- SET Index: 1,518.3 (+0.12%), 9 Feb 2020
- S&P 500 Index: 3,911.2 (-0.11%), 9 Feb 2020
- Thai 10-year government bond yield: 1.285 (-1.00 bps), 9 Feb 2020
- US 10-year treasury yield: 1.18% (-1.00 bps), 9 Feb 2020
- Biden will 'walk, not run' on trade deals as Sino-U.S. tension lingers
- Chinese banks see fewer bad loans as economy recovers from COVID-19
- BOJ policymaker highlights cost of huge asset buying, signals tweak in March review
- Dollar slumps as U.S. Treasury yields soften
Biden will 'walk, not run' on trade deals as Sino-U.S. tension lingers
Sino-U.S. ties will stay tense as U.S. President Joe Biden is unlikely to rush into new deals to reduce tariffs on China, even if he is willing to re-engage with multilateral trade, economists said. Following former president Donald Trump's "America First" stance, the Biden administration has a "Buy American" policy for federal procurement. That means continued tensions, Rashmi Banga, from the United Nations Conference said. She predicted the United States would not change its policies in the ongoing tech rivalry with China. Given its pivotal role in the Sino-U.S. tech war, Alastair Newton, from Alavan Business Advisory, described Taiwan as "the world's most dangerous flashpoint".
Chinese banks see fewer bad loans as economy recovers from COVID-19
Chinese banks saw the size of their bad loans shrinking at the end of last year, as businesses' recovery from the pandemic gathered steam. The outstanding bad loans of China's commercial banks totaled 2.7 trillion yuan at the end of December, down by 133.6 billion yuan from the end of the third quarter, China's Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said. The non-performing loan ration in the sector stood at 1.84% at year-end, compared to 1.96% at the end of September. The banking sector achieved a net profit of 1.94 trillion yuan in the whole year of 2020, falling 2.7% year-on-year, it showed, with 5 trillion yuan put aside for bad loans.
BOJ policymaker highlights cost of huge asset buying, signals tweak in March review
The Bank of Japan must be mindful of the potential demerits of its huge asset purchases, board member Toyoaki Nakamura said in a sign the central bank will seek ways to make its asset-buying programme more flexible in a policy review due in March. “Buying huge amounts of assets and holding onto them for a prolonged period, the BOJ could affect market functions” he said. With the coronavirus pandemic likely to prolong its battle to fire up inflation to its 2% target, the BOJ unveiled a plan to conduct in March a review of its policy tools to make them more “sustainable and effective.”
Dollar slumps as U.S. Treasury yields soften
The benchmark government bond yield (LB29DA, 8.8 years) on the previous trading day was 1.285, -1.00 bps. Thai benchmark government bond yield (LB29DA) could be between 1.27-1.30. Meantime, the latest closed US 10-year bond yields was 1.18%, -1.00bps. USDTHB on the previous trading day closed around 29.935 Moving in a range from 29.89-29.93 this morning. USDTHB could be between 29.87-29.93 today. Meantime, The dollar fell to a one-week low on Tuesday, as a slide in U.S. Treasury yields raised doubts about the outlook for the greenback against the backdrop of a looming U.S. fiscal stimulus package.
Sources : Bloomberg, CNBC, Investing, CEIC
