MEXICO CITY/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Ahead of Mexico’s presidential election on Sunday, Facebook pages criticizing the leftist frontrunner feature posts with thousands of “likes” and no other reactions or comments, suggesting automation, a report on Thursday from the Atlantic Council said.Many “likes” on the pages attacking Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a former Mexic...Read More

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Italy set high demands on Thursday for any European Union deal on migration, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel urgently needs to stave off a coalition crisis at home.Arriving for what is certain to be fraught talks over dinner in Brussels, leaders of Spain, Greece, Finland and Luxembourg backed Merkel’s push to curtail “secondary migration” of people who...Read More

NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell for a second straight week as bond yields declined on investor anxiety about the trade conflict between China and the United States, data from Freddie Mac released on Thursday showed.Thirty-year mortgage rates averaged 4.55 percent in the week ended June 28, down from 4.57 percent the prior week. Last month, 30-...Read More

GFG Alliance is eyeing what it calls "higher value" steel long products rather than flat-rolled products for potential US acquisitions, a top executive told American Metal Market. The UK-based conglomerate, which fired up a Georgetown, South Carolina wire rod mill earlier this week, isn't ruling out acquisitions or restarts of flat-rolled mills, but is prioritizing steel long products for now, sai...Read More

(Reuters) - A former Equifax Inc (EFX.N) software development manager was charged on Thursday with insider trading before the credit reporting company disclosed a cyber attack that exposed the personal data of about 148 million people last year.Federal prosecutors in Atlanta announced the charges against Sudhakar Reddy Bonthu, who was among the employees given the task of assisting in the company&...Read More

Prices for imported wire rod into the United States have spiked dramatically, mainly as a result of the June 1 implementation of Section 232 tariffs against the previously exempt European Union, Canada and Mexico.American Metal Market's latest price assessment for wire rod imports jumped by 21.9% to $744-762 per short on Wednesday June 27, from $600-635 per ton previously.Import rod prices ha...Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said on Thursday that bailing out struggling coal and nuclear power plants is as important to national security as keeping the military strong, and that the cost to Americans should not be an issue.“You cannot put a dollar figure on the cost to keep America free,” he told reporters at a press conference in Washington, when asked h...Read More

Turkish domestic rebar prices have slipped over the past week due to weak demand while wire rod prices have risen, with two mills opening their local sales at higher prices, sources said.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic rebar was $550-565 per tonne ex-works on Thursday June 28, down from the $553-570 per tonne on June 21.The price fall reflects sluggish demand, caused by uncer...Read More

BEIJING (Reuters) - China unveiled on Thursday a long-anticipated easing of foreign investment curbs on sectors including banking, the automotive and heavy industries, and agriculture as Beijing moved to fulfill its promise to open its markets further.The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, published on its website a new version of the so-called n...Read More

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares slid again on Thursday as China’s retreating yuan exacerbated trade tensions and encouraged investors to sell risky assets and search for stock market safe havens.After clawing back some ground on Wednesday, the pan-European STOXX 600 and Germany's trade-sensitive DAX .GDAXI were down 0.9 and 1.4 percent respectively, with technology and carmakers taking...Read More

Turkish steel producers continued their deep-sea scrap purchases for August deliveries on Thursday June 28.A steel mill in northern Turkey booked a Canadian cargo, comprising 30,000 tonnes of shredded and 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (90:10) at an average price of $368 per tonne cfr.And a steel mill...Read More

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said on Thursday it would buy online pharmacy PillPack, a small but significant step into the U.S. healthcare sector, sending shares of drug distributors and retailers lower.Such a move had long been expected by investors in established healthcare companies, who have long feared the world’s biggest online retailer’s potential to disrupt the complex a...Read More

(Reuters) - Amazon’s move to entrench itself in the health sector sent drug stocks sliding on Thursday, but gains in financial and technology stocks helped Wall Street keep its footing.Amazon.com said it would buy online pharmacy PillPack, sending shares of drug distributors and retailers tumbling as the e-commerce giant moves deeper into the healthcare sector.Walgreens Boots Alliance, alrea...Read More

Mainstream iron ore prices stayed rangebound on Thursday June 28 while high-grade lumps and fines were able to fetch higher premiums.Metal Bulletin 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $64.44 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.16 per tonneMetal Bulletin 58% Fe Premium Index: $52.02 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.47 per tonneMetal Bulletin 65% Fe Iron Ore Index: $91.10 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.50 per tonneMetal...Read More

 CloseGain/LossGold $1248.20-$3.60Silver$16.00-$0.05XAU79.83-0.13%HUI170.52+0.04%GDM609.88+0.24%JSE Gold1023.95-8.92USD95.32-0.02Euro115.66+0.10Yen90.49-0.30Oil$73.45+$0.6910-Year2.840%+0.012T-Bond145.09375-0.1875Dow24216.05+0.41%Nasdaq7503.68+0.79%S&P2716.31+0.62%  The Metals: Gold gained $2.40 to $1254.20 at about 9AM EST, but it then drifted back lower for most of the re...Read More

By Gary TanashianThe GDX/COPX ratio has broken above the 50 & 200 day moving averages and is still going, despite gold's ignominious state at the moment.Here's what gold (GLD) looks like today.Here is what copper looked like at yesterday's close (in-day today it is a hair under 3, at 2.9981/lb). And yes, that is important support.Against the broader Industrial Metals complex GDX is weaker. But X...Read More

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will buy around 50 billion euros ($58 billion) of German government bonds next year as it looks to reinvest funds from maturing bonds purchased under the bank’s stimulus scheme, Germany’s debt management agency said.“We expect the ECB to buy around 50 billion euros of our 2,5,10,30-year bonds in 2019 in order to keep the portf...Read More

By Peter DegraafIt is generally agreed that in a Gold Bull Market, the gold producers lead the way, by outperforming gold bullion. To examine this trend we visit Stockcharts.com and pull up a chart that compares mining stocks (GDX) to gold bullion (GLD).This index bottomed in March and since then the miners have moved ahead of gold bullion. The first hurdle, at the 50DMA (blue line) was over...Read More

By Dave KranzlerThe economy has hit a wall and is now sliding down it. I don't care what bullish propaganda may or may not be bubbling up in the headlines from the financial media and Wall Street, the hard numbers I look at everyday show accelerating economic weakness. The fact that my view is contrary to mainstream consensus and political propaganda reinforces my conviction that my view about t...Read More

Gary Christenson wrote this article for Miles Franklin.We can find many opinions stating crude oil and gasoline prices will rise... and fall. Let's discuss.Correlate the weekly prices of wholesale gasoline and crude oil over 30 years. The correlation is 0.987 near perfect. Rising or falling gasoline prices will follow rising or falling crude oil prices.In My Opinion:Crude oil and gasoline prices...Read More