Nasdaq Futs Slide, Yuan Tumbles As Two Chinese Megacaps Push Ahead With Hong Kong Listing

The Nasdaq slumped to session lows…

… the dollar spiked and the Yuan dropped to session lows and is fast approaching record low levels…

… shortly before 9am, prompting questions if there was some angry Trump tweet that nobody had noticed (no, there wasn’t… yet).

But while there was no official headline to prompt the selling, the reason for the move appears to be a report in the Journal according to which two of China’s most valuable U.S.-listed megacap companies “are pushing ahead with multibillion-dollar share sales in Hong Kong, amid growing pressure from U.S. lawmakers on Chinese companies to disclose their financial information or delist.”

The listing plans of NetEase Inc., an online games company, and JD.com Inc., the operator of an e-commerce website, will be reviewed on Thursday by the listing committee of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, people familiar with the situation told the Wall Street Journal.

The two companies aim to raise around $2-3 billion each, ahead of their trading debuts on June 11 and 18, respectively, the report added.

The closely watched listings come at a sensitive time for US-listed Chinese companies: amid a push to limit or halt Chinese company listing on the Nasdaq, last week legislation was passed by the Senate—and now introduced in the House—which would kick Chinese companies off U.S. stock exchanges unless their audits are inspected by U.S. regulators.

At the same time Beijing’s controversial move to impose a new national-security law on Hong Kong has raised concerns over the city’s status as a major financial hub. Quoted by the state-backed China daily newspaper, Robin Li, founder of Chinese search-engine operator Baidu Inc., this month said “the company paid close attention to heightened scrutiny of Chinese companies and was constantly exploring options including a secondary listing in Hong Kong or elsewhere.”