Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe moved up further on Wednesday May 5, with high feedstock costs and a lack of material choking the market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?1,120-1,190 per tonne ($1,347-1,4301) on May 5, up from ?,?1,070-1,120 per tonne on April 28."The Italians are having probl...Read More

Before going into detail regarding my latest research and cycle phases, I want you to think of these cycle phases as Advancing and Declining cycle trends.  They act as a “build-up of trend”, then an “unwinding of trend”.  In each instance, trends can be either Bullish, Bearish, or Neutral in nature.  My research team and I believe a new Bullish Cycle Phase ha...Read More

The USD Index let out a roar heardacross all markets. The king of the financial jungle arrived, along with thegreenback’s largest single-day gain.Just as the African landscape sometimesneeds to show the strongest of its inhabitants, so does the less remote butequally ferocious financial environment. This time, the USDX seems to have wonthe fight – its fangs and claws turned out to be t...Read More

Brazil's vehicle production recovered in April from the same month of 2020 when plants had to close due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the country's automaker association, Anfavea, saidBut output declined from March, it said on Friday May 7.Domestic vehicle production totaled 190,907 units last month, a huge rebound from 1,847 units in April 2020. Compared with the 200,340 units produced in March this...Read More

As President Joe Biden pushed massive new spendinginitiatives in his address before Congress, investors shrugged off risinginflation risk. They pushed the S&P 500 up to a new record close onThursday.Gold,meanwhile, continues to be capped under the $1,800 level – at least for thetime being.  Silver shows a slight weeklygain and trades a little over $26 per ounce. As trading closes ou...Read More

European steel association Eurofer believes that apparent steel consumption in the EU will increase by 11.7% year-on-year in 2021, it said on Thursday May 6.The association also forecast a more moderate rise of 4.9% year-on-year in 2022, to return "above 2017 levels thanks to continued improvement in demand from steel-using sectors."As a result, EU apparent steel consumption was expected to reach...Read More

Gold started its decline withoutanyone’s assistance. And when the USDX takes off, that downhill tumble can onlyincrease.The USDX declines and the precious metalssit by idly, twiddling their thumbs. If they had the strength that’s beingtalked about, they should be soaring by now, or getting ready to. So, what’stheir problem?In the previous days, I discussed thesignals coming from...Read More

China's new tax regime for ferrous raw materials and steel exports will kick off a new era for the steel sector, one in which demand and supply will become more balanced and the country cuts its dependency on iron ore at a faster pace. Chinese authorities announced last week that, from May 1, import duties for metallics and semi-finished steel would be removed and that export duties for raw materi...Read More

German steel companies Thyssenkrupp Steel and H? 1/4 ttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) and the Port of Rotterdam Authority are to jointly investigate setting up international supply chains for hydrogen. Thyssenkrupp Steel and HKM will require large and increasing quantities of hydrogen to produce steel without coal as part of their transformation paths towards climate-neutral steelmaking. Both comp...Read More

The Fed left its monetary policy unchanged. However, the lack of any action amid economic recovery is dovish – good news for gold.On Wednesday (Apr. 28), the FOMC has published its newest statement on monetary policy . The statement wasn’t significantly altered. The main change is that the Fed has noticed the progress on vaccinations and strong policy support, and that, in consequence,...Read More

As competition in the global steel markets remains fierce, Fastmarkets provides an update on the new, progressing and closed trade cases from around the world in April 2021.The case list below includes only updates. For other continuing cases this year, see the updates for January, February and...Read More

Trafigura is in talks with Cliveden Trading to acquire copper purchase and sale contracts from the Zug-based trading house, sources with knowledge of the matter told Fastmarkets.Talks were held between the two companies this week, with Trafigura potentially taking on a portion of Cliveden's copper book, subject to conditions, two sources who declined to be named because the discussions were confid...Read More

Althoughwe tend to focus more on the fundamentals here at Money Metals, thetechnical indicators can offer important insights. Such as right now.Manytraders, investors, andmomentum players will closely examine the market trend to determine if and whento enter or exit the market.Amarket with a strong technical foundation can launch to dizzying heights, whilea market displaying weak technicals will h...Read More

High primary aluminium prices and premiums in Europe prevented market participants there from achieving a higher low-carbon aluminium differential throughout April, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 7.Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium low-carbon differential value-added product (VAP), Europe at $10-15 per tonne Friday May 7, flat compared to the last assessment on April 1.Offers as high as $...Read More

Pig iron import prices in the United States increased during the week to Friday May 7, following the uptrend in the global market.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $620-635 per tonne on Friday, up from $585-595 per tonne the previous week.A cargo of Brazil-origin pig iron with 0.12% phosphorus content was bought at about $630-635 per tonne cfr for Augu...Read More

If you're still waiting to buy physical silver to start a stash, you're now playing financial Russian Roulette... with fourrounds in the cylinder.The chat rooms talk about buying silver andgold when they decline in price. "If silver goesdown to 22, I'm all in!" "When these 'excessive' premiums drop a fewdollars, I'm backing up the truck."1) Emotion and Sentiment Believe it or n...Read More

Peter Krauth of Silver Stock Investor discusses silver's rise and what may lie ahead.Spot silver is trading around $26 per ounce…but you can't buy any at that price.Instead, you'll have to pay almost 50% more.That's right. If you want silver right now, you'll need to pay at least $35 per ounce.If you prefer government mint coins, and you're willing to wait a month to get them, you'll have t...Read More

Prices for inter-merchant light iron scrap in the UK increased over the week ended Friday May 7, extending a general rally since late March, sources have told Fastmarkets.The market was likely to move higher, they added, given strong business conditions for European scrap exports into Turkey and the Indian subcontinent.UK monthly deliveries into domestic consumers in May were likely to be settled...Read More

Indicators are pointing to gold andmining ETFs running out of breath. They don’t seem to have what it takes to themove to the finish line.Despite gold, silver and mining stocks’recent corrective upswings, the precious metals are running out of steam. Afterbursting off of the lows – while failing to recognize that it’s a marathon andnot a sprint – the precious metals&r...Read More

GOOD NEWS… The rebound in gold prices from their recent low has awakened new fervor among those looking for the elusive moonshot. The ‘obvious’ signs of much higher inflation have emboldened those who are inclined to predict ever higher gold prices.Contrastingly, the chart of GLD prices pictured below doesn’t look all that great… At this point, a further one-...Read More