Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday June 23 that are worth another look.A recent resurgence of Covid-19 infections in Beijing led to some jitters in China's steel sector in the initial stages of the outbreak, but market participants do not expect this second wave to leave much of an impact on the industry.The aluminium duty-paid market in Europe is set to come under...Read More

Sales of passenger cars in the EU will fall by 25% year on year in the full 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Automotive Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Tuesday June 23.The major economic crisis facing the auto industry will see car sales in the European Union tumble by more than 3 million units, with only 9.6 million units expected to be sold this year, compar...Read More

Gold COT Report - FuturesLarge SpeculatorsCommercialTotalLongShortSpreadingLongShortLongShort308,45956,50247,555114,410401,702470,424505,759Change from Prior Reporting Period 31,0643,4551,4683,48832,76036,02037,683Traders22560695457305163 Small Speculators LongShortOpen Interest 61,67726,342532,101 6,5184,85542,538 non reportable positionsChange from the previous reporti...Read More

Bob KirtleyIntroductionWe are presently enduring a period of great change due to the Coronavirus which has already cost many lives and inflicted untold damage to the global economy.Alongside the damage caused by this virus the world has also entered a recession having been through an eleven-year period of expansion.To make matters worse many nations are shouldering massive debts raising question...Read More

By: Ira EpsteinGold weekly chart shows $16+ for the week going into Friday. $1785 area still the resistance, will be looking at this..Read More

An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More

One year on from taking Nyrstar private, Trafigura chief financial officer Christophe Salmon says the trading firm "made the right choice" by committing $2.9 billion in capital doing so.In a wide-ranging interview with Fastmarkets, Salmon and Nyrstar chief executive officer Daniel Vanin discussed investment, cost reduction and plans of the company, which is the world's second-largest zinc and lead...Read More

The import price for pig iron in China was likely to have reached its peak during the week ended Friday June 26, causing a pause in price growth in the global market, Fastmarkets has heard."The Chinese market is quiet for holidays [on June 25-26], so it's better to wait and see how trade will go after the Dragon Boat Festival," one international trader said. "For the moment, it seems that prices h...Read More

The LME three-month aluminium price was the standout performer on Friday June 26, breaching nearby resistance despite limited turnover, while a steady rise in LME copper futures prompted a tightening of the red metal's forward curve.Aluminium's outright price on the LME closed at $1,601.50 per tonne on Friday afternoon, climbing from an intraday low of $1,571 per tonne, while turnover was lower th...Read More

The threat of Section 232 tariffs on aluminium imports from Canada into the United States has, like the great white shark following the Brody family in the universally panned film, 'Jaws: The Revenge,' returned - akin to a truly awful horror movie franchise. And that's how Neil Herrington, senior vice president for the Americas, US Chamber of Commerce, views reports that the US administration is c...Read More

Is it India? The United States? Canada? Or how about...by Steve St Angelo of SRSrocco ReportOver the past decade, these top five countries were the leading silver investors in the world. From 2010 to 2019, citizens in these countries invested over two billion ounces of silver bars and coins. Which country was the largest investor of silver? Actually, I was surprised by the data.Since 2010, i...Read More

All things, both good and evil, come to an end. So it will be with the great silver price manipulation...by Ted Butler of Butler Research via Silver SeekAll things, both good and evil, come to an end. So it will be with the great silver price manipulation, which I date as having existed, in its COMEX-orchestrated version from 1983. Before that, of course, silver prices were never truly free,...Read More

The LME three-month aluminium price was the standout performer on Friday June 26, breaching nearby resistance despite limited turnover, while a steady rise in LME copper futures prompted a tightening of the red metal's forward curve.Aluminium's outright price on the LME closed at $1,601.50 per tonne on Friday afternoon, climbing from an intraday low of $1,571 per tonne, while turnover was lower th...Read More

The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was higher during morning trading on Friday June 26, topping gains across the complex despite thin turnover, while the ongoing drawdown of LME lead stocks saw the heavy metal's underlying price stay elevated.Nickel's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $12,665 per tonne, more than 1.5% higher than Thursday's closing price of $12,...Read More

Markets were mainly firmer this morning, Friday June 26, with the base metals up across the board and most Asian-Pacific equities indices showing gains, while gold prices were consolidating - all of which suggesting a slight risk-on sentiment.Pre-market major European equity index futures were up by around 0.7%, following gains in the United States on Thursday.Global trade dropped by 12.1% in Apri...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Poised for a technical breakoutFears over a second wave of Covid-19 continue to grow, forcing prices of aluminium and the other base metals to take a pause. Our base-case scenario is that countries will respond more efficiently to contain the virus spread, so economic activity and metal demand should continue to r...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Depending on which market one looks at, prices of coated steels have either risen, fallen or remained roughly the same since mid-May. One crucial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that has swept the world this year is the decoupling it appears to have created between global steel markets.In China, prices of most steel products...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The recent announcement about Vale's resumption of operations in Brazil, along with new concerns about a slump in demand because of heavy rainfall in China, has resulted in the end of the iron ore price rally. There has also been pressure from tight steel spreads, with the operating margins for Chinese steel mills shrinking...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore prices climbed further last week and we expect the elevated levels to remain into the next month. In particular, further upside will come from blast furnace (BF) capacity, which was reduced in Europe, Japan and the United States and has now come back online after restrictions started to be removed. With Covid-19 spr...Read More

Indian local secondary billet prices increased by 300 rupees per tonne week-on-week on Friday June 26 on improved demand from sustained buying by makers of finished steel products.The price of steel billet, domestic, ex-works India, was assessed by Fastmarkets on June 26 up by 300 rupees per tonne to 27,600-27,800 rupees ($366-369) per tonne, compared with last week's assessment at 27,300-27,500 r...Read More