “stock market” in 2023, according to Citi.
The bank describes the use of biotech based on economic models, and names the top three for 2023.
CNBC Pro can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
