In a nutshell:
. RESEARCH
. MINING: On the road - in search of a bull
. STEEL: Marketing Feedback - Red-hot Again
. CHINA AUTOS: CAAM expects 2025 auto sales to rose +4.7% y/y, driven by continued strength in NEVs
. CHINA TRADE: Both Export (+10.7% y/y) and Import (+1.0% y/y) accelerated in December and beat expectations
. COPPER: Chilean production rose +10% y/y in November
. STEEL US: OCTG prices increase in January
. STEEL CHINA: Steel exports reach over 110mt
. NUCOR (+): Nucor to build its third structures production utility
Daily Prices as of January 10th
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PRICE MOVERS
. MACRO/COMMODITY WRAP: China December trade data beat expectations with acceleration in both Exports (+10.7% y/y) and Imports (+1.0% y/y). Base metals traded higher on the SHFE today amid better-than-expected China imports data; copper +0.4%, zinc +0.6%, aluminium +0.8%, nickel +1.9%. Nickel price was lifted by Indonesia lowering its 2025 nickel ore mining quota to c200mt (vs. 215mt output in 2024).
Iron ore futures rallied on the DCE (+1.9%) and SGX (+1.9%) amid revived hopes of more stimulus from China. China''s central bank chief on Monday said the government will support moderately loose monetary policy to maintain ample liquidity, lifting broad investor sentiment.
Gold (USD 2,688/oz) edged lower this morning as a stronger-than-expected US jobs report reinforced the Fed''s cautious stance on rate cuts and boosted the USD.
. Macro data this week: China Credit data due from today with Aggregate financing (cons. 2.2tn yuan); US CPI on Wednesday (cons. +2.9% y/y); US retail sales on Thursday (cons. +0.5% m/m); Eurozone CPI (cons. +2.4% y/y), US industrial production (cons. +0.3% m/m), and China 4Q24 GDP (cons. +5.1% y/y) on Friday.
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. COPPER: Chilean production rose +10% y/y in November: Cochilco released Chilean (top producer globally) national copper production for November with a headline growth of -0.6% m/m and +9.8% y/y, taking YTD copper production up +3.9% y/y....
