Daily Brief Thematic (Sector/Industry): Good Morning Japan| Recession Fears Spook Equities;NUGGET- Musk Jumps in AI Race and more

• OVERSEAS. SPX  up +0.8%WoW but slipped -0.2% Friday as Hawkish Waller came out amid weak US March Retail Sales data;  Musk jump’s into Generative AI; Boeing Production Woes
• JAPAN.NKY Futs flat vs Cash USDJPY 133.8; Security Concerns ahead of by-elections as PM Kishida smoke Bombed;  Panasonic to build 3rd US batt plant; JT ramps up heated stick products
• NUGGET. Elon Musk’s aggressive push into Generative AI to rival/beat ChatGPT; A boon for NDVIDIA and by extension, Japan’s Advantest(6857)

In the next installment of our Webinar Wednesdays, we go live with Smartkarma Insight Provider, Stanley Tsai, CFA as he will be sharing with us his insights on the performance and outlook of banks in China. Join us, as Stanley tackles topics like possible triggers for a banking crisis in China, to how the evolving regulatory environment will going to change investors’ risks / rewards, in the next live session. 

The webinar will be hosted on Wednesday, 10 May 2023, 17:00 SGT/HKT.

Stanley Tsai, CFA has over 20 years of experience as a financial sector specialist across equities and fixed income. He is currently an advisor to a private investment fund and a non-executive director of a US VC fund. He is also a member of the Value Investing Committee and Media Committee at the CFA Institute of Hong Kong.

• JPM and Citigroup results may imply radical divergence amongst US banks
• Deposit flows into big banks, out of small banks, may be just one feature 
• Commitment risk, loan contraction, and net interest income can surprise

• 9995HK: ADC gets heated up with another biotech license in biotech deal (-)
• 9926HK：Akeso’s JV with SinoBio signed exclusive distribution of PD-1 drug with SE Asia and Oceania distributor
• BGNE.US: Merck KGaA’s BTK inhibitor drug hit with FDA hold due to liver injury…Impact to BGNE nil

• With the upcoming first quarter earnings season taking center stage the next 3 weeks, there is yet again a well overdue reprieve from the back and forth focus on hiking, pausing, and cutting next steps of the Federal Reserve.
• The focus now goes back to company earnings and forward guidance and whether slowdowns picked up on ISM, PMI, and regional Fed surveys are now making its way through earnings reports.
• While still early, the first 22 S&P 500 Index companies reveal a 20% drop in earnings QoQ.