Metals generally rose, with LME tin and polysilicon leading the gains. Gold prices continued to hit record highs, while iron ore rose by 1.63% [SMM Midday Review].

SMM April 17 News:

In the metal market:

As of the midday close, domestic base metals rose across the board, with SHFE copper up 0.79%. SHFE tin rose 0.59%, SHFE nickel rose 0.97%. SHFE aluminum rose 0.74%, SHFE lead rose 0.21%, and SHFE zinc rose 0.18%.

In addition, alumina rose nearly 1%. Lithium carbonate fell 0.51%, silicon metal fell 0.71%, and polysilicon rose 1.26%.

The ferrous metals series mostly rose, with iron ore up 1.63%, rebar up 0.26%, HRC slightly up, and stainless steel up 0.43%. In the coking coal and coke sector, coking coal fell 0.31%, while coke rose 1.15%.

In the overseas metal market, as of 11:51, base metals generally rose. LME tin rose 1.22%. LME nickel slightly rose. LME lead rose 0.63%, LME copper slightly fell, LME aluminum rose 0.48%, and LME zinc rose 1.12%.

In the precious metals sector, gold prices continued their record-breaking rally. As of 11:51, COMEX gold rose 0.22%, hitting a new historical high of $3,371.9/oz during the session; COMEX silver fell 1.44%. Domestically, SHFE gold rose 2.61%, hitting a new historical high of 796.7 yuan/gram during the session; SHFE silver rose 0.15%.

As of the midday close, the most-traded contract for European container shipping fell 0.03% to 1,581.1 points.

As of 11:51 on April 17, some futures midday market conditions:

》April 17 SMM Metal Spot Prices

Spot and Fundamentals

Copper: As of Thursday, April 17, SMM mainstream copper inventories across China fell by 17,100 mt from Monday to 233,400 mt, down 33,800 mt from last Thursday, marking the seventh consecutive week of destocking. Currently, inventories have fallen back from highs by 143,600 mt, and are 170,100 mt lower than the 403,500 mt recorded in the same period last year... 》Click for details

Macro Front

Domestically:

【Liao Min Chairs the 2025 Forum of the Ministry of Finance's International Economic and Financial Research Expert Studio】 On the afternoon of April 14, 2025, Liao Min, Party member and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Finance, chaired the 2025 Forum of the Ministry of Finance's International Economic and Financial Research Expert Studio, listening to experts' views and suggestions on the current international economic and financial situation. At the meeting, Zhang Yuyan, Cui Fan, Lu Feng, Peng Wensheng, Xue Lan, and Feng Zhongping expressed their views and put forward suggestions on related issues. Liao Min stated that the current century-long changes are accelerating, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening, economic globalization is encountering headwinds, and the global economic governance system is undergoing profound adjustments. The financial sector must embrace the "greatness of the nation," calmly respond to external risks and challenges, and serve Chinese-style modernization and promote high-quality development through high-level international financial cooperation. The International Economic and Financial Research Expert Studio effectively serves major bilateral and multilateral financial dialogues, and should further strengthen interaction and exchange with government departments, providing forward-looking suggestions on new situations and problems in China and the global economy, and further enhancing the scientificity and effectiveness of financial work and international financial cooperation. Responsible comrades from 14 departments, including the Department of International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Finance, attended the forum.

【MIIT: Organizing and Carrying Out the 2025 Industrial Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Diagnosis Service】 The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently issued a notice to organize and carry out the 2025 Industrial Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Diagnosis Service. It will focus on industries such as steel, ethylene, synthetic ammonia, calcium carbide, aluminum, polysilicon, lithium batteries, cement, ceramics, flat glass, and electronic appliances, as well as information infrastructure such as data centers and communication base stations, organizing energy conservation and carbon reduction service institutions to provide public welfare energy conservation and carbon reduction diagnosis services for enterprises.

The central bank conducted 245.5 billion yuan of 7-day reverse repo operations today, with the operation rate at 1.50%, unchanged from the previous rate. As 65.9 billion yuan of 7-day reverse repos matured today, a net injection of 179.6 billion yuan was achieved.

【Qingdao Plans to Purchase Over 1,200 Second-hand Homes to Drive New Home Sales】 Qingdao implemented a trial work plan to promote consumption in the housing sector through "trade-in" policies. It proposed that the city plans to purchase over 1,200 second-hand homes for use as affordable rental housing and long-term rental housing, supporting improved demand and encouraging the public to "sell old homes and buy new ones," driving the sale of over 1,200 new commercial homes. The Qingdao Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, together with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, will determine two municipal-level implementation entities, and each district (city) government will determine one district-level state-owned enterprise as the district-level implementation entity, encouraging widespread participation from socialized enterprises to achieve "implementation entities city-wide collection, home-swapping public city-wide purchase."

► On April 17, the central parity rate of the RMB in the interbank foreign exchange market was 7.2085 yuan per US dollar.

On the US dollar:

As of 11:51, the US dollar index rose 0.31% to 99.58. Fed Chairman Powell said on Wednesday that the Fed will wait for more data on the economic direction before deciding whether and how to adjust interest rates, but he warned that tariff policies could further deviate inflation and employment from the central bank's targets. Traders currently believe that by the end of 2025, the Fed will cut interest rates by about 91 basis points.

Other currencies:

Bank of Japan Governor Ueda Kazuo emphasized in Congress on Thursday that due to the sharp rise in uncertainty over US tariff policies, monetary policy will remain flexible and cautious in the future. Although the Japanese economy remains on a mild recovery track driven by wage increases, and inflation is close to the 2% target, the Bank of Japan stated that it will remain vigilant to changes in the external environment, especially the potential impact of US trade policies on the Japanese economy. (Huitong Finance)

Bank of Korea Governor Lee Chang-yong said that the slowdown in exports in April has weakened, and domestic political turmoil is partly responsible for the weak consumption in Q1; Q1 economic growth may be significantly revised downward, partly due to the impact of the political crisis. He also stated that Thursday's interest rate decision was not unanimous, with committee member Sung-Hwan opposing the decision; most committee members expect interest rates to be lowered within the next three months. (Cailian Press)

Data:

Today, the US March Building Permits Annualized Total Preliminary Value, US Initial Jobless Claims for the Week Ending April 12, US April Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index, US March Housing Starts Annualized Total, Eurozone April ECB Main Refinancing Rate, Eurozone April ECB Deposit Facility Rate, Eurozone April ECB Marginal Lending Rate, Japan March Merchandise Trade Balance - Unadjusted, Japan March Seasonally Adjusted Merchandise Trade Balance, Japan March Merchandise Exports - Unadjusted, Australia March RBA Foreign Exchange Transactions - Market Channel, Australia March Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate, Australia March Employment Change, New Zealand March Trade Balance, New Zealand Q1 CPI Annual Rate, and other data will be released.

In addition, Fed Chairman Powell will speak at the Chicago Economic Club, Fed Governor Barr will speak, 2025 FOMC voting member and Kansas City Fed President Schmid and Dallas Fed President Logan will have a fireside chat on the US economy and banking sector, , 2026 FOMC voting member and Cleveland Fed President Mester will participate in a Q&A, the European Central Bank will announce its interest rate decision, and ECB President Lagarde will hold a monetary policy press conference.

Crude oil:

As of 11:51, crude oil futures rose, with US oil up 0.97% and Brent oil up 0.8%. Due to market concerns about disruptions to Iranian supply and some OPEC producers' commitments to further production cuts to compensate for output exceeding agreed quotas, supply may become tighter, supporting oil prices.

Oil prices are expected to achieve their first weekly rise in three weeks. Thursday is the last trading day of the week, and the market will welcome the Good Friday holiday. OPEC said on Wednesday that it has received the latest overproduction compensation plans from Iraq, Kazakhstan, and other countries, which has intensified supply concerns.

OPEC, the International Energy Agency, and several investment banks including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have lowered their forecasts for oil prices and demand growth this week, as US tariffs and countermeasures from other countries may plunge global trade into chaos. The WTO warned in its latest "Global Trade Outlook and Statistics" report released on Wednesday that due to the impact of the US government's tariff policies, this year's global trade growth expectations have suddenly slipped into contraction, and there is a possibility of falling into a deeper abyss. (Webstock Inc.)

Spot market overview:

► 【Live】Macroeconomic Outlook: China's Aluminum Industry in a Global Perspective, Future Forecasts for Aluminum and Secondary Aluminum, Latest Application Prospects for Aluminum Semis

► 【Live】Current Status and Challenges of the Global Lithium Battery Raw Material Supply Chain, LFP Market Forecast, Mineral Investment Opportunities and Challenges

► 【Live】Global Energy Storage Market Opportunities and Challenges, Interpretation of China's Low-Carbon Hydrogen Industry Policies, Solid-State Battery Outlook

► Weekly Mainstream Copper Inventories Across China Fell by 17,100 mt【SMM Weekly Data】

► Continuously Declining Inventories Stimulate Premiums to Rise, Spot Trades Better Than Yesterday【SMM South China Copper Spot】

► 【SMM Nickel Sulphate Daily】April 17, Nickel Sulphate Prices Slightly Lower

► 【SMM Analysis】What is the Impact of a 245% Tariff Hike on Iron Ore?

Other metal spot midday reviews will be updated later, please refresh to view~