(Reuters) - BP Plc (BP.L) is in the lead to acquire the U.S. onshore shale assets of BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP.AX) (BLT.L) after submitting an offer worth well in excess of $10 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.BP is the front-runner in the auction for the assets run by BHP, and could reach a deal in coming weeks, the sources added, cautioning that an agreement is not certain and...Read More
China's domestic spot battery-grade lithium carbonate prices fell on Thursday July 5 due to continued weak demand and the availability of cheaper material; hydroxide prices held steady with most producers maintaining their offers although lower prices are starting to be offered. Chinese lithium carbonate prices fell on lower consumption Cheaper battery and industrial-grade carbonate prices o...Read More
ROME (Reuters) - The Italian government has embarked on “positive” discussions with the European Commission over 2019 budget goals and it is “far too early” to indicate what any new deficit target might be, a Treasury source said on Friday.Earlier on Friday, Reuters quoted two Treasury sources as saying the government planned to raise next year’s deficit target to aro...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices edged up after the U.S. economy created more jobs than expected in June. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said 213,000 jobs were created in June. Economists were projecting to see gains of 200,000. At the same time, the U.S. unemployment rate rose from 3.8% to 4.0%. “Over the month, job gains occurred in professional and business services, manufacturing, and health c...Read More
The tentacles of US sanctions may be starting to reach further afield, special correspondent Andrea Hotter muses in the latest Hotter on Metals column. Earlier this week on Tuesday July 3, producer and trading company Glencore said it had received a subpoena from the US Department of Justice to produce documents and other records related to a money laundering probe. Sanctions were not mentioned, b...Read More
Editor's Note: Welcome to Kitco's new Bitcoin Daily Technical Alert. Every trading day veteran Kitco technical analyst Jim Wyckoff will provide you with a concise and easy-to-understand near-term technical brief on Bitcoin. Importantly, Jim will glean the short-term charts and technical studies, and then alert you to the signals he sees regarding upcoming potential bigger price moves or price tren...Read More
Enron was a product of the late 1990's dot.com / tech bubble. Similar to Tesla's "production tent," Enron would set entire floors of buildings to look like elaborate energy trading rooms. The operations were nothing more than a fraudulent shell game, set-up for the benefit of Wall Street analysts and journalists.Bear Stearns was a product of the mid-2000's mortgage bubble. It created catas...Read More
* Spot gold up 0.2 percent for the week * Tariffs on $34 bln of Chinese goods kick in* U.S. jobs data weighs on dollar(Updates prices, headline; adds comment, byline, NEW YORK todateline)By Renita D. Young and Maytaal AngelNEW YORK/LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) - Gold fell on Friday, butbounced off session lows as the dollar weakened and equitiesrose, yet bullion was on track for a small weekly gain am...Read More
(Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose to two-week highs on Friday as strong U.S. jobs growth and a surge in Biogen’s shares helped ease fears of an escalating U.S.-China trade dispute.Biogen rose as much as 15.7 percent and was set for its biggest percentage gain in over a decade after the company and Japanese drugmaker Eisai Co said their Alzheimer’s drug showed promise in a...Read More
Adam HamiltonArchivesJul 06, 2018 Gold has been afflicted by relentless selling over the past few weeks or so, forcing it to major lows. While summer-doldrums weakness is typical, gold's recent drop is on the large side even for this time of year. It was fueled by truly-extreme short selling by gold-futures speculators, which is quickly exhausting. That is paving the way for gold's major autumn ra...Read More
GENEVA (Reuters) - China, Russia and Pakistan lost their bid on Friday to weaken a U.N. resolution upholding the crucial rule of activists in shedding an international spotlight on human rights violations, campaigners said.The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling on all states to protect civil society groups from threats and intimidation, and prosecute reprisals against...Read More
The tentacles of US sanctions may be starting to reach further afield, special correspondent Andrea Hotter muses in the latest Hotter on Metals column. Earlier this week on Tuesday July 3, producer and trading company Glencore said it had received a subpoena from the US Department of Justice to produce documents and other records related to a money laundering probe. Sanctions were not mentioned, b...Read More
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday as stronger-than-expected jobs growth in June and a surge in Biogen’s shares eased concerns about an escalating U.S.-China trade dispute after the two economies slapped tariffs on each other’s imports worth $34 billion.Biogen jumped 15.6 percent and was on track for its biggest percentage gain in over seven years after the company and Japanese dru...Read More
LONDON (Reuters) - The global economy is starting to show signs of strain from the “America First” push of U.S President Donald Trump who will hear renewed pleas to step back from a broader trade war when he visits Europe in the coming week.Against a crescendo of measures and counter-measures, and threats of more to come, caution about investment is growing among employers in many coun...Read More
- U.S. China trade war escalates as Russia stockpiles gold on the Keiser Report- Trump's erratic and risky trade policies pose a risk to dollar as reserve currency- China, Russia "getting cosier" with Silk Road and increasing economic cooperation- China and Russia "want to do business outside of the dollar" and "dollar will finally reach its comeuppance"- "No gold ever leaves China ... they ar...Read More
The UK light iron scrap market finally moved up this week, breaking a 12-week run of stability due to firmer demand and the conclusion of the July monthly delivery settlements to consumers next week.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for UK grade-5C ferrous scrap on an inter-merchant basis was ?95-125 ($126-165) per tonne on Friday. This compares with the low for the year to date of ?90-11...Read More
HONG KONG (Reuters) - China central bank governor Yi Gang said on Friday the country will continue deepening financial reform and opening-up as its economy has entered a stage of “new normal”.China has continued to implement prudent and neutral monetary policy, and used various measures to improve monetary policy framework, Yi said in his visit to the Bulgarian National Bank during the...Read More
NEW YORK (Reuters) - World stock markets rose and the euro climbed to a three-week peak on Friday as the threat of tariffs by the United States and China on billions of dollars of trade became a reality, though concerns about the conflict escalating capped the appetite for risk.MSCI’s measure of world equities markets rose 0.4 percent to the highest level in a week while Asian stocks climbed...Read More
SINGAPORE/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States and China slapped tit-for-tat duties on $34 billion worth of each other’s imports on Friday, with Beijing accusing Washington of triggering the “largest-scale trade war” as the world’s two biggest economies sharply escalated their conflict.MARKET REACTION:The Shanghai Composite index, which recently tumbled into correction te...Read More
SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met North Korean officials in Pyongyang on Friday, hoping to “fill in” details on how to dismantle the North’s nuclear program and recover the remains of U.S. troops missing from the Korean War.Pompeo met Kim Yong Chol, who played a key role with Pompeo in arranging last month’s summit between U.S. President D...Read More