I. Yesterday's News
International News
1. U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday proposed slashing tax rates for businesses and on overseas corporate profits returned to the country in a plan greeted as an opening gambit by his fellow Republicans in Congress. The Trump administration touted the president's blueprint – which also calls for raising standard deductions for individuals, repealing inheritance taxes on estates and simplifying tax returns – as a landmark proposal just days before Trump marks his 100th day in office on Saturday. But while Republicans have long eyed tax cuts and the party controls the House of Representatives and the Senate, Trump's proposal may be unpalatable to party fiscal hawks. It lacks plans for raising new revenue and could potentially add billions of dollars to the federal deficit The plan was unveiled at the White House by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn. Mnuchin called the proposals “core principles” that would be worked on with Congress to produce a bill that can be passed.

2. The White House is considering a draft executive order to withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement, a senior Trump administration official said on Wednesday. It was unclear whether the order would be enacted by President Donald Trump, who has vowed to pull out from NAFTA - a U.S., Mexico and Canada trade pact - if he cannot win better terms for America. But the action under consideration could signal heightened prospects that one of the world's biggest trading blocs could unravel in an economically damaging dispute. The possible executive order sent stocks and currencies falling in Mexico and Canada.

3. The threat of a U.S. government shutdown this weekend appeared to recede on Tuesday after President Donald Trump backed away from a demand that Congress include funding for his planned border wall with Mexico in a spending bill. Trump removed a crucial sticking point when he said on Monday he may wait until Republicans begin drafting the budget blueprint for the fiscal year that starts on Oct. 1 to seek wall funding.

4. Mexico's government on Tuesday said it would fight any measures in a U.S. tax overhaul that broke international trade rules, and threatened to review cross-border cooperation on migration and security if upcoming negotiations founder. Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Mexico was watching to see if plans by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to shake up taxation included a levy on remittances sent home by Mexican workers or the imposition of tariffs on Mexican goods.

5. Australian consumer price inflation tiptoed atop 2 percent last quarter for the first time since 2014 as petrol, health care and education got more expensive, a hopeful sign that the danger of deflation had likely passed for this cycle. There was some relief that the headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.5 percent in the quarter, to take the annual pace to its fastest since 2014 at 2.1 percent. The RBA's favoured measures of underlying inflation ticked up to an annual pace of 1.9 percent in the first quarter, with its weighted median reading at 1.7 percent.

6. Boeing Co. reported a 19 percent rise in quarterly profit and reaffirmed its full-year forecast for commercial airplane deliveries. The world's biggest plane maker said it had earned $1.45 billion, or $2.34 per share, compared with $1.22 billion, or $1.83 per share, a year earlier.

7. Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Thursday said its January-March operating profit was 9.9 trillion won, in line with Samsung's earlier guidance. of 9.9 trillion won. Revenue rose to 50.6 trillion won, better than the company's forecast of 50 trillion won. It expected higher profits this year, and earnings to further improve in the current quarter.

8. South Korea's LG Display Co Ltd on Wednesday posted record quarterly profit of 1.03 trillion won ($915.08 million) in the January-March period, beating 39.5 billion won of the same period last year and market expectation on demand for large television panels. Revenue jumped 17.9 percent from a year earlier to 7.1 trillion won.

Domestic News
9. China's top leaders said the nation's financial situations are generally good with risk under control, while ensuring "systematic financial risks do not occur". They said china need to further its financial reform, increase coordinated oversight of major  financial institutions, ward off systemic financial risks, and strengthen financial supervision on financial market and e-finance. Chinese President Xi Jinping said, "Financial security is an important part of national security and an important basis for the steady and healthy development of the economy," called on for increased efforts to ward off systemic risks to help maintain financial security. Xi's remarks were made during a group study session for members of the politburo, a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party.

10. Beijing will encourage coal companies of different products, different scale, different region and different ownership to merge and restructure to create several major coal groups in the industry, China's economic planning agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

11. China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) made combined profits of 587.31 billion yuan for January-March, up 37.3 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the Ministry of Finance website. SOEs owned by the central government posted an annual profit rise of 27.1 percent to 426.11 billion yuan in the first three months year on year, while those owned by local governments soared 74.3 percent to 161.2 billion yuan.

II. Market Overview
FX
1. Global Market
The U.S. dollar shed gains against major rivals on Wednesday after a White House tax reform announcement was viewed as lacking in new details, while the peso and Canadian dollar sank on reports that the U.S. is considering withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement. The dollar hit its highest level of the month against the yen of 111.77 yen just before the plan's unveiling, but pared gains after the announcement and last stood little changed against the Japanese currency at 111.15. The euro also trimmed losses against the dollar and was last down just 0.2 percent at $1.0900. The dollar surged about 2.4 percent against the Mexican peso to a more than one-month high of 19.2922 pesos and rose as much as 0.4 percent against the Canadian dollar to C$1.3623. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was last up 0.2 percent at 99.018.

2. Home Market
China's yuan slid against the dollar along with lower midpoint rates, down less than 60 bps. Yuan diverged with gold in recent sessions. Buying demand for forex capped yuan's gains, pulling CFETS Index to a record low.

Precious Metals
Gold recovered from a two-week low, buoyed by short-covering on Wednesday as U.S. Treasury yields turned lower and the dollar pared gains after President Donald Trump proposed slashing the U.S. tax rate on corporate profits. Spot gold was up at $1,268.65 an ounce. Earlier in the session prices hit 1,259.90, their weakest since April 11. U.S. gold futures settled down 0.2 percent at $1,264.20.

Commodities
1.Crude Oil
Oil prices rebounded from early losses on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed a larger-than-expected falloff in crude inventories, which encouraged buying after several days of selling on worries that a global crude glut was persisting despite output cuts by producing countries. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) settled up six cents at $49.62 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, ended down 21 cents at $51.82 a barrel.

2.Base Metals
Nickel prices hit 10-month lows on Wednesday as worries about demand from top consumer China were reinforced by its trade data, which showed falling imports of the metal used to make stainless steel. Benchmark nickel on the London Metal Exchange ended 1 percent down at $9,225 a tonne from an earlier $9,220, its lowest since June last year. Copper rose 0.2 percent to $5,715, aluminium closed up $1 at $1,964 a tonne.

U.S. Treasuries
1. U.S. bonds
U.S. Treasury prices rose on Wednesday, reversing steep losses sustained the last few sessions, as President Donald Trump unveiled a tax reform plan that largely underwhelmed the market. In late trading, benchmark 10-year notes rose 4/32 in price to yield 2.312 percent. U.S. 30-year bond prices were up 5/32 in price, yielding 2.971 percent.

2. Chinese bonds
China's interbank money rates and interest rates swap edged higher in the morning session after a short-lived pullback. Government debt futures slipped into negative territory as the yield of three-year government debt bonds was well above market consensus on lackluster auction. Financial institution's sentiment remained bearish.

Stock Market
1. U.S. Equities
U.S. stocks ticked lower on Wednesday following two sessions of strong gains as strong corporate earnings were offset by uncertainty over the feasibility of a proposed business tax cut. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 21.03 points, or 0.1 percent, to 20,975.09, the S&P 500 lost 1.16 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,387.45 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.27 point to 6,025.23.

2. Hong Kong Equities
Hong Kong shares rose to their highest level in over a month Wednesday, in line with gains in most other Asian markets, supported by improved risk appetite and an overnight rally on Wall Street. A further rebound in mainland China stocks also buoyed investors' confidence. The Hang Seng index rose 0.5 percent to 24,578.43 points, the highest level since March 21, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.4 percent to 10,317.63.

3. China Equities
China's stocks edged higher on Wednesday, extending its gains to the second consecutive day. But the momentum is losing after hitting the 5-day moving average of 3,150. Major indexes are expected to steady on easing tensions on top of policy tightening. Market is expected to trade within a tight range. The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 6.28 points or 0.20 percent at 3,140.85. The trading volume of Shanghai A shares rose to 196.9 billion yuan from 174 billion yuan of the previous trading session.