Macro Roundup (May 21)

SHANGHAI, May 21 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last night and what is expected in the day ahead.

With efforts to develop a vaccine and the prospects for economic recovery in focus, US stocks resumed its rally on Wednesday, oil prices continued their ascent, while the US dollar extended its decline against a basket of its peers.

The US dollar index rose slightly on Thursday morning, after touching its lowest since May 1 at 99.0014 overnight, while oil prices were mixed in the morning of Asian hours.

LME base metals ticked lower for the most part on Thursday morning, following broad gains in the previous session. On Wednesday, nonferrous metals on the LME rose across the board, with nickel and aluminium both advancing about 1.8% to lead the way up. Copper jumped 1.7%, zinc and lead rose 0.8% and tin gained 0.3%.

On the SHFE, those metals, except for zinc, also firmed in overnight trading. Nickel surged 2.2% to be the best performer, copper climbed 1.5%, tin rose 0.9%, lead and aluminium both gained about 0.7%, while zinc fell close to 0.7%.

China's "two sessions," a key event in the country's political calendar, will open on Thursday afternoon, after being postponed by two months due to COVID-19. The world will watch how China charts the course for a crucial year to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieve its development goals, while effectively warding off coronavirus risks.

On Wednesday, China held its benchmark lending rate steady. The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) remained at 3.85% from last month's fixing, while the five-year LPR was also kept at 4.65%, largely in line with expectations.

On the data front, the UK’s consumer price index plunged to just 0.8% year-on-year in April, down from 1.5% annually in March, according to the Office for National Statistics.

European statistics agency Eurostat confirmed Wednesday that eurozone April inflation was revised down to 0.3% from an initial estimate of 0.4%, bringing annual inflation to its lowest level since August 2016.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Wednesday that for the week ending May 15, US crude inventories dropped by 5 million barrels, compared to an expected build of 1.8 million barrels.

For the same week, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported Tuesday a fall of 4.8 million barrels in US crude inventories. Refinery runs rose by 229,000 barrels per day, the API said, indicating plants are trying to produce more fuel as the US eases its lockdowns.

The US Department of Labor is scheduled to release the latest update to initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday morning. Though economists polled by Dow Jones expect the government to announce yet another deceleration in the pace of claims, the consensus estimate predicts another 2.4 million Americans filed for insurance during the week ended May 16.

Last week, the Labor Department reported another 2.9 million Americans had filed claims in the week ended May 9, which brought the coronavirus crisis total to nearly 36.5 million, by far the largest loss in US history.

US preliminary manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for May and existing home sales for April are also due Thursday.