U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 1 point in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the February Durable Goods Orders report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus called for a drop of 2.1% versus a gain of 0.3% in January. Actual was a drop of 1.6%. Excluding transportation orders, February Durable Goods Orders were expected...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday March 29 that are worth another look.A cargo of 30,000 tonnes of Chinese-origin alumina has been sold at 2,810 yuan ($417.10) per tonne fob Yantai port to Glencore in recent days, a source familiar with the matter told Fastmarkets on Friday March 29. The cargo has been loaded and was approaching Yantai port in northeast of China...Read More
The global steel billet markets started to give negative signals, with prices in the major regions falling or just holding steady on softer demand during the working week from Monday March 25 to Friday March 29.A very slight recovery was seen in Turkey's export and domestic markets, but demand in Southeast Asia and the rest of the Middle East was still limited.CIS, Turkey, EgyptTrading activity in...Read More
Vale expects the various production restrictions that emerged in the last couple of months to affect its iron ore pellet output by 11 million tonnes per year, its chief financial officer Luciano Siani says.The Brazilian miner - the world's largest iron ore producer - has halted the pelletizing units at its F??brica and Vargem Grande iron ore facilities in the country's southeastern Minas Gerais st...Read More
The global steel billet markets started to give negative signals, with prices in the major regions falling or just holding steady on softer demand during the working week from Monday March 25 to Friday March 29.A very slight recovery was seen in Turkey's export and domestic markets, but demand in Southeast Asia and the rest of the Middle East was still limited.CIS, Turkey, EgyptTrading activity in...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday March 29 that are worth another look.A cargo of 30,000 tonnes of Chinese-origin alumina has been sold at 2,810 yuan ($417.10) per tonne fob Yantai port to Glencore in recent days, a source familiar with the matter told Fastmarkets on Friday March 29. The cargo has been loaded and was approaching Yantai port in northeast of China...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday March 29 that are worth another look.A cargo of 30,000 tonnes of Chinese-origin alumina has been sold at 2,810 yuan ($417.10) per tonne fob Yantai port to Glencore in recent days, a source familiar with the matter told Fastmarkets on Friday March 29. The cargo has been loaded and was approaching Yantai port in northeast of China...Read More
Better Chinese manufacturing data has surprised the market and boosted three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange by an average of 1% this morning, Monday April 1. Nickel led the way with a 2.2% gain to $13,285 per tonne, up from Friday’s close at $12,995 per tonne, while tin was the laggard with a 0.4% gain. Aluminium, zinc and lead were all up by 0.9%, while copper was...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 5 00 futures were up 20 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures responded to news that the China Caixin March Manufacturing PMI increased to 50.8 versus consensus at 49.9. An Index above 50 implies GDP growth at an increasing rate. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.6%.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of Febr...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Base metals price on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the close of trading on Friday March 29, with copper and zinc outperforming.Despite continued strength in the US dollar, risk appetite has improved.The three-month copper price closed almost 2% higher while volumes exceeded 20,000 lots. The metal's on-warrant stock count has recovered slightly over March after reaching its l...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has proposed an enhancement of its warehouse stock reporting model in a bid to garner further transparency against a recent tide of inordinate stock moves, it said in its latest warehousing discussion paper released on Friday March 29. In accordance with the LME's warehousing committee, the bourse has unveiled nine warehouse proposals to counter the expansion of ware...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ended Friday March 29. China China's domestic ferro-chrome spot price softened after some suppliers dropped their offer prices to encourage sales after noticing that stainless steel mills were reluctant to accept prices higher than their April tender prices. The imported charge chrome...Read More
A cargo of 30,000 tonnes of Chinese-origin alumina has been sold at 2,810 yuan ($417.10) per tonne fob Yantai port to Glencore in recent days, a source familiar with the matter told Fastmarkets on Friday March 29. The price is equivalent to around 2,560 yuan per tonne ex-works, taking into account nearly 250 yuan per tonne for freight to Yantai port and other costs. This is 3.8% or 100 yuan per to...Read More
Miner MMG has declared force majeure on copper concentrate supply contracts from the Las Bambas mine in Peru.Two customers due to receive tonnages said they had been told by offtake partners they would not be receiving material as contracted. "We got...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
Global scrap prices mostly fell in the week from Monday March 25 to Friday March 29, with only prices for exports from the United States rising on steady demand from the key import market of Turkey. Turkish steel producers buy mid-week Turkish demand supports US ferrous scrap export prices Weaker downstream markets hold back Vietnam ferrous scrap prices Taiwanese prices fall on lower bids India pr...Read More
Chrome steel prices in the UK edged higher in the week ended Friday March 29 on an increase in the quarterly European ferro-chrome benchmark price, Fastmarkets has learnt.The price of steel scrap solids with a chromium content of 12-13% was assessed by Fastmarkets on March 29 at ?190-230 ( ?249-302) per tonne delivered, widening upward by ?10 per tonne. This was the first change in the assessmen...Read More