Inmid-march, just as the coronavirus was gaining momentum, the price of goldbegan to rise.  After trading sidewaysfrom 2015 to 2019, gold rose from a low of $1,471 in mid-March to $2,069 onAugust 6th, a spectacular 40% rise in five months.Duringthat same period, silver rose from $11.94 to $29.14 on August 6th,an even more spectacular 114% increase. Threedays later, on August 9th, as gold and...Read More

Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable talks with Andy Schectman of Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments about macroeconomic policy and its effect on precious metals prices.Maurice Jackson: Joining us for a conversation is Andy Schectman, the president of Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments. Let's begin today's discussion with gold, which has recently surpassed its all-time high since...Read More

Russia's Severstal is running a modernization program at its Cherepovets steelmaking facility, which - though it may lead to short-term production cuts - will help it raise its annual steel output by 1 million tonnes by 2023.Several sources have reported that the major mill had scheduled a two-week maintenance for its 2-million-tonnes-per-year hot-rolling mill in October. They estimated that this...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday September 11 that are worth another look.Rio Tinto chief executive officer Jean-Sebastien Jacques and iron ore head Chris Salisbury are to step down following criticism over the miner's destruction of sacred Aboriginal caves in Pilbara, Western Australia.The...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday September 11 that are worth another look.Rio Tinto chief executive officer Jean-Sebastien Jacques and iron ore head Chris Salisbury are to step down following criticism over the miner's destruction of sacred Aboriginal caves in Pilbara, Western Australia.The...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 latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.These include an increase in our copper mine disruption estimates, upgrades to our production outlook for Indonesian nickel pig iron (NPI), a smaller refined zinc surplus, and an upgrade to our zinc price forecasts.Aluminium: Big disconnect between price and fundamentalsAluminium has extended its uptrend on the London Metal...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

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices performed in line with our expectations in August, with US domestic HRC prices finding a floor in July as forecast before they rose in August. US HRC prices averaged $522 per tonne in August, which compares with our forecast price of $518 per tonne. Based on an improving demand outlook and ris...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US market under pressureUS prices for welded pipe products were under pressure because market participants, especially distributors, have started to take steps to generate cash and were moving material if they were able to do so, even if it meant selling at low prices.We expect more such "fire sales" in the coming months, bu...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.August 2020 has seen the prices of most steel products move up in tandem around the world, in contrast to recent months when steel prices have moved in different directions depending on the market.This dynamic has been seen in most coated steel markets as well, with the prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG), pre-painted...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

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Prices across most ferro-alloy markets trended stable to lower in August as demand remained subdued in major markets, apart from China where steel output continues to rise at a rapid pace, supporting demand for ferro-alloys. As alloy makers seek to remedy supply/demand imbalan...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Numerous ore and alloy markets enjoyed upward pricing momentum in the first half 2020, with supply-side constraints supporting prices despite collapsing demand from steelmakers and other key end users. While supply side issues related to Covid-19 lockdowns have been resolved,...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the year 2020 to date in late August, the Fastmarkets 62% Fe iron ore benchmark has powered along and reached six-year highs, supported by Chinese demand, and despite the global economic uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Iron ore demand has weakened almost everywhere except in China, where it has continued to...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.There has been an increasing bullishness in Chinese steel market sentiment recently, with rising post-Covid-19 optimism about the country's economy for the second half of 2020, especially after the government announced an infrastructure spending boost. Although we believe that high prices are justified, they remain far from...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This year has come with several unexpected events which increased the bullish case for iron ore prices, while the Chinese government's spending on infrastructure is likely to boost iron ore demand and add upside support to prices. But supply disruptions and a demand surge which caused price spikes are now easing. We do not e...Read More