Gold has big year in 2020 and outlook for this year robust. Learn about monetary expansion and gold future prices.Read More

The gold futures price reached US$1,767/ounce this week before retreating, which was the second time it has surpassed US$1,760 in the past two months, marking some of gold's highest levels in several years.Read More

The rise in bulk freight rates, especially from Asia, has dramatically boosted seaborne steel prices and disrupted South American foreign trade, market participants told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday February 25.Trader sources have reported a material decrease in vessel availability, especially in China, that led to some steel mills cancelling their offers to the continent. Shipping companie...Read More

The price of aluminium showed a 2.3% rise and held close to its new 2021 high of $2,243 per tonne during trading on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday February 25.The price of nickel was the only one among the base-metals complex to close lower day on day at the 5pm close, being down by 2.6%.Aluminium's three-month price was up to $2,235 per tonne at the close, from Wednesday's 5pm price of $2,...Read More

Attention in the metals markets shifted this week fromsilver to copper and platinum. While big moves in silver and gold prices maybe coming down the road, the monetary metals are currently taking a back seatto electrical and automotive metals.A massive push by the Biden administration to replacegasoline vehicles with electric vehicles is helping to crank up demand forcopper. Anything involving ele...Read More

The seaborne premium low-volatility hard coking coal fob price slumped dramatically on Thursday February 25, with the latest transaction sealed at $126 per tonne fob Australia. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $127 per tonne, down $11.93 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $219.04 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $130.07 per tonne, up $0.50 per ton...Read More

Tesla has supported the price of Bitcoin, but it can affect gold as well.The bull market in cryptocurrencies continues. As you can see in the chart below, the price of Bitcoin has recently increased to almost $47,000 (as of February 10). The parabolic rise seems to be disturbing, as such quick rallies often end abruptly. However, it’s worth noting that the price of Bitcoin has partially jump...Read More

Iron ore prices mostly increased on Thursday February 25, supported by healthy mill margins and expectations of a steady rise in demand for steel, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $174.24 per tonne, up $1.53 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $174.70 per tonne, up $1.59 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $160.06 per t...Read More

The average energy investor is by now well aware of the sector's monumental shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Coal-powered power plants have been shuttering at an alarming clip as the price of electricity from natural gas and renewables undercuts them while wind and solar generation continue to gain the ascendancy.But nowhere has this change been as dramatic as the transport industry, w...Read More

The world is awash in debt, an immense, unfathomable ocean of financial obligations. The stack of IOUs is so enormous, the balances so large, they will never be fully settled without dreadful consequences to the global economy. This tsunami of debt was unleashed in 1971, when Nixon ended the backing of the US dollar with gold.Since 1971, US debt and gold price have increased greatly. Traditionally...Read More

If you were not paying attention, Platinum began to rally much higher over the past 3+ days – initiating a new breakout rally and pushing well above the $1250 level.  What you may not have noticed with this breakout move is that commodities are hot – and inflation is starting to heat up.  What does that mean for investors/traders?Daily Platinum Chart Shows Clear Breakout Tren...Read More

There are many, many elephants in the room, actually...(by Half Dollar) There are many elephants in the room when it comes to the silver ETFs.First and foremost, the Silver Squeezers have taken to Wall Street to "break the chains of manipulation", for lack of a better term, but quite frankly, how in the heck does one end the manipulation when one is simply handing over dollars to the rigged casino...Read More

Peter Krauth, editor of Gold Resource Investor, explains why corporate America is beginning to see gold as a necessary reserve asset. Yellen is Treasury Secretary. Powell is Fed Chair. And Sanders is head of the Senate Budget Committee. Most of the time, it's impossible to tell the future. But there are exceptions. Right now, there's no room left to read between the lines. The goals, and outcome,...Read More

Silver futures prices at such low levels versus physical prices are unsustainable. This gap will undoubtedly close. That will happen with...by Peter Krauth via Streetwise ReportsMany don't realize, but silver is considered to have been the first metal to serve as currency.Could silver one day regain its role as money? Perhaps. It's widely accepted that gold was used as money by Lydian merchants ar...Read More

Gold and silver aren’t the only viableplays in the metals space – and they aren’t currently the leaders.On Wednesday, both copperand platinum rallied up to multi-year highs. Rhodium, meanwhile, currentlycommands $21,000 per ounce – yes, per ounce – making it one of the mostvaluable elements on the planet.What’s driving these“energy” metals? Besides o...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese export prices for seamless oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and linepipe barely moved in February 2021, after rallying in January, because the holidays to celebrate the Lunar New Year curbed market activity sharply.With the holiday now ended, we have seen some sharp jumps in round billet prices and we expect there to...Read More

After a frenzy of Reddit inducedactivity that captivated everyone, silver painfully gave back what it gained.What’s next for the white metal?As the precious metals’ version of moralhazard, silver tipped over the flowerpot, and left gold to clean up the mess.After silver’s short squeeze mania ended in tears on Feb. 2, the white metalgave back 97% of its squeeze -induced gains. Con...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US hot-rolled coil prices moved in line with our forecasts in January, with actual prices modestly exceeding our forecasts for the month. Fastmarkets' US HRC index averaged $1,099 per ton in January, slightly above our forecast price of $1,075 per ton for the month. W...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The uptrend in European flat steel prices continued in January 2021 as expected, with the prices for hot-rolled coil in the North and South of the region averaging ?,?698 and ?,?686 ($840 and $826) per tonne respectively, within 1% of the Fastmarkets research forecasts.With European HRC prices climbing to their highest level...Read More

Stocks keep cooling off at their highs, and calling for acorrection still seems to be many a fool‘s errand. Does it mean all is fine inthe S&P 500 land? Largely, it still is. Such were my yesterday‘s words: (…) It‘s still strong the stock market bull, and standingin its way isn‘t really advisable. With the S&P 500 at new highs, and theanticipated slowdown in...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The conequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on energy demand affected oil and gas prices through much of 2020 and weighed on drilling rates and demand for oil-country tubular goods (OCTG) in most regions.These effects were most likely to continue well into 2021 and perhaps longer, according to Fastmarkets OCTG Intelligence Serv...Read More

Peter Krauth, editor of Silver Stock Investor, explains why he believes silver's movements this past week were just a small taste of its opening act.TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK.That's the message most hopeful physical silver buyers have been getting since the last days of January. Odds are bullion dealers going to have a tough time keeping any silver in stock.Everyone is buying, and no one is selling...Read More