Chinese ferrous futures fell in the first hour of morning trading on Friday June 22 before experiencing a sharp rebound, but went on to end the session little changed from their opening prices.Futures closing prices - morning sessionShanghai Futures Exchange October rebar: 3,768 yuan ($580) per tonne, down 5 yuan per tonneOctober hot-rolled coil: 3,871 yuan per tonne, up 1 yuan per tonne Dalian Co...Read More

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador Dennis Shea told the World Trade Organization on Friday that appeals rulings can be vetoed if they take longer than the allowed 90 days, throwing down a new challenge to the WTO system of enforcing global trade rules.The WTO rules traditionally rely on “negative consensus”, whereby a ruling can only be blocked if every member opposes it.“The con...Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that companies can recover profits lost because of the unauthorized use of their patented technology abroad in a victory for Schlumberger NV, the world’s largest oilfield services provider.The 7-2 decision overturned a lower court’s ruling that had enforced limits on applying U.S. patent law overseas and reduced by $93.4 mil...Read More

LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Electric car maker Tesla Inc’s move last week to cut 9 percent of its workforce will sharply downsize the residential solar business it bought two years ago in a controversial $2.6 billion deal, according to three internal company documents and seven current and former Tesla solar employees.The latest cuts to the division that was once SolarCity - a sale...Read More

TOKYO (Reuters) - Renault SA (RENA.PA) absorbing Nissan Motor Co. (7201.T) and Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T) is not an option as the carmakers look to strengthen their partnership while retaining their autonomy, alliance chairman Carlos Ghosn said on Friday.“Anybody who will ask Nissan and Mitsubishi to become wholly owned subsidiaries of Renault has zero chance of getting a result,”...Read More

Local secondary billet prices in India fell by about 900 rupees ($13) per tonne this week on account of reduced inquiries and minimal buying from finished product makersThe price assessment for domestic secondary billet in India (mainly produced via an induction furnace) stood at 35,800-36,000 rupees per tonne ex-mill on June 22, a drop of 900 rupees per tonne from 36,700-36,900 rupees per tonne e...Read More

LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) - Italy is the only country in the euro zone scheduled to hold bond auctions in the week ahead.* On Tuesday, Italy's Treasury will offer up to 3 billion euros ($3.48 billion) of inflation-linked bonds at an auction.* Italy returns on Thursday with a sale of medium to long-dated government bonds.Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe, Editing by Abhinav Ramnarayan Disclaimer: The...Read More

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose as much as 2 percent on Friday as OPEC neared a deal to increase output to compensate for losses in production at a time of rising global demand.Benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 jumped $1.68 a barrel, or 2.3 percent, to a high of $74.73 before slipping to around $74.30 by 1215 GMT. U.S. light crude CLc1 was $1.00 higher at $66.54.The Organization of the Petroleum Expo...Read More

The UK light iron scrap market was stable in the week to Friday June 22 for the 11th week in a row, with market sentiment suggesting an increase next week in line with expected renewed demand from Turkey, sources said.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for UK grade-5C ferrous scrap on an inter-merchant basis was ?90-120 ($119-158) per tonne on Friday. This compares with the low for the year...Read More

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - European Union finance ministers agreed on Friday to double a war chest for dealing with failing banks and boost powers of the euro zone bailout fund, but were split over whether to have a mechanism to restructure government debt or a euro zone budget.All the EU’s finance ministers except Britain, which will leave the bloc in March, discussed ideas for deeper economic...Read More

Another Early Warning Siren Goes OffOur friend Jonathan Tepper of research house Variant Perception (check out their blog to see some of their excellent work) recently pointed out to us that the volume of mergers and acquisitions has increased rather noticeably lately. Some color on this was provided in an article published by Reuters in late May, "Global M&A hits record $2 trillion in the year to...Read More

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Friday as oil prices jumped ahead of an OPEC meeting later in the day and in the absence of any significant developments in the China-U.S. trade rhetoric overnight.Oil prices rose more than a percent as OPEC appeared to be nearing a deal to boost supply to make up for losses in production at a time of rising global demand.A recent rally in oil prices du...Read More

Domestic rebar prices in Poland have remained largely unchanged over the past week due to seasonally strong market activity, sources told Metal Bulletin on Friday June 22.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic 12mm B500B-grade rebar in Poland was 2,240-2,300 zloty ($599-615) per tonne ex-works on June 22, compared with 2,230-2,300 zloty per tonne ex-works.The assessment reflects tra...Read More

VIENNA (Reuters) - OPEC moved closer on Friday toward boosting oil output as its leader Saudi Arabia appeared to have persuaded arch-rival Iran to cooperate, after major consumers warned of a supply shortage.Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia have said a production increase of about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) or around 1 percent of global supply had become a near-consensus proposal for the grou...Read More

Turkey's ferrous scrap import market remained quiet on Friday June 22 ahead of the outcome of the Turkish general election on Sunday. Market activity briefly picked up on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, with four deep-sea cargoes booked after a slow start to the week following a public holiday in Turkey to celebrate Eid on Friday last week. But activity waned again in the days before the election...Read More

 CloseGain/LossOn WeekGold $1270.20+$2.80-0.80%Silver$16.46+$0.15-0.78%XAU82.00+1.36%-0.70%HUI176.93+1.33%-0.53%GDM618.81+1.50%-0.25%JSE Gold1066.58-2.36+1.71%USD94.55-0.27-0.23%Euro116.63+0.51+0.47%Yen91.13+0.01+0.77%Oil$68.58+$3.04+5.41%10-Year2.895%UNCH-1.03%Bond144.00+0.03125-0.37%Dow24580.89+0.49%-2.03%Nasdaq7692.82-0.26%-0.69%S&P2754.88+0.19%-0.88%  The Metals: Gold g...Read More

By Ira EpsteinGold bounces but has no zip to it. https://iraepstein.com/ Read More

Gold COT Report - FuturesLarge SpeculatorsCommercialTotalLongShortSpreadingLongShortLongShort202,915106,40356,882161,475275,599421,272438,884Change from Prior Reporting Period 10,16333,8918,5142,059-24,40420,73618,001Traders17991885050273193 Small Speculators LongShortOpen Interest 47,07329,461468,345 -1,0861,64919,650 non reportable positionsChange from the previous rep...Read More

The gold miners' stocks are drifting listlessly in the summer doldrums, largely forgotten by investors and speculators. They are missing a fantastic opportunity to buy low in this barren sentiment wasteland when no one else wants to. The gold stocks remain exceedingly cheap relative to the metal which drives their profits, and they continue to establish a strong technical base. They are re...Read More

By Gary TanashianIt has been a while since we've had a 3 Amigos update because a) Italy and global tariffs noise aside, nothing much has changed with the macro and b) I felt my 'image-based metaphorical content to straight content' ratio was getting a little excessive. So I gave it a rest.Now it is time again for an update of these important macro riders in order to touch base with their signals...Read More