Turkish steel producers have stayed away from the deep-sea scrap market, amid limited domestic and export demand for finished steel products, sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday July 4.Steel mills in Turkey have already finished their deep-sea bookings for July and expected to start booking for August. But it seems they are happy to wait as long as they can because of the weak finished s...Read More

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Uber Technologies [UBER.UL] will re-start its ride-hailing business in Finland on Wednesday after a one-year pause, it said, seeking to benefit from the country’s transport law reform.The U.S. company has come under pressure from traditional taxi drivers and regulators across Europe, who accuse it of unfair competition and skirting traditional licensing rules.In Finland,...Read More

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) plans to start offering car sharing services using fully electric vehicles in German cities next year as part of efforts to serve consumers who don’t want to buy their own vehicles.Its offering will compete in its home market with DriveNow and Car2Go, the soon-to-be-merged carsharing services of BMW (BMWG.DE) and Daimler (DAIGn.DE).Volkswagen said...Read More

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen’s warring parties have offered “concrete ideas” to achieve peace, U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths said on Wednesday after meeting Iran-aligned Houthi leaders in the capital Sanaa.Griffiths has been conducting shuttle diplomacy in search of a political solution that would avert an all-out military assault on the Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah by a Saudi-led...Read More

Brazilian products continued to command a big premium over Australian materials in the seaborne iron ore market on Wednesday July 4.Metal Bulletin 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $64.20 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.35 per tonne Metal Bulletin 62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines Index: $62.97 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.49 per tonneMetal Bulletin 58% Fe Premium Index: $51.66 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.29 pe...Read More

China's ferrous futures picked up across the board during morning trading on Wednesday July 4.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange October rebar: 3,812 yuan ($572) per tonne, up 47 yuan per tonne October hot-rolled coil: 3,917 yuan per tonne, up 51 yuan per tonne Dalian Commodity Exchange September iron ore: 464.50 yuan per tonne, up 3.50 yuan per tonne September coki...Read More

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended on Wednesday a deal on tightening immigration controls from attacks directed by both her Social Democrat coalition partners and the far-right opposition.The left criticized Merkel’s plan, sealed at the weekend with her Bavarian conservative allies, as being too draconian while the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party...Read More

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese state-backed media group CMC Inc said on Tuesday it raised around 10 billion yuan ($1.49 billion) in a fundraising round from investors including tech giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) and Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK).CMC Inc, one half of the CMC media empire that spans from sports to amusement parks, said the A-round fundraising was led by the two Ch...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices experienced a mild recovery on Wednesday July 4 on higher sales following gains in the futures market. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,950-4,000 yuan ($593-600) per tonne, widened upward by 10 yuan per tonne Northern China (Beijing): 3,880-3,920 yuan per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonne Rebar futures surged during the first hour of trading, which boosted buying intere...Read More

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Oil and gas contracts awarded under the Mexican government’s energy reform will be respected by the incoming administration provided no problems emerge in a revision of the process, the man designated to run the finance ministry said on Wednesday.Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador won Sunday’s vote by a landslide and Carlos Urzua, his choice for finance ministe...Read More

BullionBuzz Chart of the WeekMajor market events have occurred on average every 6.5 yearsSource: measuringwealth.com; BMG Group Inc.Read More

The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by John MauldinIn describing the global debt train wreck, Mauldin thinks that many of us define debt too narrowly.A debt occurs when you receive something now in exchange for a promise to give something back later. It doesn't have to be cash. If you borrow your neighbor's lawn mower and promise to return it next Tuesday, that's...Read More

The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Patti DommInvestors bailed out of US stocks at a near-record pace last week, as money flowing into Treasury bills surged to a 10-year high.Outflows from stock funds and ETFs totaled $24.2 billion, the third-highest ever. The $30 billion that came out of global stock funds was the second-highest ever and the largest since the f...Read More

The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by John HussmanExperimental monetary policy and subdued growth in wages following the global financial crisis has contributed to a dysfunctional equilibrium with massive increases in debt burdens at government, household and corporate levels.Minimal savings and growing consumer debt have contributed to elevated profit margins tha...Read More

"The U.S. is not an island. The U.S. is not going to have 4% GDP growth while the rest of the world implodes...I look at the data, and data says this is the most dangerous market ever. This is the most precarious GDP on a global basis that we have ever had."Michael Pento is a specialist in Austrian economics and is the President of Pento Portfolio Strategies. Prior to starting Pento Portfolio Stra...Read More

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was one of the most successful brands in 20th-century politics, but a record defeat in Sunday’s presidential election has left its future hanging in the balance.Pushed into third place with its worst-ever showing, the PRI candidate Jose Antonio Meade won just over 16 percent of the vote, less than a thir...Read More

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said welfare minister Esther McVey will correct a statement to parliament after McVey was accused of making misleading remarks about problems with the roll-out of a controversial welfare reform.“It is very clear that ministers should correct the record in parliament, and the welfare secretary will be correcting the record,” May told...Read More

The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Ronan ManleyMuch of the recent commentary on gold has been focused on the fact that the (US dollar) gold price has moved lower. Gold has fallen approximately 3.8% over the last 6 months to around $1,250, a drop of $50.Since gold (or rather, synthetic gold and derivatives) is traded in US dollars, and since much of the financia...Read More

The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Rudi Fronk & Jim AnthonyGold is the ultimate safe haven for 2 simple reasons: its total above ground supply only grows 1.4% per year, and gold is final settlement for the payment of obligations. It is universally accepted, in physical form, and doesn't need to be translated into someone else's currency.Markets are not interest...Read More

The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Ruben SprichSwitzerland is betting on physical gold. Its pension fund has boosted bullion investment, switching from US-dollar-backed paper securities."The Swiss government pension system decided to change from paper gold in the amount of 700 million CHF into physical gold and store it in Switzerland. The 700 million only stan...Read More