Global News: Metals PMIs Improve While Europe Renews Aluminum Foil Tariffs

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:

• The European Commission has extended the anti-dumping duties in force on imports of aluminum household foil from China for five years. This extension follows an investigation which showed that dumping by Chinese exporters continues despite the measures in place and if these measures were to be removed, it would cause injury to the European Union’s industry. The anti-dumping duties will remain at their current level of between 6.4 percent and 30 percent. Read more here.
• Exports from China increased 16.3 percent from January-February 2021 to January 2022, a rate that was higher than the 14 percent increase analysts had predicted. Imports were up 15.5 percent, below the 17 percent gain that had been predicted by economists.
• The IHS Markit Global Steel Users Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose from 50.2 in January to 51.5 in February. Output and new orders generally strengthened across the globe. Regionally, there was a renewed expansion among Asia-based firms while U.S. firms also saw a quicker improvement.
• The IHS Markit Global Aluminum Users PMI rose to 50.8 in February from 49.9 in January. The latest reading pointed to a broad, albeit marginal improvement in the health of the sector. The decline in business conditions across Asia eased in the latest survey period, while the United States saw a quicker expansion.
• The IHS Markit Global Copper Users PMI rose from 50.0 in January to 50.9 in February and signaled a marginal expansion in overall conditions. Copper users in both the United States and Europe saw a stronger rate of improvement. Firms in Asia meanwhile saw a softer deterioration in the health of the sector.
• Read the full PMI reports here.