Macro important news and events:
After Russia's ultimatum to surrender or die expired on Wednesday, Ukraine proposed to negotiate with Moscow on the evacuation of troops and civilians from Mariupol. Many people were trapped in a steel plant, the last major resistance stronghold.
The United States announced sanctions against dozens of entities and individuals, including the Russian Commercial Bank transkapitalbank and a virtual currency mining company, hoping to crack down on the evasion of existing sanctions against Russia. US Secretary of state Blinken said in a statement that the State Department also imposed visa restrictions on more than 600 people and banned them from going to the United States.
The beige book released by the Federal Reserve shows that the US economy expanded at a moderate rate from mid February to early April, and the impact of high inflation and labor shortage on enterprises has hardly been alleviated. Inflation remains a concern, with demand still far exceeding supply, from labor to goods, and the situation is exacerbated by China's recent containment measures to limit the spread of covid-19 and the soaring food and energy costs caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The beige book said that most regions expect price pressure to continue in the coming months.
With house prices hitting a record high, the sales of existing homes in the United States in March fell by 2.7% in the previous month, the second consecutive month. After seasonal adjustment, the annual rate is 5.77 million, the lowest level since June 2020. In view of the rise of mortgage interest rate to 5%, sales may decline further.
San Francisco Fed chairman Daley, who belongs to the dove camp, said that the conditions for raising interest rates by 50 basis points in may have been fully met, and the economy is resilient and can withstand the adjustment of interest rates; It is absolutely possible to announce the reduction of the balance sheet in May. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates to neutral levels by the end of the year. Chicago Fed chairman Evans said inflation was very high and needed to be addressed. The Federal Reserve is studying a relatively continuous interest rate increase plan and will remain neutral until the end of the year.
The executive meeting of China's State Council said that we should meet external challenges, strengthen energy supply and promote the construction of energy projects needed for mature development; We should give full play to the role of coal as the main energy source, increase production capacity through nuclear power and new production, increase production capacity by 300 million tons this year, and guide coal prices to operate within a reasonable range.
