SHANGHAI, Jul 22 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last weekend and what is expected today.

Last weekend

The US dollar rebounded on Friday after St Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said he sees the case for a 25 basis point cut in the Fed’s July 30-31 meeting.

The greenback dropped on Thursday as expectations of a more aggressive easing from the Fed later this month grew after New York Fed President John Williams argued for pre-emptive measures to avoid having to deal with too-low inflation and interest rates. But a New York Fed representative subsequently said Williams’ comments were not about immediate policy direction.

LME base metals closed mixed on Friday. Nickel saw the biggest loss of close to 2%, zinc dropped 1.3%, tin fell 0.3% and aluminium declined 0.2% while lead gained 0.5% and copper rose 1.9%.

SHFE base metals, except for copper, traded lower on Friday night. Nickel led the declines with a loss of 1.4%, zinc shed 1.1%, lead lost 0.8%, tin and aluminium sank 0.3%.

Consumer sentiment inched higher in early July and was largely unchanged from June, according to data released Friday.

The University of Michigan’s preliminary print on its consumer sentiment index rose to 98.4, up from 98.2 in June. Economists polled by Refinitiv expected the preliminary read on July consumer sentiment to reach 98.5.

Drillers cut five oil rigs in the week to July 19, bringing the total count down to 779, the lowest since February 2018, General Electric's Baker Hughes energy services firm reported on Friday. That compares with 858 rigs operating during the same week a year ago.

Day ahead                    

The STAR market, a Nasdaq-style technology board on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, will start trading on Monday July 22, when the first batch of 25 companies make their public debut.

Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda is due to speak at the International Monetary Fund in Washington today.