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Welcome to Nikkei Asian
Preview, a list of the most important business, economic and political
events happening in Asia each week.
MONDAY
Tough quarter expected for HSBC
HSBC Holdings is expected to report an 11% drop in third quarter profit
Monday. But investors -- and HSBC's own staff -- are also looking out for
details on a fresh cost reduction plan, which is expected to include
major job cuts. The
Financial Times this month reported that interim chief
executive Noel Quinn could slash as many as 10,000 jobs from its
238,000-strong workforce. Other global banks are also shedding thousands
of jobs.
China's elite to gather
Top officials of China's ruling Communist Party will hold their most
important meeting of the year in Beijing Monday. The 200 party members
gathered at the so-called Plenum will talk about ways to improve
governance and country's socialist system, state news agency Xinhua
reported. The last plenum was held in February, 2018, when members
approved a plan to end constitutional limits on President Xi Jinping's
tenure.
Nikkei hosts symposium with IMD and Harvard Business School
Nikkei's two-day Global Management Forum, co-hosted with IMD and Harvard
Business School, opens Monday. The theme is managing in times of
upheaval, such as the U.S.-China trade war and Brexit. Speakers include
Tadashi Yanai, CEO at Fast Retailing, and Tan Hooi Ling, co-founder of
Grab. Learn more here.
WEDNESDAY
A boost from the iPhone 11?
Apple's fourth quarter results, released Wednesday, will reveal exactly
how the new iPhone
11 has performed. As we reported exclusively early this month,
sales have been strong enough that Apple asked its suppliers to increase
production by 10%. But will that be enough to reverse a
yearlong downward trend in iPhone sales? Investors will also be looking
at whether the US-China trade war will hurt sales in the Greater China
region.
THURSDAY
ASEAN Summit in Bangkok
It has not been a great year for free trade, but talks kicking off
Thursday at the ASEAN summit in Bangkok could result in a deal to create
the world's largest trading bloc. Leaders of 16 Asia-Pacific countries
will gather at the summit to hammer out the remaining
details of The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership,
which would cover about a third of the total global gross domestic
product. Thailand, as the host nation, has been pushing hard to have the
deal wrapped up the deal by the time the summit ends Nov 4.
Hong Kong court to handle a legal challenge from opposition
Embattled
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam will meet the business
community on Thursday to tout her latest ideas for boosting the city's
ailing economy. Lam is expected to seek to reassure local and foreign
business leaders and restore their confidence on Hong Kong.
On the same day, the city's high court will handle a legal challenge from
24 opposition lawmakers against the recently implemented anti-mask
legislation. The invocation of the colonial-era emergency law
was aimed at taming the increasingly violent protests, but hardcore
protesters are ignoring the rule.
BOJ monetary policy meeting
The Bank of Japan will release a quarterly economic outlook report as
well as the decision of its two-day policy meeting Thursday. The
announcement comes a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve holds its
monetary policy meeting and follows a sales tax increase in Japan
this month. The BOJ policy board is expected to look at these factors and
also the impact of two major typhoons that struck the country in the past
couple of months.
Economists say that pressure has somewhat eased on the BOJ to act, as
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has taken the lead in dealing with
economic weaknesses with a sizable supplementary spending program. Still,
the BOJ could decide to downgrade its forecasts on the nation's growth
and inflation, as trade tensions fester between Washington and Beijing.
FRIDAY
Alibaba results, post-Ma
China's Alibaba Group Holding will report its July-September quarter
earnings, the first financial results released after CEO Daniel Zhang took over the
chairman title from Alibaba's legendary founder Jack Ma. The
New York-listed Chinese e-commerce conglomerate beat Wall Street's
expectations in the previous quarter. Analysts will be waiting to see
whether Alibaba can maintain its growth under the new leadership and
macro economic headwinds.
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