The Bretton Woods conference of 1944 set the global financial system that still prevails today. The period 1969-1971 can be regarded as the First Reset, which involved the creation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR, ticker:XDR), the devaluation of the dollar and the end of the gold standard.For years, commentators (myself included) have discussed the next global monetary realignment, which is sometim...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices surged on Wednesday March 3 after Tangshan, the major steelmaking hub in northern China, ordered several local mills to suspend blast furnaces to help curb air pollution.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,980-5,030 yuan ($770-778) per tonne, up 140-170 yuan per tonneSeveral Shanghai-based traders told Fastmarkets that spot sellers there could do deals at 5,010-5,030...Read More
The absence of the big orange You-Know-Who at center stage of American life has changed the mood of the scene from a five-alarm fire to just another day in a collapsing civilization.As long as he remains healthy, and evades assassin's bullets, Mr. Trump will go after his antagonists in Congress like a mad dog toward the 2022 midterm. But now he can only watch from the sidelines and throw stink bom...Read More
Export prices for Chinese steel plate have risen to their highest since September 2011 amid investors' concerns over inflation coupled with a recovery in demand.Fastmarkets' price assessment for April/May shipments of steel heavy plate export, fob China main port was $685-695 per tonne for the week ended Tuesday March 2, widening upward by $5 per tonne from $685-690 per tonne fob a week earlier.Mo...Read More
"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" - John 8:32 informs us.No, said Thomas Huxley. John was far from the facts."You shall know the truth," countered Huxley… "and the truth shall make you mad.""Mad" is angry by one definition. By another it is lunatic. Both definitions may pertain today.You shall know the truth about America's finances... and it shall make you mad.On...Read More
A summary of Spain-based Ferroglobe's financial results for the fourth-quarter and full-year 2020, published by the company on Tuesday March 2.In brief Ferrosilicon revenue declined by 29% to $1.14 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $1.62 billion in 2019. The drop was attributed to the impact of Covid-19 on volumes and pricing across all products.The full-year adjusted earning...Read More
The world was recently mesmerized by the ability of the Bros (short for "brothers"), a crowd of like-minded, mostly male millennials, to increase the price of GameStop from $20 per share to $400 per share in a matter of days.The fact that the Bros did this using stimulus check money and the Robinhood trading app did not diminish the sky-rocketing numbers behind the frenzy. The stock later collapse...Read More
An overview of the consumer electronics markets and their latest price moves.Ewa Manthey and Dalila Ouerghi in...Read More
What exactly is the Middle Class, and what unique role does it serve in the economy? Given that the Middle Class is constantly invoked by politicos and economists, you’d think the status quo has a solid understanding of the Middle Class. Alas, it isn’t that simple.The conventional view defines the middle class by income, education, or type of labor being performed. These are all superf...Read More
By now, you've heard of the Green New Deal, an ambitious agenda to decarbonize the economy. The overall Green New Deal calls for ending the use of oil and natural gas, moving to electric vehicles, solar, wind and geothermal power, imposing carbon taxes to reduce C02 emissions and providing government subsidies to non-carbon-based energy technologies.The U.S. would also seek to embed these policies...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Charlotte Radford, Cristina Belda...Read More
A man shipwrecked bobs along in his lifeboat...The cruel sun cooks him. His thirst tortures him. His sufferings are doubled, tripled and quadrupled by this impossible irony:Water, water is everywhere - yet there is scarcely a drop to drink. Salt water in any quantity would murder him.Thus he dangles from the hooks of a lethal dilemma. He dies if he does not drink... and he dies if he does drink.Th...Read More
The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed...Read More
The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed...Read More
The Cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets' standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt hydroxide p...Read More
Fastmarkets rounds up the latest logistical issues affecting supplies of metal, ores and alloys from African countries, in the period ended Friday February 26.February 26South African manganese miners have started to raise prices in line with rising costs, including those incurred amid severe weather.Fastmarkets' manganese ore index, 37% Mn, cif Tianjin, rose by $0.12 week on week to $4.77 per dry...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday March 3.Key driversOffers weakened to as low as $7.50 per kg amid persistently quiet European consumer demand so far this year.More tenders are expected to be done in March that should provide further clarity on near-term price direction.Trader sources report firm scrap turnings...Read More
Rio Tinto's (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) chairman Simon Thompson became the latest high-profile executive to announce his departure amid backlash for the company's destruction of two 46,000-year-old rock sacred shelters in Western Australia last year.Thompson, a former geologist and investment banker, said on March 3 that he will not seek re-election as a director at the 2022 annual general mee...Read More
Golden Predator Mining (TSXV: GPY) has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement to acquire Viva Gold (TSXV: VAU) - bringing together Golden Predator's past-producing Brewery Creek mine, 55 km from Dawson City in the Yukon and Viva's Tonopah gold project in Nevada. Both development assets feature near-surface resources that appear to be suitable for heap leach extraction."This transaction br...Read More
With a listing on the Toronto Venture Exchange in the works, Tier One Silver has raised $13.5 million for exploration at its flagship Curibaya silver-gold project in Peru.The junior, along with another Peru-focused explorer, Sombrero Resources, was spun out of Auryn Resources when that company merged with Eastmain Resources to create Fury Gold (TSX: FURY) in October.The private placement of 13.45...Read More