TheChek News Flow

Chinese equities weighed on the broader Asian stock gauge following less-than-expected adjustments in loan rates by Chinese banks. Other benchmarks in the region traded mixed. The Hang Seng Index declined as much as 1.8% and was set for its lowest close since November. Shares in mainland China also dropped into a second day, with finance stocks among the worst performers. Gauges in Japan and South Korea gained, but their advances may not prevent an Asian equity benchmark heading to its lowest level since March. Contracts for US equities were mostly steady. Chinese lenders cut the one-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points and kept the five-year prime loan rates unchanged even after policymakers called for more lending. Traders had expected a 15-basis-point cut on both rates. The disappointing loan rates data added to investor worries on China’s weak economic recovery and its impact on other markets. Cost to protect Asia ex-Japan’s investment-grade dollar bonds against default now heads for its longest stretch of increases in more than two years. Renewed property contagion concerns led Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to lower its full-year earnings-per-share growth estimate for MSCI China to 11% from 14%. It also reduced its 12-month index target from 70 to 67, implying 13% returns over the next 12 months.  A gauge of dollar strength traded little changed, following small losses Thursday and Friday that trimmed its five weeks of gains. Treasury yields rose, with the 10-year approaching the highest level since November 2007. While concerns of an imminent recession are fading, wary investors are instead facing entrenched inflation and the prospect of more policy tightening ahead of the annual Jackson Hole, Wyoming, event on Thursday and Friday, which features speakers including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his European counterpart President Christine Lagarde.  In another sign of nervousness, the Cboe Volatility Index climbed above 18 intraday on Friday, touching the highest level since May. Bank of America Corp.’s Michael Hartnett warned that stocks may drop another 4%, given China’s economic turmoil and the jump in bond yields.   Meanwhile, US equities gained some ground in the final minutes of Friday’s session in moves likely exacerbated by the monthly options expiration, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the S&P 500 ending nearly even and the Nasdaq 100 inching down. MSCI Inc.’s global equities benchmark notched its biggest weekly loss since the March meltdown of Silicon Valley Bank. American megacap tech stocks recorded their third straight weekly drop last week, the longest such streak this year, as fears of higher global interest rates weigh on sentiment while bonds bounce off multiyear lows.  Oil rose after suffering from its first weekly loss since June and gold ticked higher. 

Macro :
- Germany Has Drafted Chinese Investment Curbs, Handelsblatt Says

- Germany Receives €417 Million From Power Generation Levy

- Germany Hunts for Cyber Criminals Amid Billion-Euro Scams

- German Car Market Could See Small Gain in 2023, S&P Global Says

Keep an eye on :
- AIR FP : FAA Posts Directive for Fixes to Pratt Engines on Airbus A320

- ATCOA SS : Atlas Copco to Buy Australian Dewatering Pump Maker Sykes

- BO DC : B&O CEO Says Company Poised for Next Boom, Borsen Reports

- BSGR NA : B&S Group Sees FY Ebitda Margin About 5%

- DD US : DuPont Said to Near Deal to Sell $1.8 Billion Unit to Jordan Co.

- FIA1S FH : Finnair CEO Topi Manner Leaves to Join Elisa

- HVPE LN : Berlusconi Office Backing $100 Million Pharma Startup Qualifyze

- ISP IM : Italy Could Partly Reimburse Banks Later for New Tax: Corriere

- IPN FP ; Exelixis, Ipsen's Prostate Cancer Combo Cuts Risk of Disease

- MMC US : Marsh to Buy Honan Insurance Group

- PIA IM : Roberto Colaninno, Chairman of Vespa-Maker Piaggio, Dies at 80

- POLY LN : Polymetal Aims to Sell Russia Business Within Six Months: FT

- SBBB SS : Troubled Swedish Landlord SBB Sees Exit of CFO and Deputy CEO