Asia’s markets are mixed as Fed officials appear to be divided on future interest rate hikes

A Sensor Tower executive said Netflix’s “excellent loyalty metrics” give confidence that password-sharing users will convert into full or ad-supported users.

“We see that Netflix continues to gain best-in-class loyalty and sharing among streaming players, which should give the company some confidence that previous users who shared passwords
“It’s going to convert to full users or ad-supported because of the Netflix content,” Anthony Bartolacci, senior vice president of data and insights provider for mobile apps, Sensor Tower, said on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” Wednesday.

His comments come after Netflix posted mixed financial results and said it was delaying the introduction of password sharing.

He added that Netflix has “really positive indicators” of customer engagement such as “10-15% better analytics metric” and “better time spent” than competitors Hulu, Disney and Amazon Prime.

“I think those loyalty metrics are really excellent for Netflix,” he said. “They’re kind of able to enforce these password sharing restrictions. There’s definitely a benefit from an overall profitability perspective.”

– Sheila Chiang

Malaysia’s total trade In March it came in at RM232.7 billion ($52.51 billion), down 1.6% compared to the total value of RM236.5 billion in the same month a year earlier.

While exports from the country fell 1.4% year-on-year to RM129.7 billion in March, less than the 3.5% decline expected by economists, imports registered a surprise, falling 1.8% to RM103 billion, compared to 1.9. % growth forecast.

Malaysia said this was due to an 8.7% drop in imports of intermediate goods in March compared to a year ago.

The country’s trade balance rose 0.2% year-on-year to a surplus of RM26.7 billion, above economists’ forecast of RM21.1 billion.

– Lim Hwi Ji

Analysts at JPMorgan, Citi and UBS raised their full-year forecasts for the Chinese economy after it posted impressive first-quarter gross domestic product growth of 4.5% on Tuesday.

JPMorgan raised its growth forecast for 2023 to 6.4%, up from a previous forecast of 6%, saying its latest quarterly report points to more growth to come.

Citi economists also raised its full-year forecast to 6.1% from 5.7% year-on-year, saying the recovery in consumption in China is “halfway through”.

UBS also raised its forecast for the year from 5.4% to 5.7%, saying “given a stronger-than-expected recovery in the first quarter of 2023, driven by a strong recovery in consumption and property.”

– Jihe Lee

Taiwanese company Gogoro plans to integrate multiplication switch substations into virtual power plants in order to “stress manage” electric grids, according to the CEO.

The company entered into a partnership with Enel X, Energy services provider, for the commercial deployment of 2,500 of its interchange stations across 1,000 sites in Enel X’s virtual power stations.

“We’re basically helping the network meet those stresses that it’s having… so they don’t have to build additional capacity in order to service the balance and stabilize the network,” Horace Locke, CEO and founder of Gogoro, told CNBC. Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday. “So it’s really pressure management for the network.”

Locke added that the company has plans to expand the service across Asia, and is operating a pilot in India.

“We’re taking that model and applying it to every country we go to at this point,” he said.

– Sumathi Bala

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index led losses in the Asia-Pacific region on Wednesday, dragged down by technology and real estate companies.

According to Refinitiv data, technology and real estate firms were the biggest losers in the index, with names like Country Garden Holdings, Baidu and Tencent among the biggest losers.

However, the company that saw the biggest loss was automaker Geely, which fell 3.95%.

Reuters reports that US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will deliver a speech outlining the US’s economic priorities regarding China.

“Throughout her remarks, Secretary Yellen will stress that in our bilateral relationship with China, the United States proceeds with confidence on the enduring core strength of our economy,” Reuters said, quoting a statement from the Treasury Department.

It comes after Yellen said the US would resume economic talks with China “at the appropriate time” earlier this year as Beijing continues to sell off its huge stockpile of US Treasury bonds.

The report said Yellen will deliver a speech at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies on Thursday.

– Jihe Lee

Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is set to become the first major bank to issue additional Tier 1 bonds since the banking turmoil suffered by Swiss lender Credit Suisse, Nikki mentioned.

SMFG will issue 140 billion yen ($1 billion) of these bonds, known as AT1 bonds. They are considered a relatively risky form of junior debt, and therefore come with a higher yield and are often bought by institutional investors.

Confidence in AT1 bonds has been shaken after Swiss authorities forced Credit Suisse to write down the value of AT1 bonds to zero as part of a government-orchestrated bailout by its biggest rival, UBS.

The terms of SMFG’s offering will be decided on Wednesday, the Nikkei said, adding that the AT1 bond will carry a spread of 171 basis points over government debt, which is an increase of 33 basis points from the previous issue in December.

SMFG shares were trading up 0.25% on Wednesday.

– Lim Hwi Ji

With just over half of the trading month completed, the Dow Jones rose 2.1%.

April has historically been the best month of the year for the 30 stock index, with an average advance of 1.9% going back to 1950. By comparison, the Dow added just 0.7% when averaging all months in that time period.

Previous pre-election years are usually better for the month of April. The Dow has gained an average of 3.9% each April in the years since the election since 1950.

With a 2.1% advance, the Dow Jones index was the best performer out of the three major indexes so far this month. The S&P 500 rose 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.7%.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about why April is the best month for the blue-chip index here.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said Tuesday that he sees only a small recession hitting the United States as consumers remain in solid shape.

“Everything points to a relatively mild recession given how much stimulus has been paid to people and the money they have left,” Moynihan said on the bank’s quarterly earnings call. “At the end of the day, we don’t see activity slowing on the consumer side at a pace that would suggest, but we will see commercial customers being more careful.”

Moynihan said the Bank of America research team has been consistent in advocating a moderate decline in light of the aggressive interest rate increases by the Fed. He said the bank expects annual GDP to contract in the range of half to one percentage point in the next three quarters before returning to positive growth.

– Yun Lee

Semiconductor stocks are in the running this year after a tough 2022.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF, which tracks the sector, is up about 22% in the year so far — nearly triple the S&P 500’s return this year.

Nvidia has undoubtedly been one of the sector’s biggest winners this year, but Bank of America is doubling down on its lesser-known stock.

Professional subscribers can read more here.

– Xavier Ong

Some chip stocks rose Tuesday, after HSBC upgraded Nvidia’s dual-buy shares from the cut.

The company said that Nvidia’s “amazing AI pricing power is not entirely priced in”, and that AI would provide a significant boost to chip prices. The move lifted the shares by about 3%.

Other semiconductor companies saw their stocks rise after the upbeat upgrade. ON Semiconductor Corp and Advanced Micro Devices rose 1.3% and 0.8%, respectively. Applied Materials shares rose 0.45%.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway raised its stakes in five Japanese stocks — a good sign for investors in Japan, according to Credit Suisse.

In light of these developments, Credit Suisse analysts said in a note that they examined stocks in Japan that are “Buffett-style picks” — that is, they have characteristics typical of Buffett’s holdings.

Here are six of them.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Wizen tan