South Korea’s inflation, China’s reopening

The region’s PMI readings will dominate major economic events in the Asia-Pacific region next week.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics is set to release its official manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI publications in October Saturday. Reuters expects factory activity in China to show a contraction with a reading of 48.

South Korea is also due to release its trade data for December over the weekend, with economists polled by Reuters forecasting a 10.1% decline from a year ago.

Singapore is due to release its manufacturing PMI readings next week Standard & Poor’s Worldwide It is due to publish its PMI readings for South Korea, Indonesia and India on Monday.

Inflation rates for the Philippines and Indonesia will also be closely watched, with data scheduled for release on Tuesday and Monday, respectively.

The Japanese PMI reading and China’s own services PMI survey will be released on Wednesday. Singapore will release retail sales for November on Thursday as well as South Korea’s unemployment rate for December.

– Jihe Lee

Former Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Hirohide Yamaguchi appears as a candidate to lead the central bank, Japanese domestic media Sankey reportedaccording to people familiar with the matter.

Yamaguchi, who served as a deputy at the central bank until 2013, has been a vocal critic of current governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s tight monetary policy.

The newspaper added that Yamaguchi would signal a shift away from former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic stimulus strategy also known as “Abenomics”.

Sankei reports that Yamaguchi is gaining traction as current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida moves away from a stimulus-oriented monetary stance, and that the appointment of the next central bank chief will become clear next month.

– Jihe Lee

Alvin Liu, chief economist at United Overseas Bank, said that as Hong Kong reopens, foreign nationals may be less inclined to move to Singapore.

“Singapore has benefited from the talent pool that has come here because of the stricter rules in Hong Kong itself,” Liu said, adding that the flow of the workforce moving to Singapore “may see some easing” now that the city has reopened.

“The talent pool itself may be less mobile here,” said the Singapore-based economist.

Liu added that the reopening of Hong Kong is a step in the right direction for the region to “return to business as usual,” Liu said.

Chinese markets are likely to see a “tactical bounce” of recovery next year, Port Shelter Investment Management reports.

“It’s just clear that we’re likely to see a tactical bounce,” Richard Harris, the company’s CEO, told CNBC.

“It’s going to be tactical, because China, at the end of the day, has to fit in with the rest of the world,” he said.

Harris expects China to pick up in the first quarter of the year, and to continue to feel the upside in the second quarter as well.

He added that this recovery also hinges on many currently unknown elements, such as whether significant stimulus will be injected into the Chinese economy, and what will be done about inflation when the economy rebounds.

– Lee Ying Chan

Listed in Singapore CSI Star and ChiNext 50 exchange traded funds It could bring liquidity from mainland China to Singapore,” Ding Chen, CEO of CSOP Asset Management, told CNBC.Squawk Box Asia. “

The company’s ETF was listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange on Friday and is a sub-fund of CSOP SG ETF Series I, a unit trust fund in Singapore, according to the fund’s page.

“Through SGX, Singaporean investors and global investors can also access ETFs listed in China,” Ding said, adding that Chinese investors can also directly invest in ETFs in Singapore.

When asked about the development of the company’s ETF portfolio, Ding said it will bring more young and emerging technology companies “to the market.

– Sheila Chiang

South Korea’s consumer price index for December rose 5% year-on-year, according to statistics from Bank of Korea show up.

The reading maintained cooler levels for the month and remained unchanged from November.

The print is in line with expectations of economists polled by Reuters.

– Jihe Lee

All major averages closed higher on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 345.09 points, or 1.05%. The S&P 500 rose 1.75% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.59% to 10,478.09.

– Tanaya McHale

Jobless claims increased last week amid the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy and especially the labor market.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that first-time applications for unemployment benefits totaled 225,000 for the week ending Dec. 24. That was an increase of 9,000 from the previous week and just above the 223,000 estimate from the Dow Jones.

Long-term and continuing claims, which are a week behind the headline number, jumped to 1.71 million, up 41,000 to the highest level since early February.

The numbers at this time of year are always noisy due to the holidays. Claims unadjusted for seasonal factors increased by 23,146, up 9.3%.

– Jeff Cox

The biotech is set to remain a “raising market” in 2023, according to Citi.

The bank explains how biotechnology might work based on different economic scenarios, and identifies three top picks for 2023.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Wizen tan