Global News Of Note: China Tightens Rules For Building Alumina Plants

What happens abroad impacts MSCI members in North America. Here is the latest economic, trade, and other policy news of note for the last week:

• According to Mining.com, in an effort to address overcapacity, the Chinese government has tightened rules on who can build new alumina plants. More specifically, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said companies will not be allowed to build new alumina plants in heavily polluted areas and that, if they do build, they should control enough bauxite supply to support the plants. Read more at this link.
• The J.P. Morgan global purchasing managers’ index signaled “modest output growth acceleration in the global economy” in March. Specifically, the index rose to 52.1 last month from its 51.5 reading in February. While the March reading was the highest since December 2024, at 51.8, the average output index for the first quarter was at its weakest level since the final quarter of 2023. A drop in the future output index, which tracks sentiment for expected conditions one year from now, fell to one of its lowest points since 2020, suggesting that March’s improvement in growth may not be sustainable.