East Asian stainless steel prices maintained their upward trend over the past week amid gains in China's domestic market and costlier nickel.Metal Bulletin's assessment of prices for benchmark 304 stainless 2mm cold-rolled coil was $2,150-2,200 per tonne cif East Asian ports for the week ended Wednesday January 3, tightening upward by $50 per tonne from $2,100-2,200 per tonne a week earlier.Metal...Read More
The Chinese government has finished issuing the first two rounds of solid waste import licenses for 2018, with copper scrap import license numbers and tonnages both more than 94% lower. The first round of licenses was granted in late December 2017, with the second round granted this week - all for imports delivered in 2018. According to official files obtained by Metal Bulletin, copper scrap (HS c...Read More
Indian import scrap market participants will start 2018 optimistic that prices will be supported by both a rise in domestic finished steel demand and a more favorable regulatory environment. The market suffered a gloomy 2017, with mills largely priced out of import scrap markets and sellers increasingly turning to consumers in Bangladesh and Pakistan instead, but some market participants were...Read More
China is expected to increase its imports of zinc concentrates this year amid rising supply and idle domestic smelting capacity, Metal Bulletin has learned."Global zinc concentrates output is expected to rise this year and China has plenty of [idle] smelting capacity as operating rates last year were not high," one trader pointed out. Global mined zinc production is expected to...Read More
When it comes to market sentiment, many traders believe their focus should be on now rather than later. It seems the overwhelming majority believe in focusing on data and events which are influencing markets currently, rather than focusing on future events. At least this sentiment appears standard as far as the Federal Reserve is concerned.Gold has been in a distinct and pronounced rally since the...Read More
(Kitco News) - News that billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund bought “hundreds of millions of dollars” in cryptos, boosted bitcoin’s deflating price levels on Wednesday.Thiel’s fund purchased somewhere between $15 million to $20 million worth of digital currencies since mid-2017, the Wall Street Journal reported.Following the news, bitcoin prices surge...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices were moderately lower and hit new daily lows in early afternoon action Wednesday, in the wake of a hawkish FOMC minutes report. Some normal profit taking by the shorter-term futures traders was featured, after recent good gains in gold and silver. The markets in earlier U.S. trading were in pause modes after gold hit a 3.5-month high overnight. Silver prices scored a fiv...Read More
(Kitco News) - The gold market has pushed into negative territory in late-afternoon activity after the minutes of the December Federal Open Market Committee meeting revealed ongoing concerns over low inflation pressures.While the majority of participants supported a rate hike in December, the minutes showed a growing divide within the committee and frustration over the mystery of low inflation. Th...Read More
Editor's Note: View Kitco News' full 2018 outlook coverage(Kitco News) - Gold’s performance since the last Federal Reserve rate hike in December has been impressive and Bloomberg Intelligence forecasts the rally to continue, with the precious metal looking to beat bitcoin and the U.S. dollar in 2018.“The only currency not subject to parabolic supply increases - gold - should continue t...Read More
Exchange operator CME Group reports that average daily volume in metals markets increased 23% to a record 568,000 contracts during 2017. This far exceeded the average daily volume for all CME markets combined, which was up 4% from 2016 to hit a record 16.3 million contracts. Gains in average daily volume for other markets included interest rates, 9%; foreign exchange, 7%; energy, 6%; and agri...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold moved to our short-term target of $1,322 overnight but a slightly stronger tone to the dollar brought fresh selling into the metals complex. Gold appears overextended in the short term and is trying to consolidate but requires a break above the $1,322 level to generate further momentum. There is support at the $1,311 spot level but a break through here would bring a test of the...Read More
Editor's Note: Welcome to Kitco's new Bitcoin Daily Technical Alert. Every trading day veteran Kitco technical analyst Jim Wyckoff will provide you with a concise and easy-to-understand near-term technical brief on Bitcoin. Importantly, Jim will glean the short-term charts and technical studies, and then alert you to the signals he sees regarding upcoming potential bigger price moves or price tren...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close on Wednesday January 3, with lead the only metal to finish the day in positive territory. "Lead put in a steady performance while the rest of the metals faltered, underpinned by a positive fundamental picture and tighter LME conditions," Sucden Financial said. "With FOMC minutes from the December meeting due for release...Read More
In a holiday-dominated period, global copper premiums were unchanged in the three major regions over the past week. US premiums were flat once again with the end of mating season and holiday season squashing interest. Outside of Italian premiums, European spot markets were similar to that in the United States. Shanghai premiums were unchanged with Chinese investors on an extended holi...Read More
Zinc and lead concentrate treatment charges (TCs) were little changed throughout December despite Glencore's decision to restart production at its Lady Loretta mine in Australia in 2018.Glencore will add 100,000 tonnes of zinc - or roughly 200,000-220,000 tonnes of zinc concentrates - to the market in 2018 via the restart at Lady Loretta and will subsequently ramp up another 60,000 tonnes per year...Read More
The latest ferro-tungsten and ammonium paratungstate (APT) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe, Vietnam and China. Blue tungsten oxide (BTO) and yellow tungsten oxide (YTO) deals are taken into consideration.The latest ferro-tungsten and ammonium paratungstate (APT) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe, Vietnam and China. Blue tungsten oxide (BTO) and yellow tungst...Read More
The latest ferro-vanadium and vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe.The latest ferro-vanadium and vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe.To view the latest price quotations, follow the links below:Europe- Ferro-vanadium delivered duty-paid in Europe- Vanadium pentoxide in-warehouse RotterdamChina- Ferro-vanadium, 78%...Read More
The latest ferro-tungsten and ammonium paratungstate (APT) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe, Vietnam and China. Blue tungsten oxide (BTO) and yellow tungsten oxide (YTO) deals are taken into consideration.The latest ferro-tungsten and ammonium paratungstate (APT) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe, Vietnam and China. Blue tungsten oxide (BTO) and yellow tungst...Read More
The latest ferro-vanadium and vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe.The latest ferro-vanadium and vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe.To view the latest price quotations, follow the links below:Europe- Ferro-vanadium delivered duty-paid in Europe- Vanadium pentoxide in-warehouse RotterdamChina- Ferro-vanadium, 78%...Read More
Zinc and lead concentrate treatment charges (TCs) were little changed throughout December despite Glencore's decision to restart production at its Lady Loretta mine in Australia in 2018.Glencore will add 100,000 tonnes of zinc - or roughly 200,000-220,000 tonnes of zinc concentrates - to the market in 2018 via the restart at Lady Loretta and will subsequently ramp up another 60,000 tonnes per year...Read More