[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]  Neil Sethi [@neilksethi](/creator/twitter/neilksethi) on x 12.4K followers Created: 2025-07-17 13:48:10 UTC In Asia, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index edged higher +0.2% as it continues its recent chop a little below the highest levels since Sep ‘21 hit two weeks ago. Major regional indices were mostly higher. Asian markets ended mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei +0.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.1%, China's Shanghai Composite +0.4%, India's Nifty -0.4%, South Korea's Kospi +0.2%, and Australia's All Ordinaries +0.9%. [Note: easier to read if you click into the post.] President Donald Trump said he would send letters to more than XXX countries notifying them their tariff rates could be XX% or XX% as he forges ahead with his trade agenda. “We’ll have well over XXX countries that we’re just going to send a notice of payment out, and the notice of payment is going to say what the tariff” rate will be, Trump told reporters on Wednesday at the White House. “It’s all going to be the same for everyone, for that group,” Trump added, saying that the trading partners that would receive those letters were “not big countries, and they don’t do that much business.” Trump reiterated that a XX% tariff would apply to Japanese imports, saying he does not expect to reach a broader deal with the country. President Donald Trump has dialed down his confrontational tone with China in an effort to secure a summit with counterpart Xi Jinping and a trade deal with the world’s second-largest economy, people familiar with internal deliberations said. Thailand is set to offer scrapping tariffs on XX% of US goods, up from a previous plan for over 60%, in a bid to avert a punishing levy threatened by President Donald Trump, according to a business group advising Thai negotiators. Indonesia will keep talking with the US on sectoral tariffs, jet purchases and critical minerals after securing a XX% baseline tariff rate on exports to the world’s largest economy, a government adviser said Thursday. Remember the record drop in Japan car export prices? Well, that fed through to Japan export data which fell -XXX% y/y vs the +0.5% increase expected, down for a second month on the back of falling auto and steel shipments. Exports to the US fell -XXXX% y/y, largely in line with the previous month’s drop, as the value of vehicle shipments slid -XX% and steel tumbled -29%. But taking price concessions out of the mix, the number of passenger cars shipped actually rose XXX% from the previous year. Australia's unemployment rate unexpectedly jumped to XXX% the highest since Nov '21, two tenths above expectations as employment grew just 2k, all due to part-time jobs, vs expectations for 20k. Money market bets firmed to fully price a cut in August and another after that, with a better than XX% chance of a third. Public perceptions of China have improved over the past year, according to a new survey, while those of the US have dimmed — a trend that coincides with President Donald Trump returning to office. A median of XX% of respondents in high-income countries had a favorable opinion of China, according to a report by Pew Research Center released on Wednesday — the highest level in six years. In contrast, the figure for the US fell to 35%, the lowest in data going back to 2017. A record XX% of companies (since 2016) surveyed between March and May by the US-China Business Council said they moved or planned to move some operations out of China, and fewer than half of the companies surveyed said they planned to invest in China in 2025, a drop from XX% last year and a record low since the group began asking a similar question in 2006, according to the Wednesday report. Japan’s biggest bank industry group warned of the risks of a downgrade in the nation’s credit rating as politicians make election pledges that could swell the public debt. Singapore’s 30-stock benchmark Straits Times Index extended its winning run for a ninth consecutive day, hitting a fresh all-time high of XXXXXXXX earlier in the session. Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports surged XX% in June compared to the same period last year, surpassing the X% growth forecast by economists polled by Reuters. Taiwan Semiconductor, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, on Thursday raised its sales forecast to growth of about XX% in US dollar terms this year, up from mid-20% previously signaling that the global AI spending spree continues after some doubts had crept in following ASML cutting its sales forecast a day earlier. The Japan Exchange Group imposed a trading halt on Seven & i Holdings for the 7-Eleven owner to confirm the authenticity of media reports on the withdrawal of an acquisition proposal. Shares in Japan’s Seven & i Holdings plunged XXXX% as at XXXXX a.m. local time (9.30 p.m. ET Wednesday) shortly after it resumed trading. In economic data: Japan's June trade surplus JPY153.1 bln (expected surplus of JPY353.9 bln; last deficit of JPY638.6 bln). June Imports XXX% yr/yr (expected -1.6%; last -7.7%) and Exports -XXX% yr/yr (expected 0.5%; last -1.7%) Singapore's June trade surplus SGD9.71 bln (last surplus of SGD7.26 bln). June non-oil exports XXXX% m/m (last -12.4%); XXXX% yr/yr (expected 5.0%; last -3.9%) Hong Kong's June Unemployment Rate XXX% (last 3.5%) Australia's July MI Inflation Expectations XXX% (last 5.0%). June Employment Change XXXXX (expected 21,000; last -1,100) and full employment change -XXXXXX (last 38,700). June Unemployment Rate XXX% (expected 4.1%; last 4.1%) and Participation Rate XXXX% (expected 67.0%; last 67.0%) New Zealand's June FPI XXX% m/m (last 0.5%)  XXXXX engagements  **Related Topics** [powell](/topic/powell) [trumps](/topic/trumps) [$2607hk](/topic/$2607hk) [shanghai](/topic/shanghai) [hang seng](/topic/hang-seng) [Post Link](https://x.com/neilksethi/status/1945842967777866203)
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Neil Sethi @neilksethi on x 12.4K followers
Created: 2025-07-17 13:48:10 UTC
In Asia, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index edged higher +0.2% as it continues its recent chop a little below the highest levels since Sep ‘21 hit two weeks ago. Major regional indices were mostly higher.
Asian markets ended mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei +0.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.1%, China's Shanghai Composite +0.4%, India's Nifty -0.4%, South Korea's Kospi +0.2%, and Australia's All Ordinaries +0.9%.
[Note: easier to read if you click into the post.]
President Donald Trump said he would send letters to more than XXX countries notifying them their tariff rates could be XX% or XX% as he forges ahead with his trade agenda. “We’ll have well over XXX countries that we’re just going to send a notice of payment out, and the notice of payment is going to say what the tariff” rate will be, Trump told reporters on Wednesday at the White House. “It’s all going to be the same for everyone, for that group,” Trump added, saying that the trading partners that would receive those letters were “not big countries, and they don’t do that much business.”
Trump reiterated that a XX% tariff would apply to Japanese imports, saying he does not expect to reach a broader deal with the country.
President Donald Trump has dialed down his confrontational tone with China in an effort to secure a summit with counterpart Xi Jinping and a trade deal with the world’s second-largest economy, people familiar with internal deliberations said.
Thailand is set to offer scrapping tariffs on XX% of US goods, up from a previous plan for over 60%, in a bid to avert a punishing levy threatened by President Donald Trump, according to a business group advising Thai negotiators.
Indonesia will keep talking with the US on sectoral tariffs, jet purchases and critical minerals after securing a XX% baseline tariff rate on exports to the world’s largest economy, a government adviser said Thursday.
Remember the record drop in Japan car export prices? Well, that fed through to Japan export data which fell -XXX% y/y vs the +0.5% increase expected, down for a second month on the back of falling auto and steel shipments. Exports to the US fell -XXXX% y/y, largely in line with the previous month’s drop, as the value of vehicle shipments slid -XX% and steel tumbled -29%. But taking price concessions out of the mix, the number of passenger cars shipped actually rose XXX% from the previous year.
Australia's unemployment rate unexpectedly jumped to XXX% the highest since Nov '21, two tenths above expectations as employment grew just 2k, all due to part-time jobs, vs expectations for 20k. Money market bets firmed to fully price a cut in August and another after that, with a better than XX% chance of a third.
Public perceptions of China have improved over the past year, according to a new survey, while those of the US have dimmed — a trend that coincides with President Donald Trump returning to office. A median of XX% of respondents in high-income countries had a favorable opinion of China, according to a report by Pew Research Center released on Wednesday — the highest level in six years. In contrast, the figure for the US fell to 35%, the lowest in data going back to 2017.
A record XX% of companies (since 2016) surveyed between March and May by the US-China Business Council said they moved or planned to move some operations out of China, and fewer than half of the companies surveyed said they planned to invest in China in 2025, a drop from XX% last year and a record low since the group began asking a similar question in 2006, according to the Wednesday report.
Japan’s biggest bank industry group warned of the risks of a downgrade in the nation’s credit rating as politicians make election pledges that could swell the public debt.
Singapore’s 30-stock benchmark Straits Times Index extended its winning run for a ninth consecutive day, hitting a fresh all-time high of XXXXXXXX earlier in the session. Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports surged XX% in June compared to the same period last year, surpassing the X% growth forecast by economists polled by Reuters.
Taiwan Semiconductor, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, on Thursday raised its sales forecast to growth of about XX% in US dollar terms this year, up from mid-20% previously signaling that the global AI spending spree continues after some doubts had crept in following ASML cutting its sales forecast a day earlier.
The Japan Exchange Group imposed a trading halt on Seven & i Holdings for the 7-Eleven owner to confirm the authenticity of media reports on the withdrawal of an acquisition proposal. Shares in Japan’s Seven & i Holdings plunged XXXX% as at XXXXX a.m. local time (9.30 p.m. ET Wednesday) shortly after it resumed trading.
In economic data:
Japan's June trade surplus JPY153.1 bln (expected surplus of JPY353.9 bln; last deficit of JPY638.6 bln). June Imports XXX% yr/yr (expected -1.6%; last -7.7%) and Exports -XXX% yr/yr (expected 0.5%; last -1.7%)
Singapore's June trade surplus SGD9.71 bln (last surplus of SGD7.26 bln). June non-oil exports XXXX% m/m (last -12.4%); XXXX% yr/yr (expected 5.0%; last -3.9%)
Hong Kong's June Unemployment Rate XXX% (last 3.5%)
Australia's July MI Inflation Expectations XXX% (last 5.0%). June Employment Change XXXXX (expected 21,000; last -1,100) and full employment change -XXXXXX (last 38,700). June Unemployment Rate XXX% (expected 4.1%; last 4.1%) and Participation Rate XXXX% (expected 67.0%; last 67.0%)
New Zealand's June FPI XXX% m/m (last 0.5%)
XXXXX engagements
