市场消息

TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares tumbled on Friday after China reported a set of weak data, fanning fresh worries of a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy and leaving investors fretting over the wider impact of a yet unresolved Sino-U.S. trade dispute.

China’s November retail sales grew at the weakest pace since 2003 and industrial output rose the least in nearly three years as domestic demand softened further, underlining rising risks to the economy as Beijing works to defuse a trade dispute with the United States.

A Chinese statistics bureau spokesman said the November data showed downward pressure on the economy is increasing.

The data “means that the worst is yet to come and policymakers will be very worried, particularly with consumption growth falling off a cliff,” said Sue Trinh, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets in Hong Kong.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Britain’s weakened prime minister, Theresa May, said on Thursday she did not expect to secure a quick breakthrough in Brexit talks that would give her fractured party the reassurances needed to get her deal through parliament.

Arriving in Brussels just a day after a failed attempt to topple her at home, May was met largely by readiness to help from European Union leaders and one demand: tell us want you want.

“I recognise the strength of concern in the House of Commons and that is what I will be putting to colleagues today,” May said. “I don’t expect an immediate breakthrough, but what I do hope is that we can start work as quickly as possible on the assurances that are necessary.”

EU leaders were clear. They all said they needed to know exactly what May wanted to secure in Brussels but also warned that Britain could not reopen the divorce deal, or withdrawal agreement, signed off by both sides in November.

LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) – The euro rose slightly in early trading on Thursday after Italy said it would cut its budgetary spending plans in a row with the European Union, although traders were in a cautious mood ahead of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy meeting.

Global markets were mostly positive at the start of the day on signs of easing Sino-U.S. trade tensions and expectations that China will increase support for its cooling economy.

Alvin Tan, a strategist at Societe Generale, said news that Italy was cutting its deficit target was supporting the euro, as it would help defuse a dispute with European officials in Brussels.

While the ECB is set to announce formally an end to its vast quantitative easing programme at a policy meeting later on Thursday, the move will be tempered by the central bank likely expressing caution about the outlook for the economy.

Investors are hoping to find out whether the ECB will start raising interest rates before ECB President Mario Draghi’s term ends in October next year.

“Everybody wants to have a hint regarding whether the ECB will raise interest rates next year but that will probably not happen,” said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency analyst at Daiwa Securities.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Wednesday warned the United States not to politicize extradition cases, a day after President Donald Trump said he could intervene in the affair of a Chinese executive detained in Canada at Washington’s request.

Freeland also told reporters that a second Canadian citizen could be in trouble in China. Authorities in China are already holding former diplomat Michael Kovrig, who was detained on Monday.

Officials say China had so far not linked Kovrig’s detention to the arrest in Vancouver on Dec. 1 of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, which infuriated Beijing. But Canadian diplomatic experts have said they have no doubt the two cases are linked.

Freeland said it was obvious the legal process should not be hijacked for political purposes and that Meng’s lawyers would have the option of raising Trump’s remarks if they decided to fight extradition.

“Our extradition partners should not seek to politicize the extradition process or use it for ends other than the pursuit of justice and following the rule of law,” she said when asked about Trump’s comments.

Her words mark another potentially difficult moment in ties between Canada and the United States, which were heavily strained during more than a year of talks to negotiate a new North American trade pact.

Others also questioned whether Trump might be misusing the extradition request.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Asian equity markets rallied on Thursday on signs of easing Sino-U.S. trade tensions and expectations that China will step up efforts soon to support its cooling economy.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8 percent, building on early gains made after British Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote.

Financial spreadbetters expect shares in Europe to follow suit, with Frankfurt’s DAX seen opening 0.3 percent higher at 10,963 and Paris’ CAC expected to gain 0.2 percent. London’s FTSE is seen flat.

U.S. stock futures rose 0.4 percent, pointing to a firmer opening on Wall Street.

In Asia, gains were concentrated in Chinese shares, with Chinese blue-chips up 1.5 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gaining 1.1 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index ended 1 percent higher, while Australian shares gained 0.1 percent.

Markets are slowly growing less pessimistic about the chances of a Sino-U.S. trade deal after a slew of news this week pointed to easing tensions between the two powers.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that Chinese state-owned companies have bought more than 1.5 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans in the first major U.S. soybean purchases in more than six months.

The purchases are the most concrete evidence yet that China is making good on pledges made when Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met on Dec. 1 and agreed to a 90-day detente to negotiate a trade deal.

BBC – UK Prime Minister Theresa May will face a vote of confidence in her leadership later on Wednesday.

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Mrs May said: “I will contest that vote with everything I have got.”

She said a new prime minister would have to scrap or extend Article 50, the mechanism taking Britain out of the EU on 29 March, “delaying or even stopping Brexit”.

Conservative MPs will vote from 18:00 GMT to 20:00 GMT.

A result is expected fairly quickly after the voting finishes.

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – A top executive of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd was granted bail by a Canadian court on Tuesday, 10 days after her arrest in Vancouver at the request of U.S. authorities sparked a diplomatic dispute.

In a court hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Justice William Ehrcke granted C$10 million ($7.5 million) bail to Meng, who has been jailed since her arrest on Dec. 1. The courtroom erupted in applause when the decision was announced. Meng cried and hugged her lawyers.

Among conditions of her bail, the 46-year-old executive must wear an ankle monitor and stay at home from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Five friends pledged equity in their homes and other money as a guarantee she will not flee.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would intervene with the U.S. Justice Department in the case against a Chinese telecommunications executive if it would help secure a trade deal with Beijing.

“If I think it’s good for the country, if I think it’s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made – which is a very important thing – what’s good for national security – I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary,” Trump said in a wide-ranging interview with Reuters in the Oval Office.

Trump expressed optimism that he could strike a trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping as the two countries struggle to resolve a dispute that has contributed to recent U.S. stock market declines and raised questions about whether economic turmoil could beset the president in the new year.

In the wake of his meeting with Xi in Buenos Aires, Trump said during the interview that trade talks with Beijing were under way by telephone, with more meetings likely among U.S. and Chinese officials.

Trump said Meng could potentially be released.

“Well, it’s possible that a lot of different things could happen. It’s also possible it will be a part of negotiations. But we’ll speak to the Justice Department, we’ll speak to them, we’ll get a lot of people involved,” he said.

Asked if he would like to see Meng extradited to the United States, Trump said he wanted to first see what the Chinese request. He added, however, that Huawei’s alleged practices are troubling.

(Reuters) – Automakers’ shares rose on Tuesday following a report that China could move to cut tariffs on American-made cars, a step which was forecast by U.S. President Donald Trump after a meeting with China’s president in Argentina.

China is moving to cut import tariffs on American-made cars to 15 percent from the current 40 percent, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday citing people familiar with the matter.

The step hasn’t been finalized and could still change, according to the report.

Shares of U.S. automakers including General Motors Co (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) rose about 2 percent in premarket trading on hopes that the move could revitalize sales that took a hit when China ramped up levies on U.S.-made cars.

European auto stocks .SXAP also rallied 2.8 pct on the news, as several of the carmakers build SUVs in the United States and sell in China.

BMW (BMWG.DE), Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) and Daimler AG (BMWG.DE) rose between 2.3 percent and 4 percent.

A proposal to reduce tariffs on cars made in the U.S. to 15 percent has been submitted to China’s Cabinet to be reviewed in the coming days, according to the report.