[SMM Aluminum Flash News] Joanne Hsu, Director of the University of Michigan’s consumer survey, said that the US consumer sentiment index fell 6 in March, reaching its lowest level since December 2025. Consumer confidence declined across age groups and political affiliations. Middle- and upper-income consumers and those with stock market wealth were affected by continuously rising gasoline prices and volatile financial markets following the Iran conflict, with their confidence posting particularly notable declines. Overall, the short-term economic outlook fell 14, expectations for personal finances over the next year declined 10, while the decline in long-term expectations was relatively mild.

Rising diesel and gasoline prices in Chile are increasing operating costs for copper mining, particularly in transport and heavy equipment usage. Higher fuel costs are putting pressure on margins and project viability.

[Spot Silicon Metal Prices Probe Higher as Market Transactions Remain Stagnant; Polysilicon Price Trend Declines]: On the supply side, production release from silicon metal capacity that resumed production in early March increased total silicon metal supply compared with early March. Recently, there have been scattered production resumptions in Southwest China, but these have not yet become widespread, so their impact on supply growth has been very limited. On the cost side, spot prices of silicon coal and electrodes have remained temporarily stable recently, while petroleum coke prices rose slightly. Coupled with higher gasoline prices, road transport freight rates were raised slightly, providing relatively strong cost support for silicon metal. On the demand side, performance has mainly remained stable recently. During the week, spot silicon metal transactions were stagnant, inventory in the intermediate segment stayed at a high level, and downstream demand was weak, so silicon metal prices had limited room to rise or fall and were mainly range-bound in consolidation.

Silver price (XAG/USD) claws back a majority of its early losses and recovers to near its opening price around $84.00 during the European trading session on Monday.

The Trump administration was weighing a range of options to address soaring oil and gasoline prices during the war with Iran. "All options are on the table," he said in an interview on Thursday, adding that the list included actions that could have an immediate impact, as well as longer-term, more complex choices.

A day after US CPI inflation for May came in below expectations across the board, the overall increase in the US Producer Price Index (PPI) for May, released on Thursday, remained mild, suggesting that tariffs have not yet imposed higher inflationary pressure on consumers and further boosting expectations for a US Fed interest rate cut in September. According to a report issued by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US PPI year-over-year (YoY) rate for May was recorded at 2.6%, in line with market expectations of 2.6%; the US PPI month-over-month (MoM) rate for May was recorded at 0.1%, below the market expectation of 0.2%. Excluding the more volatile food and energy categories, the core PPI for May rose 3.0% YoY, the lowest level since August 2024 and below the expected 3.1%; it increased 0.1% MoM, below the expected 0.3%. The PPI measures inflation from the producer's perspective, reflecting the price conditions of goods purchased during the production process. Changes in the PPI can predict future price movements, making this indicator highly valued by the market. Data showed that wholesale energy prices remained largely unchanged, although gasoline prices rose 1.6% MoM. After a 0.9% decline in April, wholesale food prices rose 0.1% MoM in May. The highly watched price of eggs increased by 1.4%. Since taking office earlier this year, Trump has imposed a baseline tariff of 10% on all trading partners and varying tariffs on steel, aluminum, and automobiles. US importers will pay these taxes and, where possible, pass them on to consumers through price increases. Although the current impact of higher tariffs on the US public is not yet significant, economists point out that price pressures may intensify in the second half of the year as companies attempt to avoid further weakening of profit margins. Stephen Brown, an analyst at Capital Economics, noted that wholesale prices can provide an initial insight into the direction of consumer inflation, as some of its components are used to calculate the Fed's preferred inflation indicator, the PCE data. Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote, "Today's data show that the Fed has no reason to discuss raising interest rates. In fact, if Trump's tariff policies had not been implemented, the Fed might even consider cutting interest rates to stimulate the economy." Meanwhile, another set of data released by the US Department of Labor showed that the number of initial jobless claims for the week ending June 7, seasonally adjusted, remained steady at 248,000, compared with market expectations of 240,000, the highest level since last October. The number of continuing jobless claims jumped to 1.951 million, the highest level since November 2021, indicating that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the unemployed to find new jobs. According to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool, the probability of an interest rate cut in September stood at 80%, up from 70% the previous day.