By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck
Welcome to the Year of the Water Rabbit, or of the Cat if you happen to be Vietnamese.
A few things to remind ourselves of in case one lives by Chinese tales and superstitions:
-You should not take any medicine on the first day of the year, as you may stay ill for the whole year.
-You should not take out the rubbish, as this symbolises you dumping out good fortune from the house.
-You should also not eat porridge for breakfast as it is seen as something that poor people eat, and is a bad omen.
-You should not wash on the first or second day as it is seen as washing away good luck.
-The use of knives or scissors on the first day is believed to lead to inauspicious things.
-The crying of a child is supposed to bring bad luck to the family.
-Don't give certain gifts, like clocks, scissors, and pears, as they have a bad meaning in Chinese culture.
China is celebrating this week. Hei fat choy.
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In the US, investor focus will now increasingly shift to earnings updates, and that upcoming FOMC meeting, of course.
Federal Reserve officials are now officially under restraint to make any more public statements given the meeting is only one week away (Jan 31 and Feb 1).
Regarding US corporate releases, CNBC reports a diverse group of more than 80 S&P500 companies populates the calendar this week including Boeing (NYSE:BA), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Visa (NYSE:V), MasterCard, Johnson and Johnson, and Abbott Labs (NYSE:ABT).
On Friday, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)'s result did disappoint on some metrics, and surprised on other items. Investors took the glass half full view with all three major indices ending the week on a positive note.
As reported on Friday:
On Wednesday, the RBA-critical December quarter CPI data will be released. While most media might get another heart attack from the headline number, economists and the RBA will be zooming in on the trimmed-mean, the non-tradables and price inflation from services.
Just about every economist in the country is anticipating another strong uplift in the numbers. ANZ Bank economists, for example, expect trimmed mean inflation to have risen to 6.7% year-on-year, which would beat the RBA forecast for 6.5%.
No surprise, ANZ Bank expects another 25bp hike in February, casually dismissing recent apparent weakness in labour market data as no more than "noise".
"With 444k job vacancies recorded in November (around double the pre-pandemic level) and businesses still in hiring mode, it’s hard to see a sharp rise in unemployment any time soon."
On ANZ Bank's projections the RBA cash rate will peak out at 3.85% later this year, implying two more 25bp hikes post February.
NAB's business conditions survey on Tuesday might be another focal point. What are the chances the survey does not point to further decline?
Tuesday sees the world releasing PMI data, followed by CPI releases on Wednesday.
On Friday, when nobody is around, Resmed Inc (ASX:RMD) will unofficially start the local reporting season with a quarterly update as per US listings rules. The following week ResMed's example will be followed by the likes of Amcor PLC (ASX:AMC), Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP), Pinnacle Investment Management Group Ltd (ASX:PNI), Rea Group Ltd (ASX:REA) and News Corp (ASX:NWS).
Commodities are all over the shop at the moment, but iron ore doesn't know any other direction than up, while oil futures remain in a buoyant mood too.
SPI futures are not sure what lays ahead today. They have not been a great indicator of late.
"The Monday Report – 23 Jan 2023 (Hei Fat Choy)" was originally published on FNArena.com and was republished with permission.