Oct 20 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow inched closer to record highs on Wednesday after strong forecasts from healthcare companies Anthem and Abbott, while the Nasdaq lagged as technology stocks took a breather.The Dow Jones Industrials Average (.DJI) was just short of all-time highs reached in mid-August, while the benchmark S&P 500 index (.SPX) traded 0.2% below its early September recor...Read More

Australia-based global miner BHP has raised its offer in a bidding war to acquire prospective Canadian nickel producer Noront Resources.The Toronto-based junior miner recommended to its shareholders in July that they accept BHP's offer, worth at that time C$325 million ($263 million), instead of a competing offer from another Australian miner, Wyloo Metals.Wyloo counteroffered, and BHP raised its...Read More

Share this article VANCOUVER - Valore Metals Corp. [VO-TSXV; KVLQF-OTC] provided an update on 2021 drilling from the Santo Amaro target at the 100%-owned Pedra Branca platinum group element project in northeastern Brazil."Two thousand twenty-one drilling at Santo Amaro has greatly advanced the interpreted geological model for the resource-associated ultramafic package, allowing for more targeted...Read More

Fastmarkets sees upside risk to Chinese graphite prices in the fourth quarter of 2021, largely reflecting rising electricity costs and reduced power supply, as well as insufficient inventories and inadequate availability of feedstock for spherical graphite processing.High power costs and limits on energy consumption in China may make it increasingly difficult for graphite producers to stockpile ma...Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Europe should not see an inflation spiral as a spike in energy prices is expected to fade next year and there is slack in the continent's labor market, the IMF European department chief said on Wednesday."We don't at this stage, expect any inflation spiral in Europe," IMF European Department Director Alfred Kammer told a news briefing. "The high inflation which we are seeing...Read More

Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here! (Kitco News) - Today, Rio Tinto unveiled anew target to reduce its Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions by 50 per cent by2030, more than tripling its previous target. A 15 per cent reduction inemissions is now targeted for 2...Read More

Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here! (Kitco News) - Chile-focused copper miningcompany Antofagasta (ANTO:LSE) reported today that the group's copperproduction for the first nine months of the year (9M 2021) was 542,600 tonnes,0.2% higher than in the sam...Read More

Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here! (Kitco News) - Russia's Nornickel, theworld's largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel and a majorproducer of platinum and copper, announced today that in 9M 2021, its totalnickel output decreased 23% y-o-...Read More

NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday, rebounding from early losses after U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly fell and inventories at the nation's largest storage site hit their lowest level in three years.Brent crude futures rose 26 cents, or 0.3%, to $85.35 a barrel as of 10:48 a.m. EDT (1448 GMT), lingering close to multi-year highs.November U.S. West Texas Intermedia...Read More

Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here! (Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices higherand near their daily highs in early U.S. trading Wednesday. Worries about risinginflation are prompting buying interest in the hard asset metals. Also, thetechnical postu...Read More

Share this article VANCOUVER - Erdene Resource Development Corp. [ERD-TSX; ERDCF-OTC; Mongolia] reported assay results from four holes in the South Ulaan gold discovery expansion drill program in Mongolia. Today's results confirm thick sequences of high-grade gold mineralization continue west of the initial discovery.Drilling expands mineralization at South Ulaan to the west, with multiple thick...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday October 20 that are worth another look.Workers at steelmaker ArcelorMittal's plant in Ghent, Belgium, might go on strike from Thursday next week in a dispute over salaries, Fastmarkets heard on October 20.Trafigura has been drawing...Read More

LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin hovered just below its record highs on Wednesday and the first U.S. bitcoin futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) looked set to open firmer after surging on its debut on Tuesday.The world's leading cryptocurrency was at $64,257 at 1236 GMT, modestly higher on the day and within a short jump of the all-time high of $64,895.22 it hit on April 14 this year.It reached as...Read More

Most investors only dream about a day like May 6, 2020.For a small group of biotech investors, it was the single most profitable day of their lives. You see, a few months prior to that date, a small company by the name of MacroGenics had submitted its Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This wasn't some off-the-shelf generic aspirin, mind you. The...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in northern Europe and Italy continued to slide on Wednesday October 20 due to reduced automotive demand and higher availability of material, sources told Fastmarkets.A bearish mood in the market made buyers cautious about making new purchases, sources said, although demand has started to pick up due to distributor restocking for the first quarter of next year....Read More

(Reuters) - U.S. online holiday spending is expected to grow at its slowest pace in at least eight years, as product shortages, higher prices and lingering pandemic-related uncertainties threaten to put a strain on the shopping season.Adobe Analytics forecast an average 10% growth or $207 billion in online sales in November and December, compared with a record 33% jump in 2020 when people chose to...Read More

Russian steel mills increased their prices for November deliveries of hot-rolled (HR) and cold-rolled (CR) steel sheet in the country's Central District around Moscow on Monday October 18, despite buying interest being cooler with the end of the construction season, Fastmarkets has heard.The good demand and active purchasing by stockists at the end of September, for October deliveries, were now sl...Read More

OTTAWA, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Canada's annual inflation rate accelerated to an 18-year-high in September, driven by rising transportation, shelter and food prices, data showed on Wednesday, putting the focus on the Bank of Canada ahead of a rate decision next week.Inflation increased to 4.4% in September, beating the average analyst estimate of 4.3%, to reach its fastest clip since February 2003, Sta...Read More

(Reuters) - Nasdaq Inc on Wednesday reported a third-quarter profit that topped Wall Street estimates, helped by strong demand for its investment-related products and a jump in the number of initial public offerings.While the transatlantic exchange operator is best known for its bourses, Nasdaq has tried to push into the anti-money laundering software sector and reposition itself as a leading fina...Read More

Domestic and imported steel reinforcing bar prices in the United States were sideways on Wednesday October 20, but sources noted growing uncertainty around what the rest of the quarter may look like.Fastmarkets' assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US was $49.25 per hundredweight ($985 per short ton) on October 20, unchanged since August 11 at its highest since late 2008. Notably...Read More