The Day at a Glance | November 7 2023

The Top

*China’s trade balance showed mixed signals in October.

*In September, producer inflation in the Eurozone increased by 0.5% m/m and decreased by -12.4% y/y (-12.5% e.).

*Republicans controlling the House of Representatives don’t expect to change their stance on temporary funding to keep federal agencies open this week, as a government shutdown looms in 10 days.

*Israel opened a 4-hour window on Tuesday for civilians still trapped in Gaza to escape to the south, while Japan stated that G7 support for Ukraine will not diminish despite the conflict in the Middle East.

*In October, 113,672 light vehicles were sold in the Mexican automotive market. During the first 10 months of 2023, 3,233,887 vehicles were produced, and 2,737,262 units were exported.

Economic environment

China’s foreign trade logged an unexpected increase in imports due to an improvement in domestic demand. China’s trade balance components reported contrasting results in October, highlighting the persistent risks facing the world’s second-largest economy. Exports continued to contract at a faster rate with a -6.4% decline (-6.2% prev.), which was much deeper than the -2.9% forecasted by the analysts’ consensus. As for imports, they surprisingly expanded by 3.0% after the market had expected another decrease (-4.5% e.), breaking an 11-month consecutive contraction trend. This significant improvement in imports could be attributed to an increase in domestic demand, especially for restocking inventories.