◎ Vice Premier He Lifeng held talks with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. “The main task of our meeting this time is to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state during their meeting and phone call, further discuss in depth important issues in the China-Us and global economic and financial fields, and make proper responses to some key concerns in China-Us economic relations,” He Liffeng said.
◎ The China-Us Trade Working Group held the first Vice-ministerial meeting. The two sides agreed to intensify discussions on specific standards of concern to industry; To explore ways to enhance trade facilitation cooperation; We will give play to the role of the export control information exchange mechanism and strengthen communication and exchanges in the field of export control.
◎ Zheng Zhajie, Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, presided over a meeting to promote large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods for new work. The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to do a good job in recycling and recycling, grasp the whole chain of product and equipment scrapping, recycling, remanufacturing, and resource utilization, and promote large-scale equipment renewal and the replacement of old consumer goods with new ones to form a closed loop.
◎ The Central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee held a regular meeting in the first quarter of 2024 and pointed out that accurate and effective implementation of prudent monetary policy, more attention to counter-cyclical adjustment, better play the dual functions of monetary policy tools, focus on expanding domestic demand, boosting confidence, and promoting a virtuous economic cycle.
◎ According to statistics, in early April, many small and medium-sized banks in Shanxi, Henan and other places announced a reduction in fixed deposit interest rates, ranging from 10 basis points to 40 basis points. Market participants believe that under the pressure of further compression of bank deposit and loan spread space, national banks may open a new round of deposit “interest rate cut tide” in the first half of the year.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that recent data did not materially change the overall picture; Not to cut interest rates until we are more confident about lowering inflation; The Fed has time to let incoming economic data guide its decisions; The Fed is deciding the FOMC’s monetary policy meeting by meeting; Risks are still moving towards a more balanced state; The Fed has yet to accomplish its goal of “restoring 2% inflation on a sustained basis.”
U.S. non-farm payrolls increased 303,000 in March, the largest increase since May 2023, and much more than market expectations. Estimates showed a gain of 214,000, revised to 270,000 from the previous gain of 275,000.
Inflation is expected to continue to fall in the coming months, the ECB minutes said, and officials are increasingly confident that inflation will fall back, but should not be taken lightly, and the downward course of inflation remains fragile.
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said that in the future, the Bank of Japan hopes to reduce the amount of JGB purchases and holdings; The BOJ’s bond holdings will remain stable for some time.
◎ The global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index returned to the expansion range of more than 50% in March, and the global economy has risen steadily. The global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was 50.3% in March, up 1.2 percentage points from the previous month, ending a 17-month run below 50% and returning to the expansion range.
Spot gold rose above $2,300 an ounce for the first time, extending to a record high and up more than $200 so far this year.
◎ In 2024, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments, together with relevant parties, will continue to carry out the national crude steel output control work, adhere to the focus on energy conservation and carbon reduction, distinguish the situation, maintain pressure, classification guidance, support the elimination of the good and the bad, promote the adjustment and optimization of the steel industry structure, and promote the high-quality development of the steel industry. In order to cooperate with the control work of production capacity and output, relevant departments will jointly carry out the basic information of equipment of iron and steel smelting enterprises across the country.
◎ This week, the five major steel varieties supply 865.21 tons, an increase of 95,100 tons, an increase of 1.1%. The total inventory of the five major steel products was 22,4119 tons, down 1 million tons week on week, down 4.3%. The weekly consumption of the five varieties was 9.6521 million tons, an increase of 1.0%; Among them, the consumption of building materials fell by 3.1%, and the consumption of sheet metal rose by 4.0%.
◎ This week, the blast furnace operating rate of 247 steel mills was 77.81%, an increase of 1.21 percentage points from last week, and a decrease of 6.49 percentage points from last year; The utilization rate of blast furnace ironmaking capacity was 83.61%, an increase of 0.85 percentage points compared with the previous quarter, and a decrease of 7.59 percentage points compared with the previous year.
◎ This week, the average capacity utilization rate of 87 independent electric arc furnace steel mills in the country was 52.08%, a decrease of 0.98 percentage points from the previous month and a decrease of 14.31 percentage points year-on-year. The average operating rate of 87 independent electric arc furnace steel mills in China was 68.93%, a decrease of 1.35 percentage points from the previous quarter and 7.37 percentage points from the same period last year.
◎ This week, the country’s 45 ports imported iron ore inventory of 144,522,700 tons, an increase of 210,700 tons; The average daily port clearance was 2.931 million tons, an increase of 14,300 tons.
At present, 31 provinces and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have established a provincial real estate financing coordination mechanism, and all cities at the prefecture level and above (excluding municipalities directly under the central government) have established an urban real estate financing coordination mechanism, and put forward a “white list” of real estate projects that can be given financing support in batches and push it to commercial banks.
◎ According to incomplete statistics, at present, there have been more than 10 cities or regions such as Zhengzhou, Wuxi Liangxi District, Zibo, Nantong, Nanjing, Qingdao, Jinan, Ningbo, Lianyungang, Bozhou, Fuyang and other real estate “old for new” related policies.
◎ The “Work Plan for the Stable production and Supply of Coal in Shanxi Province in 2024″ was issued, which requires improving the ability to guarantee coal resources, accelerating the procedures for new production capacity, releasing advanced production capacity according to law and compliance, strengthening the monitoring and scheduling of coal production, and fully grasping the stable supply of thermal coal, under the premise of ensuring safe production, the coal production in the province will be stable at about 1.3 billion tons in 2024.
◎ Passenger Car Association: The retail sales of passenger car market in March is expected to be 1.699 million units, an increase of 7% year on year, an increase of 54% month on month; Since the beginning of this year, the total retail sales of 4.841 million units, an increase of 13%.
◎ As of the end of March, the total investment in major projects in Shanghai was 52.96 billion yuan, 23% of the annual plan, an increase of 21.2% (43.7 billion yuan in the same period in 2023), according to Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Construction and Municipal Major Affairs Office. In terms of new construction, a total of 5 projects have been started.
Post time: Apr-06-2024