Bank of America Raises China's Economic Growth Forecast

2022 was a volatile year for nickel prices. The nickel prices hit a record high in early March, and fell back in the second quarter of the year.  The influence of the Covid-19 pandemic combined with the macroeconomic factors sent nickel prices to return to fundamentals.

The dollar edged higher on Monday despite another suspected foreign exchange intervention by Japan, while sterling was choppy after Rishi Sunak was picked to become Britain’s third prime minister in the last seven weeks, and China’s offshore yuan fell to a record low.

Shanghai nonferrous metals closed mixed on dovish signals released by some UF Fed officials last Friday. Fed's Daley: "We'll slow the pace of rate hikes, not pause them, but raise them by 50 or 25 basis points".

The dollar bounced from two-week lows on Wednesday as benchmark 10-year Treasury yields rose to 14-year highs, while sterling weakened after hotter-than-expected UK consumer price inflation fueled concerns about a deeper recession.

Sterling rose sharply in volatile trading on Thursday, rallying from record lows hit on Monday, after the Bank of England conducted a second day of bond buying to stabilize financial markets.

The dollar fell 1% against the yen right after news of the rate check. Nikkei website reported the rate check, citing unidentified sources, and Reuters later confirmed it with a market source. The dollar was last down 0.94% at 143.19 yen, hitting a session low of 142.6 in the wake of the PPI data.

The U.S. dollar pared its gains on Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting showed that Fed officials are concerned the U.S. central bank could raise rates too far as part of its commitment to get inflation under control.

In July, China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was 49.0, a decrease of 1.2 points from the previous month, which was below the 50-point mark, and the manufacturing prosperity weakened.

The dollar fell against the euro for a third straight session on Tuesday, following a Reuters story that European Central Bank policymakers are considering raising interest rates by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points at their meeting on Thursday to tame record-high inflation.

With the stalemate in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) and Ukrainian President Zelensky held a video teleconference on May 8 at which the G7 pledged to gradually reduce or stop imports of Russian oil. On the same day, the US and UK also announced a new round of sanctions against Russia respectively.