It’s all connected. The Eurozone’sunderperformance boosts the USD, thus placing pressure on gold and the ETFs.So, which ETFs will suffer most?A large part of yesterday’sfree version of the analysis focused on the Eurozone’s economicoutlook and how it affects the precious metals. We’ll eventually get to Europeagain later in today’s analysis, but let’s first...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.In both Europe and the United States, the prices of most flat steel products have pushed to record highs in the weeks to Monday March 22. They remain slightly below their mid-2008 peaks in China, but are at multi-year highs there too.This illustrates in part the heavier consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic for steelmakers in...Read More
Dear Reader,You come to our website looking for market answers.Well, with the help of our friends at Elliott Wave International, we are happy to offer you a new, free opportunity to see what's likely next for cotton, soybeans and crude oil -- for the entire 2021. EWI is the world's largest independent market-forecasting firm. Every year, their Chief Commodity Analyst Jeffrey Kennedy records an in-...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese seamless linepipe prices have jumped by $120 per tonne over the past month because of rising costs. With iron ore prices remaining elevated, scrap costs on the rise, and activity at steel mills curbed by environmental measures, steel billet has become difficult to source, bolstering the prices for seamless linep...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 continued to move in line with our forecasts in February, although actual prices again modestly exceeded our forecasts. Domestic HRC prices averaged $1,194 per ton in February, exceeding our forecast price of $1,150 per ton for the month. U...Read More
Forget gold and silver for a moment.Do you hear the music? Yes, it’s coming from the mining ETFs club. But how longwill the party last?And more importantly, why miners, you mayask? Because miners tend to outperform in the early days of a major rally.Afterclosing only $0.10 below myinitial downside target of $31 on Mar. 1 , the GDX ETF could be ripe for an upward revision. Able to ignore much...Read More
The conclusion of various holiday seasons, the end of winter, the progress of Covid-19 vaccination programs, and the will to return to more normal ways of life were all strong positives for the global long steel products market, the International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association (Irepas) said last week.The current situation and sentiment were generally very good in the world's long steel ma...Read More
Stocks sharply reversed intraday, and closed just wherethey opened the prior Friday. That indicates quite some pressures, quite somesearching for direction in this correction that isn‘t over just yet. Stockshave had a great run over the past 4 months, getting a bit ahead of themselvesin some aspects such as valuations. Then, grappling with the rising long-termrates did strike. So did inflati...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR? Impressive advances in ore and alloy prices persisted in March, with most markets posting significant price gains. Strengthening demand from steelmakers along with supply shortages and depleted inventories in numerous markets, as well as freight and transportation...Read More
Oat futures' recent surge to 7-year highs wasn't caused by the oat milk craze; think "market psychology" instead Generally speaking, the idea of oats is about as exciting as, well, a bowl of steel cut oatmeal. But this chart of oat futures shows why this ordinarily ordinary grain has stolen the commodity spotlight. For starters, February 2021 saw oat prices soar to their highest level in 7 years....Read More
Inner Mongolia, China's ferro-chrome production heartland, has imposed restrictions on its metallurgical sector in a move that has fueled the high-carbon ferro-chrome markets in China and Europe, and although this may ease off, the gains were unlikely to be lost while alloy ramp-ups continue, sources have told Fastmarkets.The decision to restrict energy consumption in Inner Mongolia since December...Read More
During the 1970's, the U.S. experienced adecade of below-trend economic growth combined with rising interest rates – andeventually – massively higher gold and silver prices.Some sectors boomed while others lagged,and then as now, the majority of the population struggled with rising home andcommodity prices, bookmarked by lofty interest rates.This stilted and challenging environmen...Read More
As you well know the PM complex has been trading at a very important inflection point for the last month or so looking for the next important move either up or down. I can make a case today for either direction but the Chartology is strongly suggesting the next important move is going to be to the downside. In the very short term, days to maybe a week or so we could see some backtesting to many im...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR?In a strong start to the year, January saw ore and alloy pricing gains across all markets priced by Fastmarkets - with the exception of Chinese silicon metal export prices, which retreated slightly last month after posting impressive gains in December 2020.The combination...Read More
As financial markets sold off this week, preciousmetals got dragged down in the selling. The culprit, once again, was risingbond yields.On Thursday, the 10-year Treasury climbed above 1.5%. While still low on ahistorical range, the upside momentum has investors concerned. Over the pastseven months, the 10-year yield has tripled from a low of just 52 basis points. The 10-year note serves as a bench...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Key ferro-alloy forecast highlights for the coming months:?EUR? A strong recovery in both bulk and noble alloys is expected in 2021 but the markets are unlikely to return to the levels seen before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have seen a quicker-than-expected recovery across various regions amid the economic fal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore remains the most bullish commodity of the year, with prices fuelled by Chinese demand and supply disruptions in Brazil, along with bullish sentiment. But prices are expected to come down because Brazilian exports have begun to recover, and have reached their highest level since the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019. W...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the iron ore market, supply issues including heavy rains at the start of the year, followed by staffing problems during the Covid-19 pandemic, have affected exports from Brazil. This has helped Australia gain a larger market share, but since June, Brazilian export volumes have returned to levels last seen before the...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese blast furnace (BF) utilization rates have stagnated and iron ore port stock volumes are rising, reaching their highest levels since March, which suggests that iron ore supply is becoming excessive while demand is not growing. Unsurprisingly, prices dropped last week and we expect the trend to continue. The market has...Read More