The Stainless Steel contract fluctuated widely this week. As of May 10, it closed at 14,290 yuan/mt, a slight increase from 14,280 yuan/mt on April 30. On the macro level, China's manufacturing PMI was 50.4 in April, highlighting the slower global economic growth in April but in moderate recovery. The customs data showed that the year-on-year growth rate of exports in April turned from negative to positive as expected, mainly due to the lower base in the same period last year and relatively strong overseas demand. Many places have recently relaxed real estate regulations, signalling that housing purchase restriction policies will continue to be optimized, which boosted sentiments of stainless steel outlook to a certain extent. The US dollar weakened on Thursday. The people applying for initial jobless claims in the US grew above expectations last week, which strengthened the market expectation of delayed interest rate cuts this year. Market participants believe that the sluggish labour market indicates slow spending, which will help cool inflation. Fundamentally, as stainless steel stocks rose severely amid weak transactions and large arrivals during the Labour Day holiday, the premium dropped in May. As falling premiums made warrants more popular, spot market transactions were affected to a certain extent. High-grade NPI prices recovered, but domestic NPI smelters still suffered losses. In the short term, the SS contract is expected to continue to move widely amid cost support and overcapacity.
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