Macro Roundup (Nov 8)

SHANGHAI, Nov 8 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last night and what is expected today.

Last night

The US dollar index fell to the lowest in two weeks after the US midterm election results and as investors looked ahead to a Federal Reserve meeting for signals on future interest rate hikes. The greenback closed at 96.1, making bullion more attractive for holders of other currencies as a split Congress dampened expectations for a major fiscal policy boost to the economy. 

Tuesday’s midterm election results saw the Democrats take back in the House of Representatives and the GOP retaining a grip of the Senate. The election outcome is likely to result in gridlock on Washington.

LME and SHFE base metals closed mixed as LME aluminium led the increase and rose 1.61%. LME lead jumped 0.97%, copper grew 0.19%, tin inched up, while zinc lost 0.76%, and nickel fell 0.21%. SHFE aluminium also jumped 0.43%, tin went up 0.41%, while nickel slid 0.81%, zinc declined 0.55%, lead and copper edged down. 

China's foreign exchange reserves stood at $3.053 trillion in October, down $33.9 billion from a month earlier, according to data from the People's Bank of China on Wednesday. This marked the third consecutive month of decline, to the lowest since April 2017.

Wang Chunying, spokesperson of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, attributed the decline to a number of factors including exchange rate conversion and changing asset prices.

Despite complications internationallyand growing uncertainty in the global market, the Chinese economy has remained stable and operated within a reasonable range so far this year, he said.

China's foreign exchange reserves are expected to remain stable during market fluctuations, Wang said, citing conditions that facilitate cross-border capital flows, such as "great resilience and flexibility of the economy, economic transformation and upgrading".

Eurozone retail sales remained unchanged in September after it expanded in August, preliminary data from Eurostat showed on Wednesday. 

Sales of food, drinks and tobacco, and automotive fuel grew 0.4%, while sales of non-food products decreased 0.5%. 

On a year-on-year basis, retail sales rose 0.8% in September, compared with a 0.9% growth economists' had predicted. The annual gain for August was revised to 2.2% from 1.8%.

The US oil prices fell on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that domestic crude supplies rose by 5.78 million barrels for the week ended November 2. That marked a seventh consecutive week of gains. 

Gasoline stockpiles climbed by 1.9 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles fell by 3.5 million barrels, according to the EIA.

Day ahead

Economic data slated for release today include China's trade balance for October, Germany's trade account for September, as well as weekly jobless claims from the US.