One Stainless Steel Mill in South China Enters Market for High-grade NPI Purchases

According to the central bank’s announcement on its open market outright reverse repo tender, on March 16, 2026, the People’s Bank of China will conduct 500 billion yuan of outright reverse repo operations with a tenor of six months (182 days) through a fixed-quantity, interest-rate tender and multiple-price allotment method.

The central bank’s February financial statistics report showed that at end-February, the balance of broad money (M2) stood at 349.22 trillion yuan, up 9% YoY; aggregate social financing increased by a cumulative 9.6 trillion yuan in the first two months, 316.2 billion yuan more than in the same period last year; new yuan loans totaled 5.61 trillion yuan in the first two months; the balance of domestic and foreign currency deposits stood at 345.72 trillion yuan, up 8.8% YoY; and at month-end, the balance of yuan deposits stood at 337.94 trillion yuan, up 8.7% YoY.

The US’s Q4 GDP for last year was revised down to just 0.7%. In January, PCE rose 0.3% MoM, while on a YoY basis it edged down from 2.9% to 2.8%; core PCE inflation increased 0.4% MoM and 3.1% YoY. January job openings increased from 6.55 million in December to 6.95 million, while layoffs declined.