【Key Focus】
•The third round of inspections of the 20th Central Committee was completed
•The Ministry of Commerce responded to the U.S. announcement of restrictions on Chinese steel and aluminum products
•Ministry of Education: Colleges and universities should plan to add additional majors in advance according to the needs of economic and social development
【Domestic News】
•According to the unified deployment of the Party Central Committee on inspection work, as of April 17, the third round of inspection of the 20th Central Committee has been completed. Fifteen inspection teams will carry out routine inspections of 34 economic work departments and financial units.
•In response to the U.S. announcement that it plans to take new restrictive measures against China's steel and aluminum products, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce responded on the 18th that China has taken note of the relevant news. The US accusation against China has no factual basis, and the relevant measures are typical unilateralism and protectionism, which China firmly opposes.
•On April 18, it was learned from the Ministry of Education that in order to cultivate national strategic talents and urgently needed talents, the General Office of the Ministry of Education recently issued a notice on further improving the establishment of undergraduate majors in ordinary colleges and universities, and made arrangements for the establishment of undergraduate majors. The notice makes it clear that colleges and universities should plan to add additional majors in advance according to the needs of economic and social development, the urgent needs of regional development, their own school-running positioning, and school-running conditions.
• The 6-day 4th China International Consumer Goods Expo ended on the 18th. According to the statistics of the Hainan International Economic Development Bureau, the organizer of the Expo, the total exhibition area of this year's CICG is 128,000 square meters, attracting a total of 4,019 consumer boutique brands from 71 countries and regions to participate in the exhibition, with the number of participating countries and brands increasing by 9% and 19% respectively compared with the previous year. 1,462 new products were launched at this year's Consumer Expo, an increase of 45% over the previous year. More than 55,000 professional buyers participated in the conference, an increase of 10% over the previous session. The number of visitors to the main venue reached 373,000, an increase of 52,000 over the previous session.
•Shan Zhongde, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at the press conference of the State Council Information Office on the 18th that in 2023, the mainland will deliver more than 3.17 million civilian drones, and the output value of the general aviation manufacturing industry will exceed 51 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 60%.
•According to AMAC, as of the end of March 2024, there were 146 fund management companies in mainland China, including 49 foreign-invested fund management companies (including Sino-foreign joint ventures and wholly foreign-owned funds), 97 domestic fund management companies, 12 securities companies or asset management subsidiaries of securities companies and 1 insurance asset management company that have obtained public fund management qualifications. The total net asset value of the public funds managed by the above institutions is 29.20 trillion yuan.
•According to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on April 18, as of April 18, 2024, the total market value of infrastructure public REITs on the Shanghai Stock Exchange was 71.835 billion yuan, and the total turnover on April 18, 2024 was 326.284 million yuan.
•The Shanghai Futures Exchange issued a notice on the 18th stating that starting from the trading on April 22, 2024 (that is, the evening trading on April 19), the transaction fee for the gold futures AU2406 contract will be adjusted to 30 yuan/lot. The transaction fee for gold futures AU2408 contract is adjusted to 6 yuan/lot. The trading fee for the silver futures AG2408 contract is adjusted to 0.3/10,000 of the transaction amount.
• Luo Tiejun, vice president of China Iron and Steel Association, said at an industry conference that the current steel industry is facing a prominent contradiction between strong supply capacity and weakening demand. The key to resolving the contradiction is that the leading enterprises take the lead in controlling the production rhythm according to demand and truly realize the self-discipline of the industry. The association attaches great importance to the crude steel output regulation policy this year, and is cooperating with national ministries and commissions to carry out relevant work.
• According to the data of Lighthouse Professional Edition, as of 17:51 on April 18, the total box office of the pre-sale (including screening) of new domestic films on May Day in 2024 will exceed 10 million yuan, and "Peacekeeping Anti-riot Team", "There is No Thing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot", and "Spy Playing Home Codename: White" are temporarily in the top three.
【International News】
• Data released by the U.S. Department of Labor on the 18th showed that the number of first-time jobless claims in the United States remained flat at 212,000 month-on-month in the week ended April 13. In the week ended April 6, the number of continuing jobless claims in the United States was 1.812 million, an increase of 2,000 from the previous month.
• Data released by Freddie Mac on the 18th showed that the average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in the United States exceeded 7% in the week ended April 18, reaching the highest level since November 2023.
• According to data released by the Natiaonal Association of Realtors on the 18th, U.S. existing home sales fell 4.3% month-on-month in March to 4.19 million units on an annualized basis.
• Raphael Bostic, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, noted on the same day that the Fed will take longer than many expected to reach its 2% inflation target, but he is pleased with the progress, believing that continued job growth and wage increases have given him confidence that the economy will remain stable enough this year, and said that "there is no real need to lower interest rates until the end of the year."
• Bostjan Vasle, a member of the ECB's Governing Council and president of the Central Bank of Slovenia, said a few days ago that the ECB expects to cut interest rates to close to 3% by the end of this year. This estimate assumes that inflation continues to fall as expected.
• According to data released by the Central Bank of Russia on the 18th, as of the week of April 12, Russia's international reserves were $600.7 billion, an increase of $2.4 billion, or 0.4%, from the previous week.
The IMF's World Economic Outlook report shows that Brazil's economy will grow by 2.2% in 2024, up 0.5 percentage points from its January forecast, and 2.1% in 2025, up 0.2 percentage points from its January forecast.
【List of domestic and overseas markets】
【Announcement of Listed Companies】
【Economic Data and Dynamics (Beijing Time)】
Editor: Zhang Yao
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