Meanwhile, natural gas in Europe starts to rise again but remains below the levels prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Gas was at € 87.5 on February 23, the day before the invasion. Prices then shot up to over 210 euros per megawatt hour in the following days. “While the TTF drops to a three-month low because stocks are aligning with the average seasonal values - comment the analysts of Mps Capital Services – in the US the future is on the rise since, on the contrary, stocks are low and a ‘ heat wave is hitting California, helping to increase the demand for air conditioners ”.
Tokyo closes down, SMEs and Covid weigh in China
Il NIKKEI 225 Tokyo closed down, reflecting weak data on domestic manufacturing activity linked to the May Jinbun SME Index and fears related to the consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic in China. At the end of trading, the Nikkei index of leading stocks lost 0.94% to 26,748.14 points. The broader Topix index also hurt, ending the session with a drop of 0.86% to 1,878.26 points.
Other partial production stoppages for Toyota
Japanese carmaker Toyota announced further partial production interruptions in Japan between the end of May and the beginning of June linked to the continuation of the lockdown in corso a Shanghai due to the resurgence of the Covid-19 epidemic in China. Specifically, Toyota will suspend 16 production lines at 10 of its 14 factories in Japan for one to five days. “The shortage of semiconductors, the spread of Covid-19 and other factors make it difficult to project forward, but we will continue to make every effort to deliver as many vehicles as possible to our customers as soon as possible,” assured the automotive group. Japanese .
The appointments of Tuesday 24 May
Today, one of the main macroeconomic events is the dissemination of the first estimate of SME indices for May for the manufacturing sector and for the services sector of the Euro Area, with the detail of France and Germany.
The World Economic Forum of Davoswhere Kristalina Georgieva, director general of the International Monetary Fund, did not rule out a recession.
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