The Overnight News Roundup

Nov 20, 2024

PiQ and Zack Eiseman provide you a consolidated roundup of the overnight news that matters most to markets.

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MACRO:

Marc Rowan emerges as a top contender to be Trump’s Treasury secretary. Private equity billionaire is considering job and is set to meet president-elect on Wednesday. (FT)
Trump is scheduled to interview former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh and Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan on Wednesday for the post of Treasury Secretary. (BBG)
Trump considering crypto lawyer Teresa Goody Guillen to lead the SEC. (CoinDesk)
Trump said that he was not reconsidering the nomination of former Congressman Matt Gaetz as attorney general. (RTRS)
U.S. Senate Democrats charged ahead with confirming more judges before Trump takes office by approving two new trial court judges, including one in Oregon whose promotion of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession had fueled stiff Republican opposition. (RTRS)
Trump's incoming administration plans to target federal regulations championed by Biden that aim to make automobiles more fuel-efficient and incentivize a shift toward electric vehicles. (RTRS)
American businesses are stocking up on imported goods before tariffs are enacted. They are also considering how to cope with the levies—whether they will be able to raise prices and whether they will need to find alternatives to their Chinese manufacturers. (WSJ)
Some key market metrics are starting to suggest the Trump-inspired rally in the dollar may have plateaued. Momentum indicators are signaling further upside may be limited and investor flows have become less one-sided, whilst views about the currency’s direction are starting to become more circumspect. (BBG)
The premium to hedge against a selloff in the bond market has diminished as the put/call options skew across the Treasury curve has traded back to neutral, adding weight to expectations for low volatility and range-bound trading. (BBG)
Sterling jumped after UK inflation jumped by more than expected to go back above the BoE's 2% target and services inflation - which the BoE views as a key measure of domestically generated price pressure - rose to 5.0% from 4.9%. (RTRS)
The UK labour market is in a better state than official data suggests, according to new analysis that finds there has been no surge in the rate of economic inactivity since the pandemic. (FT)
Japanese PM Ishiba struck a deal with a key opposition party over his economic stimulus package, by promising that discussion of tax cut proposals will be included. Package, which is expected to come out this week, will look for higher ceilings on tax free income and cuts to gasoline taxes. (BBG)
Japanese PM Ishiba said on Tuesday that he would like to come to an understanding and build a relationship with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, rather than confronting him. (RTRS)
Japan's exports expanded faster than expected in October, led by a pick-up in chip equipment demand in China, though fears persist over potential U.S. protectionist trade policies that could hamper future shipments. (RTRS)
Japan welcomed a record 3.31mln visitors last month, as the weak yen propelled a tourism boom that is pouring money into the nation's coffers. (RTRS)
Deal makers and activist investors injected drama into the Japanese equity market on Wednesday, triggering sharp rallies in shares of Seven & i Holdings Co., Tokyo Gas Co., Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. and Kadokawa Corp. (BBG)
China held its benchmark 1yr and 5yr LPRs steady at 3.1% and 3.6%, respectively, a highly anticipated move following a steep cut to borrowing costs last month. (WSJ)
Chinese mutual fund houses are cutting fees on their exchange-traded fund products, as they heeded authorities’ call to support the nation’s $10 trillion stock market. (BBG)
Chinese banks have issued nearly 1.5 trillion yuan ($207 billion) worth of tier-2 capital bonds and subordinated bonds so far this year to replenish capital. (Securities Daily)
Chinese President Xi told German Chancellor Scholz on Tuesday he hoped Germany could help the EU and China to resolve the issue of tariffs on Chinese EVs as soon as possible. (RTRS)
Oaktree Capital Management LP is looking for bargains in China even as other investors shun the world’s second-biggest economy, according to Howard Marks. (BBG)
Australia faces a more challenging fiscal outlook as key trading partner China cools and the local job market loosens, suggesting tax revenue upgrades will be smaller than in previous years, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said. (BBG)
Mexico's top economy officials on Tuesday downplayed concerns about trade talks with Donald Trump's administration, saying the potential impact on American companies could give the incoming U.S. president second thoughts about levying massive tariffs. (RTRS)
Study shows Thailand risks missing its growth target next year if Trump follows through with his pledge to raise tariffs on imports into the US as it could hurt the Southeast Asian nation’s exports and weaken its currency. (BBG)
The prospect of the U.S. introducing a swathe of new tariffs under President-elect Donald Trump has led economists to say the euro could return to parity with the U.S. dollar in their 2025 outlooks. (CNBC)
Citadel Securities is aiming to become a “material” player in Eurozone government bond trading by next year after building a team of traders in Paris and securing valuable access to German debt auctions. (FT)
Euro-yen is getting increased attention as policy divergence between the two regions looks set to offer opportunities in the currency pair. Strategists see room for a big fall in the cross to as low as 140 to 150 by the end of next year. (BBG)
Gold will rally to $2,900 an ounce by the end of next year, according to UBS, echoing a call from Goldman as central banks expand their holdings. Says there’s likely to be a period of consolidation due to the stronger dollar and higher yields before it starts climbing again. (MktNews)
The first options wagers on BlackRock Inc.’s $44 billion iShares Bitcoin Trust suggest traders see scope for the token to break more records. More than 350,000 contracts changed hands after Nasdaq Inc. listed them on Tuesday, and about 80% were bullish bets. (BBG)
Equinor has restored full output capacity at its Johan Sverdrup oilfield (775k BPD) in the North Sea following a power outage. Output was halted on Monday. (RTRS)
Russian refined fuel exports rebounded to a nine-month high in the first half of November, with a ramp-up in refining activity as seasonal maintenance winds down. (BBG)
Russian gas supply to EU via Ukraine steady amid row with OMV. (RTRS)
China’s Surging LNG Imports From US Threatened by Next Trade War. (BBG)

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GEOPOLITICAL:

Putin is open to discussing a Ukraine ceasefire deal with Donald Trump but rules out making any major territorial concessions and insists Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO. (RTRS)
The US embassy in Kyiv has received information of a potential significant air attack on Wednesday and will be closed, the U.S. Department of State Consular Affairs said in a statement. (RTRS)
Russia is suspected of orchestrating another major act of sabotage in Europe after two key fiber-optic data cables running below the Baltic Sea were cut off in quick succession earlier this week, government officials said. (WSJ)
A special emergency hotline between the Kremlin and the White House, created after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, is not currently in use, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesperson, told TASS state news agency in remarks published on Wednesday. (RTRS)
Around 10,900 North Korean troops have been deployed to Kursk as part of Russia's airborne unit and marines, with some already participating in battles in the Ukraine war, a South Korean lawmaker said citing the country's spy agency. (RTRS)
Biden has approved providing anti-personnel land mines to Ukraine, where Ukraine has reportedly committed to not using the mines in densely populated areas. (WaPo)
Arab states are banking on Saudi Arabia to use its relationship with Donald Trump and political heft in the region to act as a check on the president-elect’s Middle East policies amid fears that he will pursue a staunchly pro-Israel agenda. (FT)

EQUITIES:

Elon Musk joined a call between Donald Trump and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. (The Information)
A test launch of SpaceX’s megarocket failed to perform as planned on Tuesday, as president-elect Donald Trump looked on, with flight directors abandoning an effort to catch the vehicle’s reusable booster just minutes into the mission in a setback for SpaceX owner Elon Musk. (FT)
Apple has already locked up TSMC’s 2nm output for 2025, analysts say, and is widely expected to use the advanced process for its next-generation A19 Pro processor, which will go inside the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. (UDN)
Tesla has asked Samsung and SK Hynix to provide samples of their next-generation AI memory chips, HBM4, for its next Dojo supercomputer, where new orders show the HBM boom will continue through next-year. (Korea Economic Daily)
Qualcomm said it was 'positive' on the Trump administration, not foreseeing any problems competing for business in China which compromises 46% of its business, whilst it forecasted chip sales growth looking ahead. (RTRS)
Comcast is expected to announce Wednesday that it is moving forward with a plan to spin off its NBCUniversal cable TV networks, acknowledging that it will be better off without a business that was once its crown jewel. (WSJ)
Keysight Technologies reported its fourth-quarter profit above analysts' estimates, driven by investments in AI technology within its communications solutions unit. (RTRS)
Palantir becomes a ‘Trump trade’ as investors bet on higher defence spending. (FT)
BlackRock and Amundi are lining up heavily concentrated US “mega-cap” exchange traded funds in Europe, going against the flow of money into strategies intended to protect investors from overconcentration. (FT)
As Volkswagen and unions gear up for the next round of talks over wages and plant closures, company and industry data reviewed by Reuters show that the automaker spends a higher proportion of sales on labour costs than major rivals. (RTRS)
HSBC is relaunching its 'Premier' wealth banking brand in Britain, targeting so-called mass affluent customers who have between 100,000 and 2 million pounds ($2.5 million) to invest. (RTRS)
STMicroelectronics said it expected more than $20 billion in sales by the end of the decade, delaying a target that the group had hoped to reach much earlier as a chip inventory glut and sluggish demand for chips in cars and industrial equipment persist. (WSJ)
Chinese EV maker Xpeng said mass production of its Turing self-designed AI chip was progressing well, dismissing concerns it could be hit by new U.S. curbs on advanced semiconductors for Chinese firms. (RTRS)
HK-listed shares of Laekna soared after the Chinese biotech firm entered into agreement with Eli Lilly to accelerate global clinical development of LAE102, used to treat obesity. (RTRS)
Hong Kong telecommunications company HKBN Ltd said it has received a non-binding proposal from state-owned China Mobile for a possible takeover of the broadband firm as China Mobile aims to bolster its foothold in Hong Kong. (RTRS)
Seven & i shares surge on report its founding family is raising over $50 billion to take the firm private. (CNBC)