February 2018 cable raw materials (rubber) monthly report

1.
Macroeconomic news

1.
At the "farewell" meeting of former Fed Chair Yellen, the Fed chose to stand still, but the latest minutes alarmed the market: the Fed's "hawkish" posture became more and more obvious
.
The Fed released the full summary of its January monetary policy meeting, which in addition to being the last nostalgia for the Yellen era, the market also wanted to speculate on Fed officials' more detailed ideas
on inflation and interest rate hikes.
In this "farewell" summary of Yellen, Fed officials are more optimistic about economic growth and achieving inflation targets, most officials are more determined about the growth outlook, and a policy of further gradual rate hikes
is appropriate.

2.
The Eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 58.
6 in February, slightly better than the previous preliminary reading of 58.
5, but down significantly from the final January value of 59.
6
.
Manufacturing activity in the eurozone continues to grow, but there are growing signs that momentum may have peaked
.
The manufacturing PMI fell the most in two years in February, underscored by a slowdown in export orders in the region
.
William Musson, chief economist at IHS Markit, noted that growth in the eurozone is likely to cool further in the coming months, with slowing job creation due to a slowdown in order inflows, raising suspicions that the peak of manufacturing growth is over
.

3.
In January 2018, China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) was 51.
3%, down 0.
3 percentage points from the previous month, still the same as the same period last year, and the manufacturing industry continued to maintain a steady expansion trend
.
In terms of enterprise scale, the PMI of large enterprises was 52.
6%, down 0.
4 percentage points from the previous month, continuing to operate smoothly in the expansion range; the PMI of medium-sized enterprises was 50.
1%, down 0.
3 percentage points from the previous month, above the critical point; the PMI of small enterprises was 48.
5%, down 0.
2 percentage points from the previous month, lower than the critical point
.