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Market and Geopolitical Developments
- 💵 Dollar steadied on Monday after biggest weekly gain since 2022
- 📈 European policymakers signalled rate cut within a few months
- 👉 Yen marked a 34-year low against the dollar
- ⚔️ Escalating conflict in the Middle East affected financial markets
- 🇮🇷 Iran warned of strike on Israel leading to symbolic attack
- 🔮 Investors have slashed bets on Fed cuts and pushed back easing cycle
- 📉 Euro recorded biggest weekly percentage drop since late September 2022
- 💰 Sterling had largest weekly percentage drop since mid-July
- 💹 China’s trade-weighted currency index hit a March 2023 high
- 🪙 Bitcoin fell below $62,000 and lost $10,000 or 15% from highs
Currency Trends and Financial News
- 💵 Dollar is strong
- 📉 Yen is decreasing
- 🇺🇸 US rate-cut bets are receding
- 💵 Dollar remains strong against the Yen
- 📉 Yen weakens as US rate-cut bets rise
- 🇺🇸 US Federal Reserve expected to cut interest rates
- 📊 Market reactions favoring the Dollar
Copper Trade Dynamics between Russia and China
- 💰 Russian Copper Company (RCC) and Chinese firms are disguising new copper wire rod as scrap to avoid taxes and Western sanctions.
- 🔄 The intermediary shreds the copper wire rod in Xinjiang, making it difficult to distinguish from scrap.
- 🛃 Russia’s copper rod has a lower export duty than scrap, and China imposes different tariffs on rod and scrap imports.
- 📊 Discrepancies between Chinese and Russian data suggest significant copper scrap exports from Russia to China.
- 🛢️ Copper scrap from Russia is being sold as de facto copper rod to Chinese firms, but both parties deny direct export relations.
- 🛠️ Shredding copper wire rod makes it easier to sell to Chinese manufacturers and avoid sanctions and financial scrutiny.
- 📈 China’s increased imports of Russian copper scrap reflect a rise in monthly volumes, with discrepancies in official data reports.
- 🔒 Legal obstacles do not prevent Chinese purchases of metal from Russian companies under Western sanctions, but financial risks remain.