SHANGHAI, Jul 21 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last night and what is expected today.

The US dollar fell on Monday against a basket of rivals, as risk appetite improved on a flurry of announcements about a potential COVID-19 vaccine and expectations of more stimulus from Europe and from the US.

On Wall Street, a strong performance in technology shares pushed the S&P 500 in positive territory for the year. Amazon led the gains in popular tech names with a 7.9% jump on Monday, its best day since December 2018. The Nasdaq 100, which consists of the 100 biggest non-financial companies in the composite, popped 2.8% for its biggest one-day gain since April.

Oil prices were little changed on Monday, while nonferrous metals moved higher for the most part. On the LME, lead advanced 0.9% on the day to lead the gains among the nonferrous complex, zinc climbed 0.8%, tin and copper rose 0.6% and nickel gained 0.5%, while aluminium bucked the trend with a paltry 0.03% dip.  

On the SHFE, zinc crept up 1.1% in overnight trading, lead rose 0.9%, tin climbed 0.8%, copper advanced 0.6% while aluminium stayed flat. Nickel edged down 0.1%.  

The market cheered a slew of positive news on the vaccine front. Pfizer and BioNTech reported early positive data on a joint coronavirus vaccine. Meanwhile, another candidate from Oxford University and AstraZeneca showed a positive immune response in an early trial.

Investors are also monitoring the talks in Washington on the next coronavirus relief bill. Lawmakers face pressure to pass legislation before the end of the month, when the $600 per week federal unemployment insurance benefit is set to expire.

Meanwhile, EU leaders showed the first signs of compromise over carving up a proposed 750 billion euro ($858.3 billion) recovery fund to revive economies. Negotiations that began in Brussels on Friday have continued into Monday, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron voicing cautious hopes that a compromise can be reached.

China kept its benchmark lending rate steady for the third straight month on Monday, matching market expectations, amid signs that the world’s second-largest economy is recovering from the shock coronavirus pandemic.

The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was kept unchanged at 3.85%, while the five-year LPR remained at 4.65%.