AUSTRALIA DATA: Strongest Quarterly Growth In Two Years, Has It Continued?

• Vietnam’s PMI’s declined in January to +48.9 from +49.8 in December, the second consecutive month of contraction.
• Output declined to +49 from +50.7
• New orders fell from the prior month.
• Whilst a worrying trend, the overall state of the Vietnamese economy remains strong with 4Q GDP ahead of consensus at +7.09%, CPI moderate and exports extremely strong. 

The BoJ offers to buy a total of Y900n of JGBs from the market:

• Y150bn worth of JGBs with <1 Year until maturity
• Y300bn worth of JGBs with 1-3 Years until maturity
• Y300bn worth of JGBs with 3-5 Years until maturity
• Y150bn worth of JGBs with 10-25 Years until maturity

Asian equities are lower across the board, following Trump's Tariffs on Canada, Mexico & China. China is still out for LNY today, however Hong Kong returns.

• Japanese stocks dropped, with the Topix falling over 2% and Nikkei 225 down 2.2%, as exporters like automakers and tech firms sold off on global trade war fears. Taiwan equities are the worst performing in morning trading with the TAIEX down over 4% while South Korea's KOSPI is down 2.80% with Samsung down 2.80% & SK Hynix down 4.70%. Australia's ASX 200 is 1.85% lower, while New Zealand's NZX 50 is 1.50% lower.
• Asian e-commerce stocks may face pressure after Trump’s new trade levies include removing the "de minimis" tariff exemption for packages under $800. Watch Chinese e-commerce firms like Alibaba, JD.com, and Bilibili in Hong Kong, as well as PDD (Temu-owner) in the US. Australian apparel retailer Cettire fell as much as 12%, while Miniso Group in Hong Kong is also at risk. Citigroup analyst Alicia Yap notes that while PDD’s stock may have priced in some tariff risks, the removal of the exemption came sooner than expected. This could negatively impact Temu’s growth in 2025 and beyond, despite its efforts to expand local warehousing