The Day at a Glance | March 17 2023

*US industrial production registered no variation in February, after an upward review of January data.

*SVB Financial (parent company of Silicon Valley Bank) files for Chapter 11. This will ease the sale of its non-banking businesses. But the bank is not part of the process because it is now controlled by the FDIC.

*China’s leader Xi Jinping will visit Moscow next week to “promote peace and advance negotiations”. However, skepticism prevails in the West given the growing partnership between Beijing and Moscow, and fears that China may be considering providing Russia with military assistance.

*During the inauguration of the 86th Banking Convention in Mexico, the Minister of Finance Rogelio Ramirez de la O commented that Nearshoring is a reality and is advancing, pointing out as a concrete example the installation of a Tesla plant.

*Protests in France continue to escalate following the government’s recent announcement to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.

*The final reading for eurozone inflation had no changes (8.5% y/y; 0.8% m/m). 

Economic environment

US industrial production had no changes in February with a monthly change of 0.0%, falling short of an expected 0.2% moderate growth. This negative surprise is explained partially by the January reading, which was revised upward to 0.3% from 0.0%. Within it, manufacturing, the largest component of the industrial sector, surprised upwards with a monthly variation of 0.1%, better than the -0.3% estimated by the consensus. In the same way, utilities accelerated 0.1%, after a -10.1% contraction in January. However, mining fell -0.6% in February. Regarding capacity utilization, the total data registered an occupancy of 78.0% for the second consecutive month.