Aluminium fell -0.38% to settle at 208.4, with the main concern being the forecast for demand in China. Beijing intends to add CNY 1 trillion in debt to boost infrastructure development and industry. However, questions about the impact of these investments on output were raised by PMI data that showed a decline in China’s manufacturing sector.
Over the next five months, Chinese policymakers aim to considerably increase imports of services and commodities and open up the economy. The U.S. monthly payrolls report, however, caused the dollar to drop and raised expectations of a December interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
It will be possible to gain insight into the effects of China’s economic stimulus by closely observing consumer pricing and industrial metal imports into China in the coming months.
The U.S. trade imbalance, meanwhile, continued to be among the lowest since 2021 even though it grew in September. Further evidence of a worsening trend in the construction industry came from the low point reached by Germany’s Construction PMI.