Asia Morning Bites

Data wise, it is a quiet day with the US University of Michigan consumer confidence index and associated inflation expectations measures. We’ve had Powell and Daly re-iterating the idea that the next FOMC meetings will deliver 50bp hikes, not 75bp, though this doesn’t seem to be enough to quell market anxiety anymore. Kashkari has a speaking engagement today on energy and inflation, so we’ll see if he has better luck.

India: Late yesterday, India released April CPI, which came in at 7.8%YoY, a fair bit higher than the 7.4% consensus expectation. The upside surprise was partly food-related but was also supported by strength in the fuel and light component and transport (all reflecting higher energy prices) as well as clothing. Now that the RBI is in hiking mode after their 40bp hike this month, it may be worth considering if the next move will need to be 50bp?

India also releases April trade data today. The market consensus is for the deficit to widen to -$20bn – for choice, I’d probably go wider still, reflecting domestic economic strength and higher-priced imported commodities.

China: Beijing has three days of residents staying at home for Covid testing. Though not officially considered a “lockdown” the economic impacts will be similar. The zero-Covid policy is once again confirmed. Damage to the economy is difficult to estimate from the uncertainty of the timing and duration of lockdown. Guangdong province is experiencing floods from heavy rainfall. This may also affect the operations of some factories, adding another headwind to manufacturing and exports.

South Korea: The government has proposed its 2nd supplementary budget worth 59.4 trillion won, of which 36.4 trillion won is allocated to the central government and 70% of the budget is allocated to compensate small business owners. The size of cash transfer is at least 6 million won to 10 million won each (USD450 – 800). The remaining 23 trillion won is earmarked to transfer to local government. No bond issuance is required as the budget is mostly financed through excess tax revenue of 53 trillion won and expenditure restructuring. This is expected to provide some relief to the bond market due to better supply conditions. However, higher-than-expected government spending could add further upside risk to the current CPI forecast of 4.6% in 2022 and trigger more aggressive monetary tightening. For now, we think that the Bank of Korea would stop at 2.25% and try not to go beyond that.