Macro Roundup (Jul 5)

SHANGHAI, Jul 5 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last night and what is expected today.

Last night

The dollar continued to edge lower from recent highs and the euro was stuck near two-week lows on Thursday, as sliding government bond yields pressured both currencies. 

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, slid 0.05% to end at 96.735.

Base metals ended mostly higher as LME tin gained 1.15%, lead rose 0.13%, aluminium climbed 1.15%, nickel expanded 0.08%, while zinc lost 0.86%, and copper slid 0.33%. SHFE aluminium advanced 1.13%, lead went flat, nickel increased 0.26%, while zinc fell 0.94%, copper slipped 0.02%, and tin went down 0.08%. 

Retail sales in the eurozone unexpectedly fell for the second month in a row in May, in a sign that consumer spending is weakening in the struggling area.

The volume of retail trade fell by 0.3% in May compared to April, the European Union’s data body Eurostat said Thursday. This compared with an expected rise of 0.3%. 

The poor figures were partially offset by the fall in retail sales for April being revised up to 0.1% from 0.4%.

“Across countries, the main weakness was registered in Germany, which offset decent headlines elsewhere, and we also think that the eurozone’s largest economy was responsible for the slowdown over the second quarter as a whole,” said Claus Vistesen, chief Eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. 

“We reckon sales increased by 0.4% month-to-month in June, but that wouldn’t be enough to prevent sales from having slowed sharply in the second quarter, to an increase of just 0.1%, much slower than the 0.7% increase in the fourth quarter and first quarter respectively,” he added. 

Day ahead

The US will release nonfarm payroll results and unemployment for June.