December 23 Macroeconomic Index:International New York natural gas futures surge and Ukraine plans to stop transshipment of Russian natural gas

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Domestic News

1. The draft law on the promotion of the private economy was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation

2. In the first 11 months, the import and export freight volume of Xinjiang Khorgos port hit a record high

3. The symposium on the construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center was held in Shanghai

4. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Digital Transformation Promotion Center was established

5. CATL chocolate battery swap station landed in Chongqing, and it is expected that 57 stations will be built in 2025

 International News

1. New York natural gas futures rose more than 14% this week

2. Ukrainian Prime Minister: Ukraine will stop transshipment of Russian gas on January 1, 2025

3. The Fed's favoured indicator shows that price pressures are slowing and expectations of interest rate cuts in 2025 are rising

4. Canada's retail sales were flat in November, and wholesale trade is now showing signs of retreat

5. The U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass an emergency appropriations bill to prevent a government shutdown

Domestic News

1. The draft law on the promotion of the private economy was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation

The draft law on the promotion of the private economy was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation on December 21. The draft consists of 9 chapters and 78 articles, mainly including eight aspects: overall requirements, fair competition, investment and financing environment, scientific and technological innovation, normative guidance, service guarantee, protection of rights and interests, and legal liability. It is of great significance to further optimize the environment for the development of the private economy, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, and promote high-quality development.

2. In the first 11 months, the import and export freight volume of Xinjiang Khorgos port hit a record high

Khorgos Customs recently announced that from January to November 2024, the actual import and export freight volume of Xinjiang Khorgos Port was 41.858 million tons, an increase of 9.6% year-on-year, a record high. So far this year, the import and export cargo volume of Xinjiang Khorgos Port has ranked first in Xinjiang port for seven consecutive years. The main imported commodities were mechanical and electrical products, unwrought copper and copper products, agricultural products, foods, metal ores and mineral sands, etc., of which the trade volume of imported food increased significantly. The export commodities were mainly new energy vehicles, mechanical and electrical products, high-tech products, clothing, textile yarns, fabrics and their products, among which new energy vehicles and fruits and vegetables became bright spots.

3. The symposium on the construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center was held in Shanghai

According to the release news of Shanghai, on the morning of December 22, a symposium on the construction of Shanghai International Shipping Center was held in Shanghai. The meeting thoroughly implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech on the inspection of Shanghai and the important instructions and requirements of the transportation power and shipping power, and promoted the comprehensive leap of the energy level of Shanghai International Shipping Center at the new starting point of the annual container throughput of Shanghai Port exceeding 50 million TEUs and ranking first in the world for 15 consecutive years.

4. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Digital Transformation Promotion Center was established

Under the guidance and support of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Xiong'an New Area jointly established the "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Digital Transformation Promotion Center", and operated the "New Version of the Public Service Platform for the Integration of Industrialization", and released the "Data Map of Digital Transformation of China's Manufacturing Industry [2024]" and "One Map and Four Lists" for the Digital Transformation of the Iron and Steel Industry. The "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Digital Transformation Promotion Center" is an important platform to further promote the construction and digital transformation of digital cities. With the goal of "serving Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and radiating the digital transformation of the whole country", the center provides digital transformation public services, builds a digital transformation ecosystem, and builds a digital transformation exchange platform. The "Public Service Platform for the Integration of Industrialization" is a professional service platform that comprehensively assists enterprises in the integration and digital transformation of industrialization, and has served more than 350,000 enterprises. The new revision and blockbuster release of the "public service platform for the integration of industrialization" will realize the comprehensive upgrade of the service model, service resources and service capabilities of the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry.

5. CATL chocolate battery swap station landed in Chongqing, and it is expected that 57 stations will be built in 2025

CATL chocolate battery swap station landed in Chongqing, and the operation of 16 battery swap stations will be completed by the end of this year, and 57 stations are expected to be built in Chongqing by 2025. On December 18, CATL announced that it planed to build 1,000 chocolate battery swap stations by 2025 covering Hong Kong and Macao. In the medium term, it would build 10,000 stations with various partners, and the final scale would reach 30,000 stations.

International News

1. New York natural gas futures rose more than 14% this week

NYMEX January natural gas futures closed up more than 4.57% at $3.7480/MMBtu, up 14.27% for the week. NYMEX January gasoline futures closed at $1.9416 and NYMEX January heating oil futures closed at $2.2317 a gallon.

2. Ukrainian Prime Minister: Ukraine will stop transshipment of Russian gas on January 1, 2025

Speaking at the Verkhovna Rada (parliament), Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmygal said that Ukraine plans to stop transiting Russian gas through its gas transportation system to Europe from 7 a.m. on January 1, 2025. However, Shmygal also said that if the European Commission requests it and meets a series of legal and technical conditions, it does not rule out the possibility of continuing gas deliveries from Russia to Europe through Ukraine.

3. The Fed's favoured indicator shows that price pressures are slowing and expectations of interest rate cuts in 2025 are rising

The Fed's favored inflation index was modest in November, a step in the right direction for policymakers in their quest for further rate cuts in 2025. The data should help ease Fed officials' concerns about the inflation outlook. Federal Reserve officials released their latest projections this week, showing that prices and interest rates will be higher in 2025. These new forecasts sparked a sell-off in U.S. stocks as investors priced in expectations of tighter policy. The details on prices show a general slowdown in inflation. Prices for core services (a closely watched category that excludes housing and energy) rose 0.2% month-on-month, the lowest since August. Core commodity prices, excluding food and energy, fell for the first time in three months.

4. Canada's retail sales were flat in November, and wholesale trade is now showing signs of retreat

Estimates of retail revenue showed that retail sales were flat in November, according to Statistics Canada. The statistics bureau did not provide details of November's data, which was based on feedback from just over half of the retailers surveyed. Preliminary estimates for wholesale trade showed that sales would fall by 0.7% in November, following a 1.0% increase in the previous month. In recent months, a series of interest rate cuts by the Bank of Canada have helped boost household spending, offsetting weakness in business investment and exports. The tax holiday on the sale of prepared foods and other certain goods is expected to temporarily boost consumption from December to February.

5. The U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass an emergency appropriations bill to prevent a government shutdown

On December 20, local time, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 366 in favor and 34 against to pass the emergency appropriations bill to prevent the government from "shutting down". The new bill will continue to fund the U.S. government's operations until March next year, so as to avoid a "shutdown" of some federal government agencies after 0:00 EST on the 21st. The next step of the bill will be to vote in the Senate, and if it passes, it will go to President Joe Biden to sign it into effect. It is reported that the latest bill is almost the same as the bill that failed to pass on the 19th, but the part about the debt ceiling was removed, leaving three main parts: a short-term extension of government spending, billions of dollars in disaster relief funds, and additional assistance to farmers.

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