Commodity prices have remained in a prolonged downward trend since the price peak in mid-2008. Driven lower by a firming U.S. dollar (DXY) beginning in 2008-2011 and continuing until the present, the S&P GSCI Commodity Index has declined by about 80 percent over the last 13 years.The recent rally in the S&P GSCI Commodity Index (GTX) in 2020 appears to be a reaction to the DXY price weakne...Read More

A shortage of containers to ship commodities around the world and the consequent soaring in associated freight rates have led to a revival of interest in breakbulk cargoes. Producers and physical traders of metals, agricultural, chemical and timber products have been starting to book shipments in breakbulk vessels, which cost far less and doesn't require vast amounts of equipment in port. On the m...Read More

The Biden administration's focus on US manufacturing and domestic supply chains will benefit established and developing minerals and metals sectors, including steel, rare earths, graphite and lithium.US President Joe Biden's executive order on the strengthening of American manufacturing, which he signed during his first week in office, is expected to have a direct effect on demand for US-produced...Read More

Theeffort to squeezesilver shorts may appear to have fizzled, but naked short sellersare as vulnerable as ever.Silverfutures prices are entering backwardation. That is a bad omen for anyonebetting on lower silver prices.Backwardationhappens very rarely, but this condition has been a reliable indicator thathigher prices are on the way each time it has occurred over the past decade.Inthe futures mar...Read More

2020 was a stellar year for the precious metals, indeed one for the books. As the pandemic hit the global economies early in the year and governments around the world began to shut everything down and the printing machines began to print ginormous amounts of money out of thin air to save their economies from total collapse, gold jumped 24%, while silver jumped nearly 50%, over double that of gold....Read More

The recent rally in Marijuana and Alternative Pharma/Agriculture stocks has been impressive, to say the least.  One thing we have to remember about this sector is that it rallied to highs in 2018 and 2019, then fell out of favor for many months.  The anticipation of this new sector emerging within the US, and across many areas of the globe, prompted quite a bit of excitement after 2016 w...Read More

Corrections in Gold and Gold Stocks are completely normal in an inflationary macro market phaseSee also The Normalcy of Gold posted on February 16.Every week I notice the agony ratcheting up incrementally. While the rest of the casino takes off to the speculative heavens, gold sits on its heavy ass and the gold miners go nowhere in a downward-biased perma-correction. Or so it seems. It’s all...Read More

When a trend is strong, related markets tend to move in unison.However, when a trend is near exhaustion -- either bullish or bearish, "non-confirmations" often occur. This is when one market continues to rise (or fall), but a related market does not.As a case in point, the Feb. 3 U.S. Short Term Update, an Elliott Wave International thrice weekly publication which provides near-term forecasts for...Read More

Unusual comments...by Chris Marcus of Arcadia EconomicsDid the silver shorts just reveal their exit plan?Unusual comments from #JeffChristian of the #CPMGroup about what could possibly happen in the #silver market.To find out more, click to watch the video now! Read More

Copper's price dipped to $8,907.50 per tonne while nickel sank by 7.4% at the 5pm close of trading on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday March 4, with sell-offs and corrections seen for a second day.Prices for other materials in the base-metals complex fell by an average of 1.9%."Base metals have backed off from their recent highs over the past week, with the market experiencing some very viole...Read More

Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices in the cfr market fell on Thursday March 4, with end users in China not interested in seaborne cargoes due to sufficient domestic supplies.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $124.45 per tonne, down $0.23 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $214.51 per tonne, down $3.30 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $116.16 per tonne,...Read More

The strength of the economic recovery in China in 2020 defied the expectations of most market observers. According to estimates by Fastmarkets, apparent consumption in the country rose by 9% in 2020 compared with a 12% fall in the rest of the world.Crucially, this increase in supply was a response to a boom in steel demand in the East Asian nation. In the first quarter of 2020, demand (or real con...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese export prices for seamless oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and linepipe barely moved in February 2021, after rallying in January, because the holidays to celebrate the Lunar New Year curbed market activity sharply.With the holiday now ended, we have seen some sharp jumps in round billet prices and we expect there to...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US hot-rolled coil prices moved in line with our forecasts in January, with actual prices modestly exceeding our forecasts for the month. Fastmarkets' US HRC index averaged $1,099 per ton in January, slightly above our forecast price of $1,075 per ton for the month. W...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The uptrend in European flat steel prices continued in January 2021 as expected, with the prices for hot-rolled coil in the North and South of the region averaging ?,?698 and ?,?686 ($840 and $826) per tonne respectively, within 1% of the Fastmarkets research forecasts.With European HRC prices climbing to their highest level...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR?In a strong start to the year, January saw ore and alloy pricing gains across all markets priced by Fastmarkets - with the exception of Chinese silicon metal export prices, which retreated slightly last month after posting impressive gains in December 2020.The combination...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.We spoke in our previous tracker of stainless steel prices ending 2020 on a high. That trend has continued during early 2021 and, in fact, the upward rally in prices has increased its momentum.Compared with the monthly price increase of some 5% seen at the end of 2020, prices for grade-304 stainless steel in al...Read More

Market sentiment upbeat. Steady trading levels supported by US demand and gradual return of Chinese buyers. Retailers optimistic amid expectations that Covid-19 vaccine rollout and $1.9 trillion stimulus will boost economy. E-commerce still driving growth. Polished prices stable; 1 ct. RAPI +0.8% in Feb. Manufacturers concerned about tightening profit margins following rough-price hikes in last th...Read More

RAPAPORT... As we look back and take stock of the year that was and gaze longingly at the light at the end of this tunnel we have all been in - together yet physically distanced - there are ripple effects from the Covid-19 pandemic that are now becoming visible. One of the areas where the pandemic has clearly had a regressive effect is the march toward gender equality. Even before this crisis...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Iconic jeweler Harry Winston has been displaying the record-breaking vivid pink diamond named after its founder at its New York store  - and says it is accepting sales inquiries.The 18.96-carat rectangular-cut gem became the priciest pink diamond ever sold by auction house Christie's when it went for $50.4im n November 2018. The Pink Legacy Diamond went on display fo...Read More