• APAC stocks were mostly choppy with early pressure following the tech-led declines stateside.
• Super Tuesday projections point to a rematch between US President Biden and former President Trump.
• European equity futures indicate a slightly positive open with Euro Stoxx 50 future +0.1% after the cash market closed down 0.4% on Tuesday.
• DXY is uneventful on a 103 handle, USD/JPY traded on both sides of 150.00, antipodeans outperform.
• Looking ahead, highlights include German Trade, EZ Retail Sales, US ADP, Wholesale Inventory, JOLTS, BoC and NBP Policy Announcements, Fed Beige Book, UK Budget, Comments from Fed Chair Powell, Daly & Kashkari.

US TRADE

EQUITIES

• US stocks suffered notable losses amid declines in big tech which resulted in the underperformance of the Nasdaq with selling pressure exacerbated as Apple (AAPL) was weighed on by reports of poor China iPhone metrics and Tesla (TSLA) extended on losses amid a fire and production halt at its Berlin plant, while AMD (AMD) also faces US restrictions on its chip sales to China. Furthermore, attention was on gold and Bitcoin which both rose to record highs although have since come off their peaks with the latter slumping heavily.
• SPX -1.02% at 5,078, NDX -1.80% at 17,897, DJIA -1.04% at 38,585, RUT -0.99% at 2,053.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• US President Biden and former President Trump have swept the state primaries that were held on Super Tuesday, according to projections by CBS - making a White House rematch between them even more likely, according to the BBC.
• US Senator Sinema said she will leave the Senate at the end of this year and will not run for re-election.

APAC TRADE

EQUITIES

• APAC stocks were mostly choppy with early pressure following the tech-led declines stateside where Apple shares entered into a technical correction following a slump in China iPhone sales.
• ASX 200 traded rangebound as financials offset the losses in tech, while GDP data was somewhat inconclusive.
• Nikkei 225 gapped beneath the 40,000 level at the open before recovering the majority of losses.
• Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. shrugged off early caution with outperformance in Hong Kong driven by tech and healthcare, while price action in the mainland was more reserved amid US-China frictions and some growth-related pessimism.
• US equity futures were contained after recent losses and as participants awaited Powell's testimony.
• European equity futures indicate a slightly positive open with the Euro Stoxx 50 future +0.1% after the cash market closed down 0.4% on Tuesday.

FX

• DXY traded rangebound with only a slight uptick amid the cautious risk tone and as participants await Fed Chair Powell's semi-annual testimony to Congress, while Trump dominated the Super Tuesday Republican primaries.
• EUR/USD languished near the prior day's lows and continued to fluctuate through the 1.0850 level.
• GBP/USD briefly trickled beneath 1.2700 ahead of the looming Spring Budget announcement.
• USD/JPY was indecisive and traded on both sides of 150.00 after recently retreating on softer US yields.
• Antipodeans swung between gains and losses amid the choppy mood and after Australian GDP data which printed somewhat mixed or as expected, depending on which newswire survey the data was compared against.
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1016 vs exp. 7.1939 (prev. 7.1027).
• Turkish central bank said it has taken additional tightening measures to reinforce its commitment to tight policy and adjusted the loan monthly growth limit within the scope of loan growth-based securities maintenance practice, according to Reuters.

FIXED INCOME

• 10-year UST futures marginally pulled back from multi-week highs after rallying yesterday on softer ISM data.
• Bund futures were off the prior day's highs but remained above the 133.00 level ahead of German trade data.
• 10-year JGB futures were mildly pressured in the absence of Japanese data releases and BoJ purchases.

COMMODITIES

• Crude futures eked slight gains with price action quiet despite bullish-leaning private sector inventory data.
• US Energy Inventory Data (bbls): Crude +0.4mln (exp. +2.1mln), Gasoline -2.8mln (exp. -1.6mln), Distillate -1.8mln (exp. -0.7mln), Cushing +0.5mln.
• Saudi Arabia set April Arab light crude OSP to Asia at Oman/Dubai + USD 1.70/bbl and to NW Europe at ICE Brent + USD 0.30/bbl, while it set OSP to US at ASCI + USD 4.75/bbl.
• Ukraine rules out any commercial agreements to allow Russian natural gas to continue flowing through the country after the current transit deal ends at the end of the year, according to Bloomberg citing a Ukrainian official at an industry event.
• Spot gold took a breather after the precious metal recently climbed to fresh record highs.
• Copper futures were rangebound amid the mostly indecisive risk sentiment in Asia.

CRYPTO

• Bitcoin was initially restrained following yesterday's aggressive pullback from fresh record highs, but eventually caught wind later in the session and climbed firmly back above the USD 65,000 level.

NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES

• BoJ is likely to maintain its forecast that the economy will continue to recover and is expected to revise down the assessment on consumption and output at the March meeting, according to Reuters sources.
• RBNZ Chief Economist Conway said declines in core inflation are encouraging and rates need to stay restrictive for a sustained period. Conway said the picture for household consumption is soft and household inflation expectations are a risk, while he added the Fed cutting before the RBNZ could lead to weaker inflation.
• Australian Treasurer Chalmers said the economy is not immune to a global downturn and the balance of risks is shifting from inflation to growth, while he expects Q1 2024 GDP to remain weak.

DATA RECAP

• Australian Real GDP QQ SA (Q4) 0.2% vs. Exp. 0.3% (Prev. 0.2%)
• Australian Real GDP YY SA (Q4) 1.5% vs. Exp. 1.4% (Prev. 2.1%)

GEOPOLITICS

MIDDLE EAST

• Two senior Israeli officials said that members of the Israeli negotiating team are expected to ask PM Netanyahu and the members of the cabinet to expand the mandate they have been given so far to try and break the deadlock in the talks, according to Walla News.
• Hamas senior official said any exchange of prisoners cannot take place except after a ceasefire. Hamas also said that they showed flexibility to try to reach an agreement and will continue negotiating through mediators until they reach an agreement.
• Qatar’s PM and Foreign Minister warned against exploiting the aid issue for political blackmail by Israel and they hope to reach a ceasefire before the month of Ramadan.
• Israeli Defence Minister Gallant informed US Special Envoy Hochstein of the necessity of thinking about a diplomatic path to resolve the situation with Lebanon without this having anything to do with a calm in Gaza which may not happen soon, according to Sky News Arabia.
• Hezbollah said it targeted a building in the Avivim settlement in Israel with appropriate weapons and achieved a direct hit, according to Al Jazeera.
• US CENTCOM said its forces shot down anti-ship ballistic missiles and three one-way attack unmanned aerial systems launched from Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, according to Reuters.
• UKMTO received a report of a merchant vessel being hailed over VHF for approximately 30 minutes, while the vessel was hailed by an entity declaring itself to be the Yemeni Navy and ordered it to alter course, according to Reuters.
• Yemen's Houthis said they carried out a qualitative military operation in which they targeted two US warship destroyers in the Red Sea.

OTHER

• Russian Foreign Intelligence Service director Naryshkin said French President Macron's statement about NATO soldiers in Ukraine shows the irresponsibility of European leaders and are pushing the world to a nuclear war, according to TASS.
• US State Department said the US stands with the Philippines following China's provocative actions against lawful Philippine maritime operations in the South China Sea, while the US condemns China for repeatedly obstructing Philippine vessels' high seas freedom of navigation, according to Reuters.

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• UK Chancellor Hunt said we can now help families with permanent tax cuts and must bring down borrowing so we can start to reduce debt, according to Reuters.
• UK Chancellor Hunt's expected decision to lower national insurance by 2p has triggered speculation over a potential May election, according to The Telegraph.
• Ukraine is willing to accept restrictions on EU trade as Kyiv seeks to resolve a dispute with Poland but wants the bloc to ban Russian grain imports, according to FT.