The night began much like any other morning in Asia - with pure comedy gold from Japanese leadership with BOJ's Kuroda saying he is "not concerned about currency wars, there is no currency war," adding that he has "no plans for further easing." That coincided with a drift lower in Japanese stocks from the US close - but mots of Asian stock markets were green buoyed by America's victory against malicious sellers for the first time in a week. Meanwhile, in China, margin debt drops to a 7-month lows (but is still up 133% YoY). But as rumor-mongers face death squads and any broker caught not buying with both hands and feet faces prison, it is no surprise that Chinese stocks are higher in the pre-open (A50 +5%, CSI +2.7%) but large corporate bond issues are being canceled willy nilly even as China devalues Yuan to fresh 4-year lows (6.4085) and adds CNY150bn liquidity.
First we turn to Japan...
Some comedy genius from Japan's central banker
- *KURODA: NOT CONCERNED ABOUT CURRENCY WAR, IS NO CURRENCY WAR
- *KURODA: CENTRAL BANKS NOT TARGETING EXCHANGE RATES
- *KURODA: SOME IN MARKET TOO PESSIMISTIC ABOUT CHINA ECONOMY
- *KURODA: FX POLICY IN JAPAN IS UP TO FINANCE MINISTRY
Well yeah apart from China (directly intervening to devalue), Japan (printing $80bn a month doesn't count), Kazakhstan (devalue 25% or die)...
[13]
but none of the EMs should worry...
- *KURODA: UNDERSTANDS CONCERNS EXPRESSED BY EMERGING ECONOMIES
And then he dropped this little gem...
- *KURODA: NO PLANS FOR FURTHER EASING
Which sparked a little run...
[14]
Don't worry, we got this (just like the PBOC)..
- *KURODA: CAN AVOID ANY SERIOUS FINANCIAL INSTABILITY DURING QQE
What a farce - and these are the people "in charge!!"
* * *
Having got that off our chest, we pivot to China...
Some more good news... the deleveraging continues...
- *SHANGHAI MARGIN DEBT BALANCE FALLS TO LOWEST IN SEVEN MONTHS
But its still up a stunning 133% YoY...
[15]
But with witch hunts growing, is it any wonder today's US rally is being escalated in China...
- *FTSE CHINA A50 SEPT. FUTURES RALLY 5.5%
[16]
But not everything is awesome...
- *CHINA CSI 300 STOCK-INDEX FUTURES EXTEND GAINS TO 2.7%
[17]
But let's get some context for this bounce in light of the last 3 days' utter collapse...
- *CHINA SHANGHAI COMPOSITE SET TO OPEN UP 1.7% TO 2,978.03
[18]
But everything is not awesome in bond land...
- *XIAMEN HAICANG INVESTMENT CANCELS BOND SALE ON MKT VOLATILITY
- *XIAMEN HAICANG INVESTMENT CANCELS 1B YUAN BOND SALE
And even with everything awesome in stocks, it appears The PBOC still needed to devalue to frsh 4 year lows,...
- *CHINA SETS YUAN REFERENCE RATE AT 6.4085 AGAINST U.S. DOLLAR
[19]
and inject more liquidity...
- *PBOC TO INJECT 150B YUAN WITH 7-DAY REVERSE REPOS: TRADERS
The biggest injection since Nov 2012...
[20]
But they have other problems for now...
- *SHANGHAI WARNS CHILDREN, ELDERLY STAY INDOORS ON POLLUTION
- *SHANGHAI AIR `HEAVILY POLLUTED' AS OF 9 A.M.: MONITORING CENTER
And finally another probe...
- *TIANJIN PORT SAYS CHAIRMAN UNDER PROBE
- *TIANJIN PORT SAYS CO. KNOWS ABOUT CHAIRMAN PROBE FROM XINHUA
- *TIANJIN PORT SUSPENDS TRADING IN HONG KONG: 3382 HK
As Reuters reports, [21]
Chinese police have arrested 12 people suspected of involvement in this month's massive explosions in the city of Tianjin that killed 139 people and devastated the port area, the state-run Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.
Among those arrested were the chairman, vice-chairman and three deputy general managers of the logistics company that had been storing the chemicals that blew up, the agency said, quoting police. It did not say who the rest were.
The news comes a day after China sacked the head of its work safety regulator for suspected corruption.
The witch-hunting, blame-mongering, and scape-goating will go on until morale improves. [22]
Charts: Bloomberg
