“The Chinese economy is now entering a period of above-trend growth, which is indisputably good news for the prices of commodities, particularly industrial metals.”
Monday’s move brings gains for 2020 to 9.1% and 57% since the covid-19 lows struck in March. A fortnight ago the bellwether metal reached the highest price since June 2018.
Domestic and export orders booming
Capital Economics said China’s September PMI readings suggest that “the economy is now entering a period of above-trend growth, which is indisputably good news for the prices of commodities, particularly industrial metals.”
Beijing’s official manufacturing PMI jumped to a more than two year high of 51.5 (a reading above 50 indicates expansion) up from 51.0 in August, while the survey by Caixin, which gives a clearer picture of activity outside the state-owned sector came in at 53.
Caixin’s new orders subindex expanded at a rate not seen since early 2011, while new export business expanded at the fastest rate (54.8) since August 2017, which augurs well for a recovery in manufacturing in the rest of the world.
The Wall Street Journal reported a measure from Citigroup that tracks end uses of copper in the country in various sectors including auto and appliance makers show the three-month average reaching its highest level since early in 2017.
