The US announced reciprocal tariffs, the US dollar fell, metals mostly declined, and gold prices continued to hit new historical highs! [Overnight Market]

SMM April 3 News: In the metal market, both domestic and overseas metal prices generally fell overnight. On the domestic market, SHFE aluminum and SHFE tin both rose, with SHFE tin up 0.64% and SHFE aluminum up 0.39%. On the overseas market, LME copper and LME zinc both fell by more than 1%, with LME copper down 1.74% and LME zinc down 1.38%. Other metals fell by less than 1%, with the main alumina refinery contract down 1.61%. In the ferrous metals series, prices also fell collectively overnight. Iron ore remained flat at 791 yuan/mt, while stainless steel fell 0.7%. Rebar and HRC both fell by less than 0.5%. In the coking coal and coke sector, coking coal fell 0.65% and coke fell 0.43%. In the precious metals sector, COMEX gold rose 1.41% overnight, hitting a record high of $3,201.6/oz, while COMEX silver rose 2.01%. Domestically, SHFE gold fell 0.14% and SHFE silver fell 0.13%. As of 8:29 AM on April 3, the overnight closing prices are as follows. Click to view the SMM futures data dashboard. On the macro front, domestically, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Improving the Price Governance Mechanism." It mentioned adhering to the direction of socialist market economy reform, allowing the market to determine prices where possible, promoting the efficient and smooth flow of advanced and high-quality production factors, and effectively serving the construction of a unified national market. It also mentioned advancing the construction of spot and futures markets for important commodities, optimizing the rules for futures product listing, trading, and regulation, and solidifying the foundation for market-determined prices. According to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), a new round of refined oil price adjustment window opened today. The specific adjustments are as follows: domestic gasoline and diesel retail price ceilings were raised by 230 yuan/mt and 220 yuan/mt, respectively. On average nationwide, 92# gasoline was raised by 0.18 yuan/liter, 95# gasoline by 0.19 yuan/liter, and 0# diesel by 0.19 yuan/liter. Filling a 50L tank of 92# gasoline will cost about 9 yuan more. On the US dollar front, the US dollar index fell 0.46% overnight. According to Xinhua News Agency, US President Trump signed an executive order on so-called "reciprocal tariffs" at the White House on the 2nd, announcing that the US would impose a 10% "minimum base tariff" on trading partners and higher tariffs on certain trading partners. Concerns about the impact of escalating global trade tensions on the US economy, along with a series of weaker-than-expected US data, have heightened fears of a recession, weighing on the dollar this year. Given the nervousness over the tariff announcement, the dollar showed little reaction to data showing that US private sector employment growth in March exceeded expectations. The ADP National Employment Report showed that private sector employment increased by 155,000 in March, following an upward revision of February's increase to 84,000. The report showed that factory orders rose 0.6% in February, with January's figure revised up to a rebound of 1.8% from a previous 1.7%. Economists had predicted a 0.5% increase in February factory orders. The most important US monthly employment report for the week will be released on Friday. In other currencies, the dollar fell 0.2% against the yen to 149.255 yen after Trump reiterated that the US would impose a 25% tariff on foreign-made cars, after spending most of the early session in positive territory. The euro initially surged more than 1% against the dollar before pulling back to $1.0828, up 0.3%. The euro rose 0.4% against the yen to 161.82 yen. The dollar was little changed against the Mexican peso at 20.18 pesos. The dollar fell 0.1% against the Canadian dollar to 1.421 Canadian dollars. The Canadian Prime Minister's Office said that Prime Minister Carney discussed Canada's plan to "counteract unreasonable US trade actions" with Mexican President Sheinbaum on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Ueda said on Wednesday that the new tariffs planned by the US could have a significant impact on world trade, warning that global economic growth could be hit. On the data front, today will see the release of US initial jobless claims for the week ending March 29, US March Challenger job cuts, US February trade balance, US March ISM non-manufacturing PMI, UK March SPGI services PMI final, UK March government official net reserve changes, Brazil March seasonally adjusted SPGI services PMI, Brazil March seasonally adjusted SPGI composite PMI, Australia February goods and services trade balance, Australia February import and export monthly rates, Canada March total reserve assets, Canada February trade balance, Russia March SPGI services PMI, and Switzerland March CPI annual rate. Additionally, US President Trump will announce details on the implementation of reciprocal tariffs and industry-specific tariffs. Fed Governor Kugler will speak on inflation expectations, RBA Governor Bullock will attend a Senate hearing, the ECB will release the minutes of its March monetary policy meeting, and ECB President Lagarde will speak. It is worth noting that on the eve of the Qingming Festival holiday on April 3, there will be no night session trading on the SGE, SHFE, CZCE, and DCE. On April 4, the SGE, Taiwan Stock Exchange, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing Stock Exchanges, and domestic futures exchanges will all be closed for one day. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange will be closed for one day due to the Qingming Festival, with northbound and southbound trading closed. In the crude oil market, both WTI and Brent crude prices fell overnight, with WTI down 0.66% and Brent down 1.5%. During the day, expectations that US tariff policies would stimulate inflation, slow economic growth, and escalate trade disputes limited oil price gains. Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said, "The rally in crude oil prices last month has paused, with Brent encountering some resistance above $75/barrel. Market focus has shifted from supply reductions due to sanctions to the US tariff announcement and its potential negative impact on growth and demand." Investors shrugged off bearish US government crude inventory data. EIA data showed that US crude oil inventories unexpectedly increased by about 6.2 million barrels last week. UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said, "I think the report is bearish, with a large increase in crude oil inventories and a rise in total refined product inventories. But the market sees it as neutral because the increase in crude oil inventories was driven by a significant rise in Canadian crude oil imports, likely due to concerns over new tariffs."

SMM

The US announced reciprocal tariffs, the US dollar fell, metals mostly declined, and gold prices continued to hit new historical highs! [Overnight Market]

Guidance Prices for Various Series of Domestic Large Stainless Steel Mills on April 2 [SMM Steel Mill Guidance Prices]

The implementation of U.S. tariffs reignited trade war concerns, with copper prices expected to decline in response. [SMM Morning Comment on Copper]