China NDRC Data Has Multiple Issues: Morgan Stanley

Thanks to the annual delay in 1Q demand statistics out of China, the markets are turning to National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) data, which is of little use as a demand indicator, note Morgan Stanley analysts. Iris Yao and team point out in their report titled “Weaker USD Tailwind may be Muted” that the details of the U.S. January oil production data are not bullish.

Plethora of negative oil-specific sentiments

Yao and colleagues point out that the Fed changing its reaction function to include international factors and that global growth indicators likely mean lower rates for longer, keeping the USD offered for now. The analysts point out that though they have long seen USD weakness as a bullish oil risk, there could...