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  • China ETFs book best day in a month after PBOC vows to support weak yuan with forex reserve ratio cut

    China ETFs book best day in a month after PBOC vows to support weak yuan with forex reserve ratio cut

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    U.S. exchange-traded funds that invest in Chinese stocks notched their best day in a month after China ramped up its efforts to support the country’s flagging currency as investors’ concerns over the economic weakness persist.

    The People’s Bank of China said Friday it will lower the amount of foreign-exchange deposits financial institutions are required to hold for the first time in 2023, a move seen as a bid to shore up the Chinese yuan, which has tumbled this year as the world’s second largest economy has faltered due to a property-market downturn, sluggish domestic consumption, and the ballooning local government debt pile. 

    The Invesco Golden Dragon China ETF
    PGJ,
    which tracks the American depositary shares of companies based in China, rose 3% on Friday, while the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF
    KWEB,
    which offers exposure to Chinese software and information technology stocks, gained 3.5%. The iShares MSCI China ETF
    MCHI
    advanced nearly 2.2% and the SPDR S&P China ETF
    GXC
    surged 2%, according to FactSet data.

    The iShares MSCI China ETF and the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF booked their biggest daily percentage advance since August 3, according to FactSet data.

    China’s central bank will cut the foreign-exchange reserve requirement ratio to 4% from 6% beginning Sept. 15. The move is expected to increase the supply of foreign currencies available in local markets, making the Chinese yuan more appealing for domestic investors.

    See: China’s central bank to cut FX reserve ratio

    Based on about $822 billion foreign-exchange deposits in July, the 200-basis-point cut in the reserve requirement ratio could release about $16 billion, which will improve the supply of the U.S. dollar onshore, and could move spot USDCNY lower, said strategists at Citigroup led by Johanna Chua, chief Asia economist.

    “In a broader picture, this can be also seen as part the current round of accelerated policy rollout which works more directly on asset markets. If the accelerated pace [of policy rollout] continues, it may help stabilize sentiment to some extent and prevent outsized bearish moves on China risk assets including the RMB FX,” they wrote in a Friday note.

    The onshore yuan
    USDCNY,

    weakened around 1.7% against the dollar in August, extending its losses for the year to nearly 5%, according to FactSet data. The offshore yuan
    USDCNH,
    -0.03%
    was trading at 7.27 per dollar Friday afternoon.

    See: Chinese Property Stocks Gain on Stimulus Measures

    Friday’s change to reserve requirement ratio came a day after Chinese authorities announced that homebuyers’ minimum down payment will be reduced to 20% for first-time home purchases, and 30% for second-home purchases nationwide, according to a joint statement from the People’s Bank of China and National Administration of Financial Regulation late Thursday.

    Currently, homebuyers in largest cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have a 30% down payment ratio for first homes, and 40% or more for second homes.

    Separately, big banks, such as Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
    601398,
    -1.08%
    and Bank of China
    601988,
    -1.07%    ,
    have said they would cut their one-year yuan deposit rate by 10 basis points to 1.55% and their two-year yuan deposit rate by 20 basis points to 1.85%. The banks also plan to cut mortgage rates to boost consumption and aid the troubled property sector.

    The broader U.S. stock market finished mostly higher on Friday as traders weighed the latest jobs report to conclude the final trading day before the Labor Day holiday weekend. The S&P 500
    SPX
    was up 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    advanced 0.3% but the Nasdaq Composite
    COMP
    ended nearly flat.

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  • Dow down by more than 500 points as Fed officials point to more rate hikes, China protests rattle markets

    Dow down by more than 500 points as Fed officials point to more rate hikes, China protests rattle markets

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    U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday as protests in China raised the risks to global growth and Federal Reserve policy makers said more interest-rate increases are needed to control inflation.

    How stocks are trading
    • The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 523 points, or 1.5%, at 33,824, near its session low.

    • The S&P 500
      SPX,
      -1.65%
      retreated 68 points, or 1.7%, to 3,958.

    • The Nasdaq Composite shed 195 points, or 1.7%, dropping to 11,031.

    U.S. stocks had notched weekly gains last week for the second time in three weeks. The Dow rose 1.8%, the S&P 500 advanced 1.5% and the Nasdaq gained 0.7%.

    What’s driving markets

    Wall Street started the week in a downbeat mood as traders absorbed the impact of unrest in China and assessed interest-rate commentary by a pair of Fed officials on Monday.

    St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told MarketWatch that he favors more aggressive interest-rate hikes to contain inflation, and that the central bank will likely need to keep interest rates above 5% into 2024. Meanwhile, his colleague John Williams, president of the New York Fed, said that U.S. unemployment could climb to as high as 5% next year, versus October’s rate of 3.7%, in response to the central bank’s series of rate hikes.

    Overseas, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
    HSI,
    -1.57%
    closed down by 1.6% and most equity indexes across Asia also fell, with the exception of India’s, on concerns about unrest in China. Those concerns also spilled over into commodity markets, where West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery
    CLF23,
    +0.93%
     briefly fell to less than $74 per barrel before recovering and settling at $77.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Meanwhile, copper prices HG00 were off 0.9% at $3.594 per pound.

    “What people are worried about is the potential for protests in China to spread and whether the population is reaching its breaking point,” said Derek Tang, an economist at Monetary Policy Analytics in Washington. “At the same time, Fed speak is ramping up and the message is there’s more hikes to come. So investors aren’t finding relief.”

    Signs that economic activity in China will continue to be disrupted by the protests or by additional anti-COVID measures will likely continue to weigh on commodity prices, analysts said. Meanwhile, concerns about global growth helped to support government bond markets earlier on Monday, when the yield on the 10-year note
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.693%
    briefly traded at its lowest level since October.

    The unprecedented waves of protest in China “have caused ripples of unease across financial markets, as worries mount about repercussions for the world’s second-largest economy,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “As demonstrations spread across the country from Beijing to Xinjiang and Shanghai, reflecting rising anger about the zero-Covid policy, a sustained recovery in demand across the vast country appears even further away.”

    But the news wasn’t all bad: Reports of strong online Black Friday sales helped boost shares of Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN,
    +0.29%    ,
    which were up 0.6%.

    Investors can expect more information about the health of the U.S. economy in what’s shaping up to be a busy week for U.S. economic data: Later this week, investors will receive the ADP employment report followed by the November jobs report. Revised data on third-quarter gross domestic product is due on Wednesday, along with the Fed’s Beige Book report. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is set to speak publicly on Wednesday, and a closely watched gauge of inflation is due on Thursday.

    Read: ‘We see major stock markets plunging 25% from levels somewhat above today’s,’ Deutsche Bank says

    Single-stock movers

    — Jamie Chisholm contributed to this article.

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  • Dow ekes out gain, stocks end higher on signs of easing inflation, but Russia’s war in Ukraine intensifies

    Dow ekes out gain, stocks end higher on signs of easing inflation, but Russia’s war in Ukraine intensifies

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    U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday, but off the session’s best levels, after more data suggested inflation may be slowing and mega-retailer Walmart offered a rosier annual forecast.

    The Dow turned negative earlier in the session after the Associated Press reported that Russian missiles crossed into Poland and killed two people, ratcheting up geopolitical tension given Poland is a NATO country.

    How stocks traded
    • S&P 500 index
      SPX,
      +0.87%
      rose 34.48 points, or 0.9%, to close at 3,991.73.

    • Dow Jones Industrial Average
      DJIA,
      +0.17%
      climbed 56.22 points, or 0.2%, ending at 33,592.92, after touching a nearly three-month high of 33,987.06 earlier.

    • Nasdaq Composite
      COMP,
      +1.45%
      climbed 162.19 points, or 1.5%, closing at 11,358.41.

    On Monday, U.S. stocks finished near session lows after early gains evaporated. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 211 points, or 0.6%, while the S&P 500 declined 36 points, or 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 226 points, or 2%.

    What drove markets

    U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday, after another batch of inflation data showed that whole prices rises were slowing in October for the second straight month.

    The Dow’s brief negative turn came after reports that Russian military bombarded Ukraine Tuesday. In the attack, missiles reportedly crossed into Poland, a member of NATO, the Associated Press said, citing a senior U.S. intelligence official.

    “Geopolitical concerns obviously are never positive for the market,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.

    On Tuesday, oil futures settled higher. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery rose to $1.05, or 1.2%, reaching $86.92 a barrel.

    While markets had started to price in the toll of Russian’s nearly nine-month invasion of Ukraine, it had not priced in an potential escalation of the war, said Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist at Capitol Securities Management.

    “Talk about geopolitical angst returning,” Engelke said, later adding, “If there were really missiles shot to Poland and that was really not an accident, wow, that is really  increasing the scope of the war.”

    A U.S. National Security Council spokesperson said the agency was aware of the news reports out of Poland, but that it cannot confirm the reports or any details at this time.

    While international worries clouded the session, there was also encouraging domestic news.

    The U.S. producer-price index climbed 8% over the 12 months through October, the Labor Department said Tuesday, easing from September’s revised 8.4% increase. Last week, stocks surged after the October consumer-price index rose more slowly than expected.

    See: Wholesale prices rise slowly again and point to softening U.S. inflation

    Tuesday’s PPI report helped support the notion that inflation has peaked, at least for now.

    “Today, it’s really about the PPI and the market reaction to it,” Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers
    IBKR,
    +3.45%    ,
    said in a Tuesday morning interview before the reports of missiles crossing into Poland.

    Markets ripped higher last Thursday after October’s consumer-price index showed signs of easing. The same dynamic was playing out Tuesday, but the response now has been “a bit more muted” because it’s an iteration on inflation data that investors already had been starting to see, Sosnick said.

    So, is the economy really at peak inflation? It’s too early to say for sure, according to Sosnick. Still, the PPI numbers, paired with last week’s CPI reading “does add evidence to that narrative,” he added.

    Walmart’s third quarter earnings also were buoying markets, Sosnick said. The massive retailer’s beat on earnings offers a glimpse at the minds and wallets of many American consumers. For anyone who worries about consumers “getting highly defensive” and not spending, Walmart’s numbers are “counter evidence.”

    In other news, the first face-to-face meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping helped support stocks listed in China and Hong Kong, as some of the tensions between the world’s two largest economies were seen to be easing.

    The upbeat tone from Asia, which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
    TSM,
    +10.52%
    jumping 7.7% on news Warren Buffett had bought a $5 billion stake, underpinned European bourses, which closed higher for a fourth session in a row.

    Read also: Warren Buffett’s chip-stock purchase is a classic example of why you want to be ‘greedy only when others are fearful’

    Analysts increasingly expect stocks to enjoy a positive end to the year. “The near-term picture still looks positive for U.S. benchmark indices and while momentum has reached intra-day overbought levels, this doesn’t imply a selloff has to happen right away,” said Mark Newton, head of technical strategy at Fundstrat.

    Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker said Tuesday that he favored a 50 basis-point hike to the Fed’s benchmark rate in December. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said more rate hikes will be needed, even through there have been “glimmers of hope” on inflation.

    Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Michael Barr said Tuesday that the U.S. economy is likely to slow in coming months, and more workers will lose their jobs, in Senate testimony. The Fed is working with regulators to assess risks tied to cryptocurrency markets, following the collapse of FTX and its associated companies.

    In other U.S. economic data, the New York Empire State manufacturing index for November showed a gauge of manufacturing activity in the state rose 13.6 points to 4.5 this month.

    The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.774%
    was down 6.7 basis points at 3.798%. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

    Companies in focus
    • Walmart
      WMT,
      +6.54%
      shares jumped after the giant retailer swung to a net third-quarter loss, due to $3.3 billion in charges related to opioid legal settlements, but reported adjusted profit, revenue and same-store sales that were well above expectations and a full-year outlook that was above forecasts. Walmart shares opened Tuesday at $145.61 and closed at $147.48, or 6.57% higher.

    • Home Depot
      HD,
      +1.63%
      rose after the home improvement retailer reported fiscal third-quarter earnings that beat expectations, citing strength in project-related categories, but kept its full-year outlook intact. Home Depot shares opened Tuesday at $304.06 and closed at $311.99.

    • Chinese-listed technology traded sharply higher on Tuesday, including U.S.-traded ADRs for Alibaba Group Holding
      BABA,
      +11.17%      ,
      Baidu Inc.
      BIDU,
      +9.02%
      and JD.com Inc.
      JD,
      +7.14%
      The KraneShares CSI China Internet exchange-traded fund
      KWEB,
      +9.56%
      also traded substantially higher.

    —Jamie Chisholm contributed reporting to this article

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