Sector expert Michael Ballanger considers the last week in the stock and precious metals markets. Ever since Sept. 19, 2008, when Hammerin' Hank Paulson appeared in front of the U.S. Congress on bended knee and begged those clueless politicians for a bailout which he did successfully the spread of moral hazard throughout the world has been a contagion that makes the Bubonic plague appear as harml...Read More
Technical analyst Clive Maund looks at the charts and finds that gold may react back before continuing to climb. At first glance gold looks like it may be about to advance out of a bull Flag, but there are a number of factors in play that we will examine that suggest that any near-term advance won't get far before it turns and drops again, and that a longer period of consolidation and perhaps rea...Read More
Gusa Brasil, formerly knows as Sidepar, partly restarted operations in the state of Par?? in northern Brazil in early January, with the first pig-iron sale made in the middle of the month, sources told Fastmarkets.The restart will add a small tonnage to the pig iron market, however, so participants only expect a minor impact, Fastmarkets was told."Pig iron prices have improved so that makes it rea...Read More
Technical analyst Clive Maund charts silver and predicts a small drop in the price of the metal. If gold is looking set to react back over the short to medium term, which it does, then it implies that silver, which is weaker at this stage in the cycle, is set to react back too.On silver's latest 6-month chart we can see that the fairly tight pattern that has developed over the past several weeks,...Read More
The price of steel billet fell in most regions in the week ended Friday January 17 due to an unexpected drop in ferrous scrap prices in Turkey.The downturn in Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices affected scrap prices in other regions and put downward pressure on the global billet markets.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a US cargo of 35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $295 per tonne cfr la...Read More
Offers for CIS-origin billet started to slide on Monday January 20, following last week's drop in scrap prices and weakening sentiment in the finished long steel market.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, tumbled by around $15 to $288.80 per tonne last Thursday, after a steel mill in the Izmir region booked a US cargo of 35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (9...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices were unchanged on Monday January 20 amid a pre-holiday lull, though some optimism has emerged over demand for the long steel product after the Chinese New Year. Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,640-3,670 yuan ($531-535) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,540-3,560 yuan per tonne, unchangedLocal governments in China have issued 655.7 billion yuan worth of speci...Read More
Samancor Chrome has provisionally decided to restructure its mining and smelting operations in a move that will reduce staff and production levels due to the deteriorating chrome markets and rising power costs, Fastmarkets has learned. South Africa's largest ferro-chrome producer wrote to employees and unions on Friday January 17, in letters seen by Fastmarkets, warning that it had made the provis...Read More
China's steel refining and rerolling industry's capacity utilization rate was 80.2% in the fourth quarter of 2019, above the national industrial average of 77.5%, according to figures from the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Friday January 17.The country's industrial capacity utilization rate of 77.5% was 1.5 percentage points higher than the corresponding period a year e...Read More
Chinese steel production increased in 2019 amid stronger demand from the construction sector, according to data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics on Friday January 17.2019 outputCrude steel: 996.34 million tonnes, up 8.3%Finished steel: 1.2 billion tonnes, up 9.8% ...Read More
Market participants in China say they are not worried by the expected increase in steel imports from the United States, even after the two major economic powers signed the phase one economic and trade agreement on Wednesday January 15. While the agreement does not set out the increase in quantity of US-origin steel exports China will accept, Chinese market participants do not expected the increase...Read More
The price of steel billet fell in most regions in the week ended Friday January 17 due to an unexpected drop in ferrous scrap prices in Turkey.The downturn in Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices affected scrap prices in other regions and put downward pressure on the global billet markets.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a US cargo of 35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $295 per tonne cfr la...Read More
High demand for pig iron, mainly in Asia, has supported further price growth in the export pig iron market in Brazil, sources told Fastmarkets during the week ended Friday January 17.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, was $320-325 per tonne on Friday, up by $5 per tonne from $315-320 per tonne a week earlier.A cargo of 60,000 tonnes was bought for t...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Monday January 20, back above the $14,000 per tonne threshold against the lowest turnover since December 24 last year.In contrast, lead futures edged lower against a similar absence of liquidity.Nickel's outright price on the LME closed at $14,025 per tonne on Monday afternoon, back above nearby resista...Read More
The pig iron import market in the United States has gone up because suppliers have increased their offers, citing low availability of material for February and March shipments, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday January 17.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $350 per tonne on Friday, up from $340-345 per tonne a week earlier.Suppliers from the Commonweal...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will on February 1 introduce a reporting process that will increase transparency into levels of off-warrant stocks. The exchange announced the plans in November 2019 and aims to attract more metal back in LME sheds. It is controversial, but its passage into the LME rulebook on February 1 follows a consultation last year. Some market participants are now saying the LME sho...Read More
Prices in Asia's hot-rolled coil market are poised for more upticks immediately after the Lunar New Year holiday, according to industry sources."There is a sense of tightness in HRC supply in Asia, especially with fewer cargoes heading to the region from March and April," a source at a major re-roller in Vietnam said.This is largely due to an expected decrease in shipments from Indian steelmakers...Read More
The Fed still has yet to admit that it's running another quantitative easing campaign...by Chris Marcus with Marc Faber via Arcadia EconomicsWhile the Federal Reserve still has yet to admit that it's running another quantitative easing campaign, Dr. Marc Faber of the Gloom Boom and Doom Report explained how in reality, when the Fed started QE in 2008, that was the beginning of QE to infinity.Dr. F...Read More
Many continue to look at the bank and its CEO Jamie Dimon as modern day financial heroes...by Chris Marcus with James Anderson via Arcadia Economics#JPMorgan's Unanswered Questions in The #Silver Market: James AndersonDespite being charged with the Rico Act for their manipulation of the #silvermarket, many continue to look at the bank and its CEO #JamieDimon as modern day #financial heroes.But #Ja...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Monday January 20, back above the $14,000 per tonne threshold against the lowest turnover since December 24 last year.In contrast, lead futures edged lower against a similar absence of liquidity.Nickel's outright price on the LME closed at $14,025 per tonne on Monday afternoon, back above nearby resista...Read More