E-Minis March On, JPY Softer

The weekend heralded some negative news flow across several fronts, yet e-minis continue to track higher in early Asia-Pac hours, looking through the largely familiar sources of risk, with none of the sources of worry hitting critical stages as yet:

• Sino-U.S. relations continue to worsen, with China's latest restrictions on artificial-intelligence technology exports providing hurdles and potentially the ultimate stumbling block for U.S. companies looking to acquire ByteDance's TikTok.
• Elsewhere, Brexit risks continue to swirl, while a tougher tax regime may be in the offing if the UK press is to be believed, although the ruling Conservative Party seems to be deeply divided on the matter.
• Still, the USD has managed to halt the sell off that it experienced on Friday, at least for now, in limited liquidity conditions. The JPY is on the backfoot, lagging within G10 FX. This is perhaps aided by a Nikkei piece which suggests that the ruling LDP Party's "powerful factions are starting to throw their support behind Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Abe's right-hand man. Though he trails in voter polls behind such other likely candidates as Abe rival Shigeru Ishiba and Defense Minister Taro Kono, Suga is seen as a steady hand who can maintain policymaking continuity and spare Japan from another succession of short-lived governments like those before Abe."
• Elsewhere, the UK will observe a bank holiday on Monday, so liquidity conditions will be thinner. Some participants may have frontloaded their month-end FX re-balancing flows as a result (a reminder that sell-side models were USD negative re: month-end flows).
• Holidays in Malaysia & the Philippines are also evident on Monday.
• Official PMI data out of China provides the headline risk event during Asia-Pac hours.