Wealthion Macro Bites 12/15/25

Korea Zinc said on Monday it plans to build a $7.4B U.S. smelter to produce major non-ferrous metals such as zinc, lead, and copper; precious metals such as gold and silver; and strategic minerals such as antimony, germanium and gallium.  Korea Zinc said the proposed smelter will be developed in a joint venture with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Commerce and U.S. defense companies with U.S. parties investing $1.36B for a 20% stake.

China’s factory output and retail sales grew at their weakest pace in over a year.  Industrial production grew 4.8% y/y (vs. +5% est.) and retail sales grew 1.3% (vs. +2.9% est.).  Fixed asset investment fell 2.6% y/y (vs. -2.3% est.) and property investment declined 15.9% ytd (vs. -15.4% est.). 

The European Union agreed to indefinitely freeze Russian central bank assets, removing the risk that Hungary and Slovakia could refuse to roll over the freeze at some point, forcing the EU to return the money to Russia.  The indefinite asset freeze is meant to help convince Belgium to support the EU’s plan to use the frozen assets to extend loans to Ukraine.  Reuters says the idea is that the loan would be repaid only when Russia pays Kyiv war damages, making the loan effectively a grant that advances future Russian reparation payments.

Data from Cox Automotive estimates 2.2M cars have been repossessed in the U.S. in ’25 ytd (and 3M will be repossessed by ’25 year-end) versus the GFC peak of 1.7M (2009).  78% of Americans commute by car.

Tuesday: November Employment Report (est. payrolls +50k and unemployment rate 4.5%) & Retail Sales (est. +0.1%).

Euro Stoxx 50 +0.45%, S&P futures +0.45% and Nasdaq futures +0.5%.  DXY dollar index -0.15%, spot gold +1.0% and spot silver +3.1%.