Sometimes when we observe people on the streets, when we see crowded restaurants and pubs, it seems like the pandemic has ended. But is the global epidemic really over? Not at all. Please look at the chart below. As one can see, the daily number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world is still in an upward trend. However, in the developed countries the number of daily new cases has declined a...Read More

As a contrarian and long-term holder of Goldcorp. (now Newmont), the latest push higher in the price of gold begs the question: is now the time to sell?The concern, for the uninitiated, is that after the price of gold moves powerfully higher there is an uncanny tendency for forces to mysteriously align and push prices powerfully lower.These “forces” (excuse the conspiratorial flare), h...Read More

Oil is a commodity that plays anindisputable role in the global economy. At the start of the 20th century,the oil industry went into mass production, thus giving birth to what we referto as the modern era of oil consumption. Gradually, coal was starting to take abackseat to it and oil became the world’s #1 fuel source and the undisputedking of commodity trading.To this very day, this remains...Read More

Silver is moving up quite shortly today, whichsounds bullish, until one realizes that silver tends to be particularly strongright before the precious metals market tops. And you know what’s the otherthing that quite often happens at the tops, in addition to silver’s temporarystrength? Miners tend to underperform. What did goldminers do on the last trading day of the previous week? Min...Read More

Every market corrects, maybe profit taking, maybe of allowing those who missed out, to get in!The current open interest on the gold contract looks to high after a very fast price move, it looks like 2008 may be repeating. A quick flushing out of the weak hands open interest may take place before a real advance in price takes place. The correction may be on the back of a wider sell off of risk asse...Read More

Gold, silver, and theirminers’ stocks suffer their weakest seasonals of the year in early summers.  With traders’ attention normally diverted to vacationsand summer fun, interest in and demand for precious metals usually wane.  Without outsized investment demand, goldtends to drift sideways dragging silver and miners’ stocks with it.  Feared as the summer doldrums,...Read More

The latest forecast from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.As we enter the summer season across the northern hemisphere, almost half a year has passed since the Covid-19 pandemic began to seriously affect Europe and the United States.One would not really be able to tell that such a dramatic event had occurred by looking at stainless steel prices, however, because they are more or less...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers is no stranger to changing strategy. Throughout its 130-plus-year history, the company has often adjusted its approach, sometimes with just a few tweaks, and on other occasions with radical consequences for the diamond market. Its next incarnation implements a bit of both as the company aims to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis a sleeker, more flexible and more tech-savvy o...Read More

RAPAPORT... Mumbai-based diamond manufacturer Asian Star believes jewelry demand will remain sluggish through the end of the quarter as the coronavirus weighs on consumer spending."Economic disruption caused by Covid-19 has changed consumer behavior, as people have become conservative in spending," the company said last week. "Consumer sentiment is expected to improve over a period of time.... The...Read More

RAPAPORT... New Jersey-based jewelry manufacturer Frederick Goldman has appointed Judah Zeigler vice president for business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce.He will be responsible for developing and leading all of Frederick Goldman's efforts in the field, in particular overseeing initiatives to help retailers identify and make best use of digital growth opportunities, the company said Thursday. H...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Australian miners Lucapa hopes to resume operations at its Mothae mine, in Lesotho, which has been closed since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. "The Mothae diamond mine is an important contributor to the Basotho nation and Lucapa's strong marketing proposal, we believe, will see the full value of the Mothae kimberlite mine unlocked," said CEO Stephen Wetherall in a sta...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Arctic Star is going it alone with plans to explore an area of Canada's Northwest Territories for diamonds.The Vancouver-based miner says it will invest $1.6m in a year-long drilling at the 25,000-hectare Diagras site, near the Arctic Circle, staring next spring, when work is most economic.Arctic Star is the 40 per cent partner in a joint venture with Margaret Lake Diamonds, w...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A rabbi's wife discovered on TV that a pearl and diamond ring she inherited was Van Cleef & Arpels, was worth $60,000 - twice as much as she thought.She told the Antiques Roadshow in the USA how her husband had been asked to officiate at the funeral of a man who wasn't a member of his congregation. "When she (the man's widow) passed, she left these two items...Read More

A look at hot-rolled coil prices around the globe.Blip or paradigm shift? Prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States last month fell below those in China for the first time since at least 2013. The reversal of normal trends - Chinese prices are typically well below US levels - resulted from US domestic tags plummeting in July while Chinese prices recorded a third consecutive month o...Read More

RAPAPORT... Revenue at Gem Diamonds fell in the first half of the year amid a temporary shutdown of its mine and weak demand due to the coronavirus.Sales of rough diamonds from the Let??eng mine in Lesotho dropped 22% to $74 million by value, and also fell 22% by volume to 43,384 carats in the six months ending June 30, the miner reported Thursday. The average price inched up slightly to $1,7...Read More

Prices for carbon steel plate in the United States have continued to hold steady after neither producers nor distributors reported any impetus to offer cheaper prices or to book bigger tonnages.Buyers saw no urgency to book large inventory buys from the mills at the moment, because there is plenty of material on the ground at various service centers that can sell to each other at competitive price...Read More

Three-month base metals price on the London Metal Exchange were higher at the close of trading on Monday August 3, with positive manufacturing data prompting an afternoon surge in buying.Aluminium led the charge in a 2% rise at the 5pm close, against standout turnover.Aluminium's outright price closed at $1,752 per tonne on Monday afternoon, its highest closing price since February 13, while turno...Read More

Fastmarkets is extending its consultation on the launch of new copper material price and the potential discontinuation of its monthly assessment of the No2 copper scrap discount on a cif China basis. Fastmarkets is extending its consultation on the launch of new copper material price and the potential discontinuation of its monthly assessment of the No2 copper scrap discount on a cif China basis....Read More

A summary of Brazilian copper producer Paranapanema's financial results for the second quarter of 2020, as stated in its earnings report published on Friday July 31. In brief  The company increases copper cathode exports to offset the negative impact of a weaker domestic market for manufactured products in both Brazil and Latin America as a whole, it said.  Capacity utilization was reduc...Read More

A brief fire outbreak at one of Russian multi-metal miner Nornickel's Arctic power plants had led to the death of one worker, the company said on Monday August 3. Fastmarkets understands that the fire, caused by a short circuit, was confined to six square meters and was extinguished quickly, having no material impact on production at the plant. The fire is the latest in a line of incidents at the...Read More