SHANGHAI, Sep 7 (SMM) — This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last night and what is expected today.
The US dollar consolidated gains on Friday but was set for its biggest weekly rise in 2-1/2 months as an overnight drop in high-flying US technology stocks fueled a bout of risk aversion in global markets.
The dollar’s bounce last week comes after weeks of losses which saw the greenback fall to a April 2018 low of 91.74 on Tuesday after the US central bank overhauled its policy framework last week, which would allow it to keep rates lower for longer periods, a negative for the dollar.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower for a second day on Friday after a wild session in which names that would benefit from the economy reopening tried to offset another steep decline in tech.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 159.42 points lower, or 0.6%, at 28,133.31. At one point, the 30-stock average fell as much as 628.05 points, or 2.2%. The Dow was also higher for a moment on Friday.
The S&P 500 slid 0.8% to 3,426.96, but closed well off its session low. The broader-market index was down 3.1% at its session low and briefly traded positive on the day. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3% to 11,313.13, but also closed well above its low of the day.
Oil prices fell more than 3% on Friday, headed for their biggest weekly decline since June as concern around a slow economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic added to worries about weak oil demand.
US Labor Department figures Friday showed that nonfarm payrolls increased by 1.37 million in August, outstripping the 1.32 million expected and sending the unemployment rate tumbling to 8.4% as the world’s largest economy looks to recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
German manufacturing orders rose for the third consecutive month in July but their recovery lost steam, federal statistics office Destatis said Friday. Manufacturing orders increased 2.8% in July in adjusted terms after a revised 28.8% expansion in June, according to Destatis. On an annual basis, orders fell 7.3%, adjusted for calendar and price effects.
Despite the improvement, new orders in July were 8.2% lower in seasonally and calendar-adjusted terms compared with February, the month before restrictions were imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic in Germany.
Domestic orders decreased 10.2% while foreign orders grew 14.4% in July, Destatis said.
On the LME, nonferrous metals rose across the board on last Friday. Copper jumped 3%, aluminium added 0.9%, zinc advanced 0.64%, lead rose 1.93%, nickel strengthened 1.73% and tin edged up 0.25%.
Their counterparts on the SHFE, except for zinc, closed higher on Friday night. Copper jumped 2.26%, aluminium climbed 0.39%, lead inched up 0.16%, nickel added 0.47% and tin advanced 0.23%, while zinc underperformed with a 0.28% loss.
China’s trade balance for August, German industrial production data for July and Eurozone’s Sentix Investor Confidence Index for September are due to be published today.
