Weekend News Round Up - Newsquawk Asia-Pac Market Open

US stocks were flat to lower to end the week, month, and quarter with initial strength after soft-leaning PCE data reversed throughout the session in the backdrop of rebalancing flows which resulted in the major indices posting their worst quarterly performances in a year.
US House and Senate passed a short-term spending bill to keep the government funded, while President Biden signed the 45-day stop-gap funding measure into law which averts a government shutdown and funds the government until November 14th although does not include Ukraine funding.
Chinese official Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing PMIs topped forecasts but Caixin PMIs printed softer-than-expected.
Looking ahead, highlights include New Zealand Building Permits, South Korean Industrial Production & Retail Sales, Regional PMIs, BoJ Tankan Survey and Summary of Opinions from the September 21st-22nd Meeting, Holiday Closures in Mainland China, Hong Kong & India.

More Newsquawk in 2 steps:

1. Subscribe to the free premarket movers reports

2. Trial Newsquawk’s premium real-time audio news squawk box for 7 days

Highlights include New Zealand Building Permits, South Korean Industrial Production & Retail Sales, Regional PMIs, BoJ Tankan Survey and Summary of Opinions from the September 21st-22nd Meeting, Holiday Closures in Mainland China, Hong Kong & India.

US TRADE

US stocks were flat to lower to end the week, month, and quarter with initial strength after soft-leaning PCE data reversed throughout the session in the backdrop of rebalancing flows which resulted in the major indices posting their worst quarterly performances in a year.
SPX -0.27% at 4,288, NDX +0.08% at 14,715, DJI -0.47% at 33,507, RUT -0.51% at 1,785.
Click here for a detailed summary.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

US House and Senate passed a short-term spending bill to keep the government funded, while President Biden signed the 45-day stop-gap funding measure into law which averts a government shutdown and funds the government until November 14th although does not include Ukraine funding.
US President Biden said it is time to stop governing by crisis and that he is sick and tired of brinkmanship, while he expects Republicans to honour the deal they made in May and urges them to not waste time on funding the government. Furthermore, he hopes Republicans will maintain support for Ukraine and said his message to Ukraine on future aid is that they are going to get it done, according to Reuters.
US GOP Rep. Gaetz will file a motion to remove House Speaker McCarthy, while it was later reported that House Speaker McCarthy said he will not be ousted, according to Reuters citing CNN and CBS.
Fed’s Williams (voter) said on Friday that inflation is still too high and price stability is essential for the economy, while he added it will still take a while for monetary policy tightening to affect the economy and the future is uncertain with the data to drive future policy choices. Williams also commented that the Fed will need a restrictive policy stance for some time to achieve goals and the Fed is at or near the peak for the federal funds rate.

Turkish President Erdogan said will continue the struggle against inflation, terror and the outlawed group FETO, while he also commented that Turkey has kept every promise to the EU although the EU did not, and Turkey does not have any expectations from the EU.

Iraq’s September oil exports averaged 3.4mln bpd and oil prices averaged USD 92.05/bbl.
Five more cargo ships were reportedly headed towards Ukrainian Black Sea ports for further grain exports, according to Ukraine’s Deputy PM.

UK Defence Secretary Shapps said UK troops will be deployed in Ukraine for the first time to start training Ukrainian soldiers on-site and not only at NATO bases under plans being discussed with military chiefs. Shapps also stated the UK signed contracts worth GBP 4bln to drive forward AUKUS submarines with the contracts signed with BAE Systems (BA/ LN), while the UK is deploying RAF typhoons to Poland and deploying forces to the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, according to Reuters.
US Central Command conducted a helicopter raid in Northern Syria on September 28th and captured ISIS facilitator Mamduh Ibrahim Al-Haji Shaykh, according to Reuters.
Turkey’s Interior Minister said two terrorists attacked in front of the ministry building in which one was neutralised and the other blew himself, while Turkey stated that one of the attackers was a PKK member and Turkey later carried out air strikes in Northern Iraq and destroyed 20 targets of Kurdish militant group PKK, according to Reuters.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

BoJ Governor Ueda said the sustainable and stable achievement of the BoJ’s 2% inflation target is not yet in sight and there is still some distance before reaching an exit from easy policy. Ueda stated that the BoJ’s ability to conduct monetary policy is not impaired by a temporary decrease in profits and capital as long as it conducts appropriate monetary policy, while he added that given the current distance to exit, he believes it is the right time to discuss the topic of central bank finances and monetary policy conduct from an objective perspective.

DATA RECAP

Chinese NBS Manufacturing PMI (Sep) 50.2 vs. Exp. 50.0 (Prev. 49.7)
Chinese NBS Non-Manufacturing PMI (Sep) 51.7 vs Exp. 51.5 (Prev. 51.0)
Chinese NBS Composite PMI (Sep) 52.0 (Prev. 51.3)
Chinese Caixin Manufacturing PMI (Sep) 50.6 vs Exp. 51.2 (Prev. 51.0)
Chinese Caixin Services PMI (Sep) 50.2 vs Exp. 52.0 (Prev. 51.8)
Chinese Caixin Composite PMI (Sep) 50.9 (Prev. 51.7)
South Korean Trade Balance (USD)(Sep) 3.70B vs Exp. 1.75B (Prev. 0.88B)
South Korean Exports YY (Sep) -4.4% vs Exp. -9.1% (Prev. -8.3%)
South Korean Imports YY (Sep) -16.5% vs Exp. -17.6% (Prev. -22.8%)

NOTABLE HEADLINES

UK PM Sunak said they are making good progress on bringing down inflation, according to Reuters.
UK Chancellor Hunt was reportedly caught in a secret recording suggesting that PM Sunak will call a general election once inflation falls below 3% which gives the strongest hint that the next general election could be held in Autumn next year, according to Sunday Times’ Wheeler.
UK Housing Minister Gove said his opinion is wherever they can cut taxes that those cuts should fall on workers and he would like to see the tax burden reduced before the next election, while he added that they first need to be certain that inflation is coming down.
Slovakia’s former PM Fico’s leftist-populist Smer party won the election with 23.4% of votes, while the party is seen as pro-Russian after promising to stop sending weapons to Ukraine, according to Politico.
Fitch raised Portugal’s sovereign rating from BBB+ to A-; Outlook Stable, while Moody’s raised Cyprus’s sovereign rating to investment grade of Baa2; Outlook Revised to Stable from Positive.