The Day at a Glance | March 7 2023

*Consumer confidence in Mexico continued recovering through February. 

*In February, Chinese exports and imports decreased -6.8% and -10.2%, respectively. This reflects weakness in global demand in light of the complex current economic situation. 

*Factory orders in the US recorded a monthly -1.6% decrease in January after December´s 1.8% increase. 

*US officials said that they are requesting consultations over GMO corn dispute; Mexico plans to limit imports of genetically modified corn and other agricultural biotech products. 

*Chair of the FED, Jerome Powell, will testify before Congress at 9:00am (local time). Tomorrow, he will meet with the Financial Services Committee. 

Economic environment

The Consumer Confidence Indicator recorded its fourth consecutive increase and reached its highest level in 15 months. The indicator advanced by half a point in February, reaching 44.8 points. Within it, four of the five components that make it up recorded slight monthly advances. The largest of these increases was in the sub-index that captures the current availability, compared to a year ago, of household members to make purchases of durable goods, which increased 2.5 points compared to the previous month, to record a reading of 29.3 units, 4.7 points above the reading of a year ago. The trend seen in the indicator could influence the consumption of durable goods at the beginning of 2023, whose readings for December (make known yesterday) showed divergence within, with an annual growth of 22.8% in national durable goods, and a decline of -12.3% in imported goods. In a contrasting manner, the component that captures the household´s economic situation in 12 months with respect to the current one – which is still set at its highest level among all components (56.1 points) – decreased -0.9 units with respect to what was logged in January, and -0.7 points with respect to February of 2022. Overall, the five components maintained an upwards trend and caused the indicator to reach its highest level since November of 2021.