Warren Buffett did whathe said he’d never do, and that is buy gold - not the physical metal, nor anETF, but a gold mining stock. Buffett and/or his holding company's managers choseABX, as it is known in Toronto, or GOLD, on the New York exchange. Thesurprising trade is highly symbolic given Buffett’s previous ferventlyanti-gold public statements. Last Friday the Oracle ofOmaha&rsq...Read More

Steel buyers in Thailand are reselling distressed hot-dipped galvanized coil from China after the southeast Asian country started preliminary anti-dumping duties of 35.67% on imported Chinese cold-rolled galvanized steel on August 3. A Tianjin-based trader told Fastmarkets that at least 100,000 tonnes of Chinese HDG were stuck at Thailand ports recently due to the costly tax, forcing buyers there...Read More

The Baowu Steel Group, China's largest steelmaker, is now the controlling shareholder of the Taiyuan Iron & Steel Group (Tisco), the country's second-largest producer of stainless steel, the latter has announced.Shanxi province's State-owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission, which owned all of Tisco's shares, transferred 51%...Read More

Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Tisco), China's second-largest stainless steel producer, suspended the trading of its stock on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Friday August 21 following an announcement on Thursday evening that there will be a change in its controlling shareholder.Market participants expect the Baowu Steel Group, the country's largest producer of carbon steel, to replace Shanxi province's Sta...Read More

Export prices for Brazil-origin slab increased week on week amid low material availability and continuing high demand.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob main port Brazil reached $420-430 per tonne on Friday August 21, up by $5 from $415-425 per tonne a week earlier.Offers were reported at $430 per tonne fob and...Read More

Import prices for flat-rolled steel in South America increased once again through the week to Friday August 21, to the levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic, with October-shipment negotiations with all supplying regions being concluded at higher levels.There were reports of some deals to meet residual needs for October shipments during the period, and customers - particularly those on the Pacif...Read More

Key data from the pricing sessions in Europe, Asia and the United States for the week ended Friday August 21.China Seaborne manganese ore prices slipped after sentiment was undermined by weakening domestic portside ore and spot alloy markets. Portside ore prices fell after traders lowered their offer prices to attract buying interest. Many alloy smelters, however, retreated from the market over th...Read More

Trading activity in the CIS export market for steel billet was limited in the week ended Friday August 21, with both sides assessing the situation. Some activity was reported in Asia, while customers in markets nearer to the CIS took a wait-and-see stance.Mills selling from the Black Sea basin were not actively offering material, and kept their official indications within the range of $400-410 per...Read More

Plans for a London Metal Exchange spot trading platform have sparked intense debate within the aluminium industry. But opponents and supporters don't necessarily fall into the camps that one might expect. For starters, a decision by the LME not to change its futures contract, establish a new green aluminium contract or set thresholds to define what constitutes low-carbon metal is proving key in st...Read More

Sometimes it is better to let a situation speak for itself. Alcoa, Rio Tinto Aluminium, Novelis, Constellium, Arconic, Kaiser Aluminum, Tri-Arrows Aluminum, American Metal Chemical Corp, Hydro Extrusion North America, JW Aluminum, Real Alloy, Reynolds Consumer Products, Scepter, Silberline Manufacturing Co, Smelter Service Corp and Wagstaff. The US Aluminum Association, which represents more than...Read More

The London Metal Exchange is looking for ways to boost its options market, which has been struggling for some years to replicate the growth seen in the same sector among its peers.The exchange has launched a consultation, scheduled to end on July 29, on developing electronic options via a new trading platform while retaining its current inter-office options trading structure.Items up for discussio...Read More

Fastmarkets copper concentrate treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index continues to set new lows and has done for three weeks in a row. Major Chinese smelters are well-stocked for the third quarter, with Collahuasi, Cerro Verde and some clean brands reported being bought in the high $40s, Fastmarkets heard.  Traders' buying levels are heard to be in a range of high $30s to low $40s,...Read More

Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices edged up on Friday August 21, with ex-China demand picking up, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $104.71 per tonne, up $0.54 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $114.63 per tonne, up $0.03 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $85.19 per tonne, up $0.17 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $98.29 per tonne,...Read More

Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly down during morning trading on Friday August 21 after the release of key purchasing managers' index (PMI) data out of Europe disappointed, while copper futures took the brunt of the decline over the morning in a 1.2% drop. Copper's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $6,535 per tonne, slipping below nearby resistanc...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. We also review our price forecasting accuracy for the second quarter 2020.Q2 2020 price forecast performance review According to the results of Fastmarkets' Apex for the second quarter of 2020 published this week, Fastmarkets' base metals research team was the second most accurate price forecaster for nickel (99.06%), lead...Read More

Right now, we may be nearing another buying opportunity...Patrick Kim interviewed on Palisade RadioTom welcomes Patrick Karim back to the show to discuss his latest charts that focus on silver and gold. Patrick is a proprietary capital manager and chart trader.Patrick discusses various historic technical patterns and how they may repeat in his coming bull market. He expects $2300 gold within a cou...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Comfortable consolidationAluminium appears comfortable consolidating for the moment, and this will leave prices in a stronger position to challenge overhanging long-term trend-line resistance from the May 2018 high, which stands at $1,670 per tonne currently.Copper: Consolidation unlikely to lastCopper reached its...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Upside breakout last weekThe price of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange surprised us with a break to the upside in the week ended July 10, when prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange raced to three-and-a-half-year highs. While we think there is more short-term upside potential if technical and liquidity fact...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Capped by oversupplyA lack of a meaningful supply adjustment to the Covid-19 demand hit is keeping the aluminium physical market oversupplied and weighing on prices, limiting the success of more buoyant macro and technical forces on prices. Our premium forecasts are under review in light of threats from the U...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US market at risk of slidingPrices for pipe products were at a floor in the United States in mid-August, and have been broadly stable at that level since the start of the second quarter, but they are at risk of declining further in the coming months.Drilling rig counts have yet to find a floor and have fallen below most esti...Read More