SOFIA (Reuters) - No one will gain from a trade war, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday, speaking hours after the United States and China slapped tit-for-tat duties on $34 billion worth of the other’s imports.“Trade war is never a solution,” Li said at a news briefing with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov in Sofia before a summit with 16 central and eastern European...Read More

In the face of increasingly volatile markets in Asia, it is becoming more and more crucial for participants to engage in hedging to cut their risks of incurring losses, industry sources told Metal Bulletin."Hedging is very important as sharp fluctuations in spot prices can happen outside of the more normal market forces of supply and demand," GFI Group steel derivatives broker Henry Herbert said.U...Read More

(Reuters) - Gold miner Acacia Mining Plc (ACAA.L) said on Friday it expected 2018 production to come in at the top end of this year’s reduced target of 435,000-475,000 ounces.Acacia, a unit of Canada’s Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) and Tanzania’s largest gold miner, said first half production fell more than 40 percent to 254,759 ounces from a year earlier.It produced 133,778 ounces of go...Read More

* Copper set for steepest weekly drop since Jan 2015* GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl (Updates with closing prices)By Eric OnstadLONDON, July 6 (Reuters) - Copper rebounded on Friday from a fresh 11-month low, as some investors regard the recent sharp losses as exaggerated and believe the metal has hit bottom.Copper, widely viewed as a bellwether for the global economy, has been ba...Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government may not meet a court-ordered deadline to reunite migrant parents with their children who were separated after illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, according to court documents filed overnight.The U.S. Department of Justice asked the U.S. District Court in San Diego to clarify if it would be breaching the court’s order if families were reunited...Read More

As steel markets grow in maturity and look towards the use of derivatives and hedging tools, it is probably a good time to consider how hedging can increase the transparency of steel pricing and reducing the risks of volatile price trends. Steel trading has traditionally been based on fixed spot prices, with no long-term contracts between buyers and sellers to ensure stability of supply. And trade...Read More

(Adds details on official response, Bitso cyber attack)By Daina Beth SolomonMEXICO CITY, July 6 (Reuters) - Mexico’s financial authorities on Friday warned local banks to be on alert for potential cyber attacks and to strengthen security systems, activating protocols established in the wake of recent bank hacks.Mexico’s central bank, Finance Ministry and banking regulator said in a sta...Read More

The price of US domestic rebar will remain unchanged due to a lack of market activity, while import prices have dipped on the Section 232 tariffs on steel imports from Canada, Mexico, and the EU, which have effectively priced foreign products out of domestic markets.American Metal Market's price for US domestic rebar remained at $35-36 per hundredweight ($700-720 per ton), according to the la...Read More

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union told Britain on Friday there were still too many unanswered questions over Brexit, increasing the pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May as she tries to unite her government over plans to leave the bloc.As the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned that time was running out, May convened talks on Friday at her Chequers country reside...Read More

MAIQUETIA, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela’s domestic airline industry is struggling to maintain operations due to hyperinflation and shortages of spare parts, according to an industry association, making it increasingly hard to obtain tickets and causing chronic flight delays.The domestic air fleet has shrunk 80 percent since 2014 to around 20 functioning aircraft, the Venezuelan air indust...Read More

Bombs Away!Two recent articles* have again demonstrated that the greatest "terrorist" entity on earth are not the bogymen - Russia, China, Iran, North Korea - so often portrayed by Western presstitutes and the American government, but the United States itself! This is an old cartoon, but still a good one. It perfectly describes the trigger-happy Western political class and the depth of its "think...Read More

Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market over the past week.Raw materialsTurkish mills were absent from the global scrap markets during the week ending on July 6, owing to weaker finished steel demand and a wait-and-see attitude.Taiwanese scrap prices ticked up on steady mill demand, while Indian prices were subdued for a second week.Metal Bulletin announced the...Read More

LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump would like a quick trade deal with Britain once Brexit is finished, the U.S. ambassador to Britain said on Friday ahead of a presidential visit to London next week that will keep Trump largely away from planned mass protests.Trump arrives in Britain on Thursday after a NATO summit in Belgium that could turn contentious over the U.S. leader&rsquo...Read More

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil was mixed on Friday, with short-covering pushing up U.S. crude futures while Brent slipped on global trade tensions and increased Saudi production.West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 gained 61 cents to $73.55 by 11:30 a.m. (1530 GMT). Global benchmark Brent LCOc1 was down 39 cents at $77 a barrel.For the week, WTI was on track for a loss of about 0.4 percent while B...Read More

US mills are holding back on further price increases on rebar to avoid a government reaction, thereby making it harder for imports to compete, the International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association (Irepas) said this week.On June 20, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross accused unnamed industry participants of wrongly "profiteering" from Section 232 tariffs on imported steel, suggesting the Trump...Read More

The pig iron market in the United States was silent on the country's Independence Day holiday on July 4, sources told Metal Bulletin this week."[Price] negotiations are taking place [in the US] but, due to the holiday, we expect more activity next week," one pig iron supplier in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) told Metal Bulletin.Metal Bulletin's price assessment for US pig iron...Read More

LONDON (Reuters) - S&P Global warned on Friday that it could downgrade Mexico’s BBB+ credit rating if there was a “retreat” from the NAFTA trade pact that it shares with the United States and Canada.A retreat wouldn’t necessarily mean a complete scrapping of NAFTA but it would mean changes that lessen its benefits, one of S&P’s top sovereign analysts, Joydeep...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

* US payrolls push down U.S, German yields* Euro zone yields lower across the board* U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods take effect* Euro zone periphery govt bond yields tmsnrt.rs/2ii2Bqr (Rewrites to reflect moves after U.S. payroll data)By Dhara Ranasinghe and Abhinav RamnarayanLONDON, July 6 (Reuters) - Euro zone government bond yields gave up their gains after payroll data in the United States sh...Read More

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 rally to start marching high...Read More