Hawkish officials from the Federal Reserve changed their attitude and copper prices rose overnight [SMM Copper Morning Comment]

LME copper prices opened at $9018/mt overnight and closed at $9011/mt last evening, up 1.57%, with the high-end of $9044/mt and the low-end of $8981/mt. Trading volume were 26,000 lots and open interest stood at 309,000 lots. The most active SHFE 2405 copper contract prices opened at 73500 yuan/mt and finished at 73310 yuan/mt last Friday evening, up 0.29%, with the low-end of 73230 yuan/mt and the high-end of 73630 yuan/mt. Trading volume was 34,000 lots, and open interest stood at 174,000 lots. On the macro level, the former "hawkish" U.S. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said that there will be three interest rate cuts this year, and a rate cut in June is likely to occur, which is bullish for copper prices. Domestically, the Ministry of Finance stated that in the first two months of this year, 575.9 billion yuan of new local government bonds were issued nationwide. In terms of fundamentals, from the supply side, there is still a large amount of supply in the hands of suppliers. Yesterday, they lowered prices to increase shipments. Although the enthusiasm of downstream companies to accept goods has increased, it has not changed the situation of oversupply. In terms of consumption, downstream began to stock up for the Qingming Festival holiday this week. However, as copper prices continue to rise, there is a certain suppression on purchasing. It is expected that the demand for stockpiling will be released on the last day before the holiday. Copper prices continue to rise due to the influence of macro sentiment at home and abroad, but the room for growth is relatively limited.