U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 11 points in pre-opening trade. Strength was prompted by a 2.39% gain by the Shanghai Composite Index to 3.253.60. Several North American equity indices are testing their all-time highs this morning. All-time highs are 2,940.91 for the S&P 500 Index, 8,133.30 for the NASDAQ Composite Index, 7,700.56 for the NASDAQ...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday April 12 that are worth another look.Sentiment was unusually bearish at this year's Cesco week in Santiago, Chile, with copper market participants increasingly concerned that sluggish demand in China will limit the upside potential of the red metal price. Steel market participants in the United Kingdom and Europe renewe...Read More
Billet prices in the major global markets continued to soften over the week ended Friday April 12 due to the lack of demand and the continuing falls in the price of scrap, notably in Turkey.The exception to this was the Chinese market, where active demand from re-rolling mills resulted in reduced billet inventories, pushing prices upward.The spot inventory was 577,000 tonnes on Thursday in Tangsha...Read More
Billet prices in the major global markets continued to soften over the week ended Friday April 12 due to the lack of demand and the continuing falls in the price of scrap, notably in Turkey.The exception to this was the Chinese market, where active demand from re-rolling mills resulted in reduced billet inventories, pushing prices upward.The spot inventory was 577,000 tonnes on Thursday in Tangsha...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday April 12 that are worth another look.Sentiment was unusually bearish at this year's Cesco week in Santiago, Chile, with copper market participants increasingly concerned that sluggish demand in China will limit the upside potential of the red metal price. Steel market participants in the United Kingdom and Europe renewe...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday April 12 that are worth another look.Sentiment was unusually bearish at this year's Cesco week in Santiago, Chile, with copper market participants increasingly concerned that sluggish demand in China will limit the upside potential of the red metal price. Steel market participants in the United Kingdom and Europe renewe...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were unchanged in pre-opening trade. Goldman Sachs (GS $207.84) was virtually unchanged after reporting higher than consensus first quarter earnings. The company also raised its dividend. Citigroup added $0.25 to $67.42 after reporting higher than consensus first quarter earnings. Wells Fargo dropped $0.71 to $45.78 after Goldm...Read More
Aluminium foundry premiums in Western Europe and the United States continued to slide on Friday April 12 following sustained concerns about the automotive industry. The premium for silicon 7 aluminium wheel alloys over London Metal Exchange cash prices delivered to the Ruhr region with 30-day payment terms was assessed Friday at $340-360 per tonne. The premium is down more than 17.6% year on year....Read More
Aluminium billet premiums worldwide were mostly static on Friday April 12, although the premium in Brazil bucked the trend in moving to its highest level since June 15 of last year. ?EUR? Spanish premium drops below $400 per tonne ?EUR? Brazilian market pushes higher on more offers?EUR? US spot market remains quiet?EUR? Asia quiet ahead of holidaysEurope mostly quiet; Spain continues to fallThe pr...Read More
The three-month zinc price on the London Metal Exchange moved above $2,900 per tonne at the close of trading on Friday April 12, while volumes traded reached their highest level since March 15 at 12,000 lots exchanged.Price action in zinc has been volatile so far in April, reaching a monthly high of $2,938 per tonne on April 8 before dipping to a low of $2,852 per tonne on April 9. LME stocks rema...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
UG2 chrome ore prices broke a seven-week upward trend on Friday April 5 due to weaker demand after consumers cited sufficient stock, while alloy prices in the United States weakened and were subdued in Europe. UG2 prices slip $1 per tonne, Turkish pump stabilizesAlloy prices steady in Japan, South KoreaAlloy prices hold on Chinese public holidayAlloy prices drop in Europe UG2 chrome ore prices we...Read More
Antofagasta will not make an investment decision on building a new concentrator at its Centinela operations in Chile until at least 2021, the company's chief executive officer has said.The company recently decided to advance the studies on a second concentrator rather than expanding its existing operations, following a detailed evaluation of the two alternatives."We wouldn't make the decision befo...Read More
Brazilian bauxite exports increased by 33.2% year on year in the first quarter of 2019, while alumina shipments decreased by 27.4% over the same comparison, data from the country's foreign trade ministry, MDIC, showed.Brazil's bauxite exports totaled 2.1 million tonnes in the three months ended March 31, up from the 1.57 million tonnes shipped in the same period a year earlier.Most of the material...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
Aluminium foundry premiums in Western Europe and the United States continued to slide on Friday April 12 following sustained concerns about the automotive industry. The premium for silicon 7 aluminium wheel alloys over London Metal Exchange cash prices delivered to the Ruhr region with 30-day payment terms was assessed Friday at $340-360 per tonne. The premium is down more than 17.6% year on year....Read More
Global ferrous scrap prices were on a downward trend this week due to thin demand from steel mills, which expected spot prices to continue to fall in the near term. Spot prices in Vietnam bucked the trend, stable despite limited offers for HMS 1&2 (80:20) materials. Turkey scrap demand limited US ferrous scrap market likely to continue downtrend Kanto Tetsugen tender concludes at ?23,300 ($209) p...Read More
Fastmarkets MB has corrected its aluminium scrap cast and mixed turnings prices in Europe, which were published incorrectly on April 12 due to an error.Fastmarkets MB has corrected its aluminium scrap cast and mixed turnings prices in Europe which were published incorrectly on April 12 due to an error.The European cast aluminium, free market assessment was incorrectly published at ?,?955-975 per t...Read More
Australian miner New Century Resources reported on Thursday April 11 that it had achieved a quarterly increase of more than 50% in its zinc metal production in the form of concentrates from its Century mine during the first quarter of 2019.The miner produced 18,170 tonnes of zinc content in 37,500 tonnes of zinc concentrates during January-March from the mine in the Australian state of Queensland....Read More