Commodity Intelligence (May 9, 2025)
May 09, 2025|
View:255|Macro
1. According to preliminary statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the retail sales of passenger cars in the national market reached 1.791 million units in April, a year-on-year increase of 17%. Among them, the retail sales of new energy vehicles in the market reached 922000 units, a year-on-year increase of 37%. In addition, the inventory warning index for Chinese car dealers in April was 59.8%, an increase of 5.2 percentage points compared to the previous month.
2. The number of initial jobless claims in the United States decreased by 13000 to 228000 last week, and the number of renewed jobless claims in the previous week decreased by 28000 to 1.879 million, both better than market expectations.
3. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, labor productivity in the United States decreased by 0.8% on an annualized quarter on quarter basis in the first quarter due to a decline in economic output, marking the first decline since 2022. The unit labor cost surged by 5.7%, the largest increase in a year.
4. The UK and the US have reached an agreement on the terms of a tariff trade agreement, with the UK government agreeing to make concessions on imported US food and agricultural products in exchange for lower tariffs on UK car exports. The United States will reduce tariffs on British made cars to 10% and tariffs on steel and aluminum to zero.
5. Bank of England cuts benchmark interest rate from 4.5% to 4.25%, in line with expectations.
6. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda stated that he will closely monitor the price situation as global economic uncertainty remains high. Kazuo Ueda reiterated that if the economy meets expectations, he will continue to raise interest rates.
7. According to statistics from the Bank of Korea, as of the end of April, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves decreased by $4.99 billion month on month, reaching $404.67 billion, the lowest level in nearly five years. The Bank of Korea believes that the possibility of foreign reserves falling below the $400 billion mark is unlikely.
