SHANGHAI, Jul. 20 (SMM) – Economic indicators from US were upbeat last Friday, raising hopes for the Fed’s interest rate hike in September. US’s new home starts came in at 1.174 million for June, its secondary high since November 2007. June’s building permits hit a high of 1.343 million since 2007, up 9.8% MoM. Those data mirrored a strong rising momentum in US housing market.

US’s inflation data were on par with estimate and increased for 5-month streak. June’s CPI grew 0.3% MoM and 0.1% YoY. Key CPI for June rose 0.2% MoM, reflecting US current inflation stayed stable. University of Michigan’s CCI fell short of forecast, but still stayed above 90. US dollar index thus finished last Friday at 97.96, a 3-month high.

The European Central Bank has agreed to injected EUR 0.9 billion into Greek banks and increased the ceiling for Emergency Liquidity Assistance for Greek to EUR 89.9 billion. Greek banks hence recover business on July 20. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel will consider a debt relief for Greek. As such, Greek will not exit from euro zone and can pay the loan to the European Central Bank on Monday.

China approved infrastructure projects totaling RMB 900 billion in one quarter. Investment in infrastructure projects grew more than 18% during January-May 2015. But investment in housing market and manufacturing was limited during the same period. Many institutes believe that China’s economy growth will be stable in H2 2015, which will drive demand for metals up.

European and US stocks diverged. New York crude oil prices hit a 3-month low and fell 3.5 last week. New York gold slipped 1.1% on sell-offs last Friday, a 5-year low. LME base metals all dropped expect tin.