LME zinc moved at highs amid Fed's rate cuts expectations

Last Friday, the U.S. one-year inflation expectations hit a new high since November last year; Federal Reserve officials once again showed their "hawkish voice"; the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on Palestine's entry into the United Nations; Biden: If Hamas releases the hostages, perhaps a ceasefire can be achieved "tomorrow"; Iraq's oil minister "changed his words"; will adhere to any decision of OPEC+; China's CPI rose 0.3% year-on-year in April, and turned from a decline to an increase of 0.1% month-on-month; China's new social financing in the first four months was 12.73 trillion yuan, and new RMB loans were 10.19 trillion yuan; the People's Bank of China: will coordinate research on policy measures to digest existing real estate and optimize incremental housing; the pace of government bond issuance will accelerate this year; the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will no longer disclose the real-time price of northbound transactions from today

Last Friday, LME zinc opened at $2917/mt, hitting a low and high of $2902.5/mt and $2959.5/mt respectively, and closed at $2945/mt, up $35/mt or 1.20%. Trading volume increased to 10050 lots, and open interest grew 1464 lots to 240,000 lots. LME zinc stocks fell by 175 mt or 0.07% to 251950 mt. Last Friday, the market revived expectations of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve, and LME zinc performed relatively strongly.

Last Friday evening, the most active SHFE 2407 zinc contract prices opened at 23665 yuan/mt and lost 245 yuan/mt or 1.03% to settle at 23535 yuan/mt. Trading volumes decreased to 64427 lots and open interest decreased 1219 lots to 95583 lots. Macro sentiment is positive, many places have relaxed real estate purchase restrictions, and social inventory has decreased slightly. SHFE zinc has a strong momentum.