[SMM Zinc Morning Comment] Overnight, US President Trump stated that he would ask the US Fed to immediately cut interest rates and urged Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower oil prices. Trump signed an executive order to release classified documents related to the Kennedy assassination, evaluate the creation of a national digital asset reserve, and ban central bank digital currencies. The Kremlin responded to Trump's sanction threats, stating that it did not see any particularly new factors. Argentine President Milei is considering withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. President Xi Jinping conducted a field trip and survey in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. The Ministry of Finance stated that China’s large state-owned commercial insurance companies still have some room to increase their investment in the capital market and are currently studying a long-term assessment system for the National Social Security Fund.

[Trump Calls for Interest Rate Cut but Tariff Policy Remains Unclear; Copper Prices Edge Up Overnight] Macro side, Thursday's data showed that new US jobless claims rose only slightly last week, indicating that employment growth in January remained robust. Meanwhile, Trump questioned Fed Chairman Powell's rate decisions, urging the US Fed to cut interest rates immediately and calling on the world to follow suit. As a result, the US dollar weakened, but copper prices edged up only slightly as Trump has yet to clarify his stance on tariff issues...

[SMM Morning Meeting Summary: Trump to Demand Immediate Interest Rate Cut, LME Zinc Records Three Consecutive Losses] Overnight, LME zinc opened at $2,892.5/mt, then quickly reached a session high of $2,894.5/mt. Subsequently, LME zinc plunged to $2,860/mt and fluctuated rangebound. During the European trading session, bulls reduced positions, causing LME zinc to decline further to a low of $2,839/mt. Later, LME zinc attempted to rebound but faced resistance and pulled back, ultimately closing lower at $2,844.5/mt, down $48.5/mt or 1.68%. Trading volume increased to 77,725 lots, while open interest decreased by 2,540 lots to 217,000 lots.

[YoY Profit Turns to Loss: Tianqi Lithium Expects Over 7 Billion Yuan Loss in 2024, Plans to Terminate Phase II Lithium Hydroxide Project in Australia] ① Tianqi Lithium expects a net loss of 7.1 billion to 8.2 billion yuan in 2024, compared to a net profit of 7.297 billion yuan in the same period last year; ② The company stated that the performance change is mainly due to the decline in lithium product prices and pricing mechanism mismatch, the performance decline of its key associate SQM, as well as increased asset impairment losses and exchange losses; ③ The company plans to terminate the construction of the Phase II lithium hydroxide project in Australia. (CLS)

The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics released the 2024 economic performance of Shanghai. Data shows that in 2024, the transaction volume of Shanghai's financial market reached 365 trillion yuan, up 8.2% YoY. Among them, the transaction volume of the interbank market grew by 3.7%, the transaction volume of securities on the Shanghai Stock Exchange increased by 13.1%, and the transaction volume of the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose by 25.0%.

In 2024, copper prices concluded their journey with an overall increase. Among them, the annual gain for LME copper was 2.6%, SHFE copper rose by 6.96%, and SMM #1 copper cathode increased by 6.59%. Although the final growth in copper prices was not as dazzling as that of precious metals, the volatility of copper prices in 2024 was truly dramatic! Driven by factors such as macro tailwinds, increasingly tight expectations for copper ore supply, rising expectations for production cuts in copper cathode, anticipated growth in copper consumption for AI, and a short squeeze in COMEX copper, the prices of futures copper on the three major exchanges all hit record highs in May 2024! Taking the volatility of SHFE copper in 2024 as an example, its highest price reached 88,940 yuan/mt, while the lowest dropped to 67,380 yuan/mt, with a difference of 21,560 yuan/mt between the two. Such intense volatility is far from favorable for downstream copper consumption. Entering 2025, copper prices are currently showing an overall upward trend on the annual chart for 2025. How will the macro front and fundamentals, which played leading roles in the copper market drama of 2024, perform this year?

[SMM Analysis: December 2024 Copper Foil Customs Details, Imports Increased Significantly While Exports Pulled Back Sharply] According to data from the General Administration of Customs, China's copper foil imports in December 2024 were approximately 8,294.30 mt, up 4.03% YoY and up 18.37% MoM; from January to December 2024, China's cumulative copper foil imports were approximately 91,128.77 mt, down 0.87% YoY...

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