On the macro front, US initial claims for unemployment benefits reached 4.43 million last week, rising to 26.5 million in five weeks, confirming that all the jobs added during the longest jobs boom in US history have been wiped out by the new crown epidemic, which has hit the economy hard. Americans are at their highest level of pessimism about the economic outlook in 11 years, and sales of new homes fell by the most since 2013 in March. The IHS Markit's composite purchasing managers' index for the US, UK and eurozone all fell to record lows in April, indicating a record contraction in business activity; the failure of the EU summit to agree on an economic stimulus package; German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the scale of the anti-epidemic measures must be large; and ECB President Christine Lagarde is said to have warned of an outbreak that could lead to a 15 per cent drop in GDP in the region. [bearish]

Nickel spot, April 23 SMM1 electrolytic nickel quoted 98850-100650 yuan / ton, due to overnight US crude oil price rebound, macro mood repair, Shanghai nickel morning market fell back, rose again in the afternoon. The spot market as a result of higher prices, transactions significantly weakened. Russian Nickel to Shanghai Nickel 2006 contract reported 50 yuan / ton to flat, flat compared with yesterday; many downstream has been replenished the day before yesterday, yesterday's weak willingness to receive goods. Jinchuan nickel to Shanghai nickel 2006 contract rose 1300-1400 yuan / ton, yesterday's price rebound, Jinchuan Shengshui is still higher, mainly due to active Jinchuan nickel transactions the day before yesterday, many holders have finished inventory, at the same time, manufacturers did not arrive in Shanghai in the past two days, the supply is tight. Nickel beans to Shanghai Nickel 2006 contract reported 700 yuan / ton. [neutral]

As for nickel pig iron, the price of SMM high nickel pig iron on April 23 was 930,950 yuan / nickel point (including ex-factory tax), which was the same as that of the previous trading day. Yesterday, there was no mainstream steel factory inquiry, iron factory quotation remained high; high nickel pig iron than pure nickel discount rebounded slightly compared with yesterday, nickel and iron prices still have a small amount of room. [Lido]

Indonesia will ban all domestic air travel from April 24 to June 12 and all domestic sea travel from April 24 to June 8, according to Indonesian transport ministry officials. The restriction does not include the transport of goods and has no impact on Indonesian nickel and iron exports for the time being. [neutral]

Stainless steel, April 23, Wuxi 304 stainless steel cold and hot rolling price is weak and stable, 304 cold rolling quotation range 13100-13300 yuan / ton, 304 hot rolling quoted at 12800-13000 yuan / ton. This week's transaction situation is weaker than last week, and the stainless steel plate price fell the day before yesterday, some businesses had a small reduction in prices yesterday. Some traders said that transaction weakness, on the one hand, due to the early downstream replenishment demand released after the current procurement enthusiasm decline; on the other hand, stainless steel prices have now risen to recent highs, some traders hold a wait-and-see attitude. For 10:30 SHFE SS2006 contract price 12990 yuan / ton, Wuxi stainless steel spot water 280-480 yuan / ton. (spot trimming = rough edges + 170 yuan / ton) [bearish]

On the inventory side, Lunni stocks on 23 April were 230352 tons, a decrease of 6 tons from 22 April.

Nickel price judgment: Lunni closed in the sunny column last night, K column in the 40 / 60 moving average range, today Lunni pressure 5-day moving average opened at 12170 US dollars / ton, follow-up attention to Lunni moving average in 5 / 10 days.