• European bourses recovered from the losses seen at the cash open, with the region currently posting board-based gains
• US equity futures see slightly more pronounced gains vs Europe following yesterday’s hefty losses
• Greenback continues to grind higher in its guise of global reserve and prime safe haven with DXY inching closer to 103.000
• Russia's Gazprom has halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland due to lack of payment in roubles
• EU Commission President von der Leyen said the EU is mapping out a coordinated response
• Looking ahead Weekly EIA Inventories, New Zealand Trade Balance, Speeches from ECB’s Lagarde, SNB’s Zurbruegg, BoC’s Macklem, Supply from the US
• Earnings from Meta, Boeing, Ford, PayPal, Qualcomm & T-Mobile

27th April 2022

SNAPSHOT

LOOKING AHEAD

• Weekly EIA Inventories, New Zealand Trade Balance, Speeches from ECB’s Lagarde, SNB’ s Zurbruegg, BoC’s Macklem, Supply from the US.
• Earnings from Meta, Boeing, Ford, PayPal, Qualcomm & T-Mobile.
• Click here for the Week Ahead preview

GEOPOLITICS

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

DEFENCE/MILITARY

• The Interior Ministry of Moldova's Transdniestria says that shots have been fired towards the village of Cobasna from Ukraine territory

ENERGY/ECONOMIC SANCTIONS & UPDATES

• Russia's Gazprom has halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland due to lack of payment in roubles; says supplies will be halted until RUB payments are made. It was also reported that Russian gas supplies to Poland resumes, according to operator data cited by Reuters.
• Gazprom says it continues shipping gas to Europe via Ukraine, in line with customer requests, according to Reuters.
• Four European gas buyers already paid for gas supplies in RUB; Ten buyers opened accounts with Gazprom Bank, according to Bloomberg.
• German energy Co. Uniper (UN01 GY) CCO sees no sign that German government is ready to abruptly stop Russian gas imports; focusing on securing supplies, according to Reuters.
• Hungary said gas shipments are coming according to contract from Serbian direct; will transfer EUR to pay for Russian gas and this will be converted to RUB at Gazprom Bank
• Polish Climate Minister says Poland is ready to help Germany import non-Russian oil, via Reuters.
• EU Commission President von der Leyen said the EU is mapping out a coordinated response to the latest announcement by Gazprom to "blackmail us with gas", via Twitter.
• Austria will continue to pay for Russian gas in Euros, according to the Austrian Chancellor, via Reuters.

OTHER

• China military says US Navy sailing through Taiwan Strait deliberately harm peace and stability.
• Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno says Japan conveyed concerns through diplomatic route regarding a Chinese navy vessel entering Japanese waters, according to Reuters.

EUROPEAN TRADE

EQUITIES

• European bourses recovered from the losses seen at the cash open, with the region currently posting board-based gains.
• Sector performance in Europe is mostly firmer but with no clear theme; Basic Resources is the clear outperformer.
• Stateside, US equity futures see slightly more pronounced gains vs Europe following yesterday’s hefty losses.
• Alphabet Inc (GOOG) - Q1 2022 (USD): EPS 24.62 (exp. 25.96), Revenue 68bln (exp. 68.1bln); authorised to buyback additional 70bln. (Newswires) Shares fell 3.0% after market
• Microsoft (MSFT) - Adj. EPS 2.22 (exp. 2.19), Revenue 49.4bln (exp. 49.05bln). Co. guides Q4 intelligent cloud rev. USD 21.1bln-21.35bln, productivity and business process rev. USD 16.65bln-16.9bln. (PR Newswire) Shares rose 5.4% after market

Click here for more detail.

FX

• Greenback continues to grind higher in its guise of global reserve and prime safe haven with DXY inching closer to 103.000, at 102.780 vs 2020 peak of 102.990.
• Aussie inflated as sizzling CPI metrics up the RBA rate hike ante amidst calls for liftoff next week.
• Yen hits resistance and importer offers after probing 127.00 vs Dollar.
• Euro hits new sub-1.0600 multi year low as Russia threatens to suspend gas supplies from more unfriendly nations and Pound flounders mostly under 1.2600 with little help from dire CBI Survey.
• Yuan loses RRR cut momentum as spread of Covid continues in China - Usd/Cny closes at highest in a year around 6.5500+, Usd/Cnh eyeing 6.6000 again.

Click here for more detail.

Notable FX Expiries, NY Cut:

• EUR/USD: 1.0600 (1.4BN), 1.0640-50 (975M), 1.0700 (1.04BN),

Click here for more detail

FIXED INCOME

• Choppy midweek session for bonds, so far, as recovery momentum fades amidst a raft of issuance
• Bunds fade after topping Tuesday's peak at 155.77 in wake of a lukewarm reception for new 2038 benchmark
• Gilts top out at 119.72 before much worse than feared UK CPI sales survey
• Treasuries edgy ahead of 5 year supply with T-note probing 120-00 vs 120-18+ overnight high

Click here for more detail.

COMMODITIES

• WTI and Brent June futures have been moving horizontally since yesterday's settlement,
• US Private Energy Inventory Data (bbls): Crude +4.8mln (exp. +2.2mln), Gasoline -3.9mln (exp. +0.5mln), Distillates +0.4mln (exp. -0.6mln), Cushing +1.1mln
• Russian Economy Ministry expects Russian oil exports to fall this year to 228.3mln tonnes (vs 231mln in 2021) in its baseline scenario and to 213.3mln tonnes in its conservative scenario.
• Spot gold saw some selling pressure in which the yellow metal fell below the 25th April low (USD 1,891.20/oz) and tripped stops below USD 1,890/oz.
• Base metals markets are relatively mixed, with nothing interesting standing out.
• Indian power minister has asked states to step up imports of coal for three years, according to Reuters sources.

Click here for more detail.

NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES

• ECB's Mueller says the chance of a EZ recession is low
• ECB Chief Economist Lane says accounting for housing in the overall price index, as well as climate issues, are major challenges for the official statistics community

DATA RECAP

• German GfK Consumer Sentiment (May) -26.5 vs. Exp. -16.0 (Prev. -15.5, Rev. -15.7)

NOTABLE US HEADLINES

• Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer met Tuesday to discuss putting together a package to try to get gas prices under control, according Punchbowl sources.

CRYPTO

• Bitcoin attempts to recovery from yesterday's slide and meanders around 39k.

APAC TRADE

EQUITIES

• APAC stocks were mostly negative after the losses in the US where participants braced for the large-cap tech results including Alphabet which disappointed, while the region also navigated through a deluge of earnings.
• ASX 200 was dragged lower by underperformance in tech and the consumer-related stocks, while mostly firmer than expected CPI data added to the pressure for the RBA to hike as early as next week.
• Nikkei 225 retreated with the worst-performing stocks in the index pressured by earnings updates.
• Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were choppy as Beijing lockdown fears were stoked after Chaoyang district was classified as high-risk and the Tongzhou district halted schools, although participants also digested firmer Industrial Profits and President Xi’s recent announcement to step up infrastructure construction.

NOTABLE APAC HEADLINES

• PBoC injected CNY 10bln via 7-day reverse repos with the rate at 2.10% for a net neutral daily position.
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.5598 vs exp. 6.5614 (prev. 6.5590)
• Beijing's Tongzhou district halted schools due to coronavirus, according to China News.
• Japan's Defence Ministry said a Chinese navy vessel was spotted in its territorial waters near islands in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima which was the first confirmed intrusion by a Chinese vessel since last November, according to Kyodo. It was later reported that Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno said Japan conveyed concerns through diplomatic route regarding a Chinese navy vessel entering Japanese waters.
• Chinese policymakers reportedly disagree regarding a crackdown on China's property industry, according to FT.

DATA RECAP

• Australian CPI QQ (Q1) 2.1% vs. Exp. 1.7% (Prev. 1.3%)
• Australian CPI YY (Q1) 5.1% vs. Exp. 4.6% (Prev. 3.5%)
• Australian RBA Trimmed Mean CPI QQ (Q1) 1.4% vs. Exp. 1.2% (Prev. 1.0%)
• Australian RBA Trimmed Mean CPI YY (Q1) 3.7% vs. Exp. 3.4% (Prev. 2.6%)
• Chinese Industrial Profits YY (Mar) 12.2% (Prev. 4.2%)
• Chinese Industrial Production YTD YY (Mar) 8.5% (Prev. 5.0%)