SHANGHAI, Mar 10 (SMM) - On the macro front, the initial jobless claims in the United States recorded 211,000 for the week ended March 4, higher than the expected 195,000 and the previous print of 190,000, breaking the data’s seven consecutive weeks of lower than 200,000 . The number of lay-offs of Challenger in the United States so far this year has reached the largest since 2009. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Barr for Financial Supervision said that the Fed has formed a team to study cryptocurrency innovation and is strengthening its regulatory capabilities with continued guidance on cryptocurrencies to be released. The White House proposed a budget of nearly $6.9 trillion in total for fiscal year 2024, up from $6.37 trillion for the current fiscal year. It is reported that the minimum tax rate proposed in the latest budget proposal stood at 25% on billionaires and 28% (up from 28%) on the corporate. The US GDP in 2024 is expected to grow by 1.5% year-on-year, and the unemployment rate and the CPI are estimated at 4.6% and 2.4% respectively. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s CPI in February rose by 1.0% year-on-year and fell by 0.5% month-on-month. The PPI in February was flat on the month and down 1.4% on the year.
Overnight, LME zinc opened at $2,975.5/mt and closed up $0.5/mt or 0.02% at $2,975.5/mt. Transaction volume rose to 5,486 lots, and open interest decreased by 178 lots to 191,000 lots. LME zinc inventory shed by 325 mt to 38,750 mt. Affected by the macro factors, LME zinc showed a V-shaped trend in last night trading.
The most-traded SHFE 2304 zinc contract opened at 23,250 yuan/mt and finished at 23,375 yuan/mt, up 125 yuan/mt or 0.54%. Trading volume was reduced to 53,066 lots, and open interest gained by 1,403 lots to 83,569 lots.
The number of initial jobless claims and continued jobless claims in the United States was higher than expected last week. The market was less anxious about accelerated interest rate hikes. The slow recovery of domestic consumption has caused market concerns. In the short term, SHFE zinc prices will still consolidate with stable fundamentals. But SMM expects China’s refined zinc output to increase to 560,400 mt in March, which may impose pressure on the supply side.
