Mood in the metal markets has changed overnight
by David Fleschen
The mood in the metal markets has changed overnight, although US politicians have still not agreed on stimulus measures. According to US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, however, an agreement will be reached soon. In addition, the Chinese authorities have announced that they will "open up" the city of Wuhan on April 8, which is believed to be the site of the coronavirus outbreak. The stock markets in Asia and Europe are very firm today and the futures for the USA also point to a good start there. Supported by this more positive mood, copper is up 2% this morning to over $ 4,700 a ton. Yesterday it was trading at $ 200 lower at times.
With the exception of aluminum, all other industrial metals are also growing today. As the International Aluminum Institute reported on Friday, global aluminum production in February rose by 3.8% year-on-year to 5.1 million tons. On a daily basis, the largest amount has been produced since December 2018 (176.3 thousand tons). Daily production even increased slightly compared to January, although the corona virus was rampant in China, the world's largest aluminum producer. The National Bureau of Statistics had already reported surprisingly high production figures for China at the beginning of last week. The demand, on the other hand, is only cautious, as the build-up of the stock inventories registered in China shows: Aluminum stocks at SHFE have so far increased every week this year and are currently at 534 thousand tons, the highest level in 10 months. The aluminum market in China is probably oversupplied this year.
Source: Commerzbank Research, Photo: Fotolia