SHANGHAI, Mar 16 (SMM) –Copper: LME copper dipped under pressure from the strong dollar, but the pressure is expected to ease as the Federal Reserve's interest rates hike in March will weaken the upward momentum of US dollar. We see copper prices remaining rangebound in the short term while rising in the long term in anticipation of the destocking period. We expect LME copper to trade at...Read More

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped on Friday, with Brent crude futures hitting their highest in more than two weeks as U.S. stock prices rose and investors covered short bets ahead of a weekend in which the U.S. news program “60 Minutes” will air an interview with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will be on “60 Minutes” on Sunday...Read More

There are two major challenges facing the supply of cross-border mining services (CBMS) in Africa – a lack of resources, such as skills and investment, and poor or nonexistent infrastructure – hindering the enormous growth in mining activity across Africa, says CBMS Indaba conference manager Ros Hinchcliffe. She also highlights how opaque and complex business conditions are, meaning th...Read More

Some steel product prices in the United States have risen in response to the looming introduction of 25% tariffs on imports, while sentiment in steel markets outside the US has been dampened by fears of potential shifts in trade flows. US president Donald Trump signed the 25% tariff into law on March 8 after the conclusion of his government's Section 232 investigation, and from Friday March 23 the...Read More

LONDON (Reuters) - Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.1/ FED A-HEADThe U.S. Federal Reserve’s first meeting with new head Jerome Powell at the helm takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday and an interest rate rise - this year’s first - is seen as a done deal.Against the backdrop of b...Read More

(Bloomberg) - The news, when it came late Friday night from a government ministry in Minsk, was grim: the ceiling of a potash mine in Belarus had collapsed more than half a kilometer underground, trapping two workers.Halfway around the world, the reaction to the headlines was swift and dramatic. Shares of some of the largest potash producers soared in New York and Toronto on speculation that the...Read More

BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) - Britain, France and Germany have proposed fresh EU sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missiles and its role in Syria’s war, according to a confidential document, in a bid to persuade Washington to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.The joint paper, seen by Reuters, was sent to European Union capitals on Friday, said two people familiar with the matter, to...Read More

In a typically trenchant research note on Friday, Ole Hansen, chief commodity strategist at Saxo, warns that the calm on gold markets is likely to be shattered soon.According to calculations by the Danish bank gold was set to experience its tightest weekly trading range in percentage terms since 2012 and in dollar terms since 2007.Subdued dollar trading and the quiet on bullion boards came against...Read More

AIM Journal's Andrew Hore speaks to Proactive Investors about Conviviality (LON:CVL) drowning in worries and looks ahead to the good news to come for erectile dysfunction treatment manufacturer Futura Medical (LON:FUM).Hore also discusses the spectrum of telecommunications activities which are boosting Manx Telecom (LON:MANX) and paints a scenic picture for Marshall Motor Group (LON:MMH) and Penna...Read More

PARIS (Reuters) - Some 110 countries have agreed to work towards forming an international consensus by 2020 on how to tax digital businesses across borders, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Friday.Big digital companies like Google (GOOGL.O), Apple (AAPL.O) and Amazon (AMZN.O) have for years been able to exploit current rules to legally slash their tax bills in some...Read More

Although the probability of a rate hike at the conclusion of this month's FOMC meeting next week is extremely high, traders, analysts, and investors continue to have a wait-and-see attitude. The countdown clock on the CME's FedWatch tool currently reads: 4 days, 19 hours, 9 minutes and counting, as of 3:51 PM Eastern standard time today. Currently, the probability that the Fed will announce a rate...Read More

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission called for industry views on Friday on a list of U.S. products it will subject to import tariffs, the first step towards measures to counter planned U.S. taxes on European steel and aluminum.The European Union wants to be exempted from U.S. duties of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum that U.S. President Donald Trump approved last week. U.S....Read More

(Kitco News) - After months of speculation, the big show is almost here and for gold investors, this could be the metal’s chance to break free. That’s right, next week the only thing investors are watching is the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting. And according to most analysts, there is no doubt that interest rates are moving higher. Markets see a 25-basis point hike as...Read More

Louis Coetzee, chief executive of Kibo Mining PLC (LON:KIBO) tells Proactive all is on track and good progress is being made towards finalising a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with  Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO).''We've made some really good progress over the last two months, we signed the MoU which set everything in motion towards finalising the PPA .. we have a date set for th...Read More

SHANGHAI, Mar 16 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals regained some losses in this afternoon but remained weak at the end of the day. SHFE aluminium, zinc, and lead inched up, while copper, nickel, and tin dropped slightly. The ferrous complex saw mixed trading today as iron ore led losses with a drop over 1%. Rebar and coke edged down, while hot-rolled coil and coking coal inched up.Copper:...Read More

SHANGHAI, Mar 16 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals regained some losses in this afternoon but remained weak at the end of the day. SHFE aluminium, zinc, and lead inched up, while copper, nickel, and tin dropped slightly. The ferrous complex saw mixed trading today as iron ore led losses with a drop over 1%. Rebar and coke edged down, while hot-rolled coil and coking coal inched up.Copper:...Read More

SHANGHAI, Mar 16 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals regained some losses in this afternoon but remained weak at the end of the day. SHFE aluminium, zinc, and lead inched up, while copper, nickel, and tin dropped slightly. The ferrous complex saw mixed trading today as iron ore led losses with a drop over 1%. Rebar and coke edged down, while hot-rolled coil and coking coal inched up.Copper:...Read More

(This March 14 story corrects paragraph 15 to add dropped words “not” and “whether” to show Pennsylvania has not provided funding)By Dustin VolzWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pennsylvania’s tight congressional special election underscores the need for states to replace aging voting machines and use paper ballots as backups to ensure the integrity of vote counts ahead of pivot...Read More

Today is Quadruple Witching Day on Wall Street: the last trade day for March index and equity options and futuresU.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 1 point in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the U.S. February Housing Starts report. Consensus was a drop to 1.264 million units from 1.329 million units in Janua...Read More

(Kitco News) - After months of speculation, the big show is almost here and for gold investors, this could be the metal’s best shot to break out of its current range, according to some analysts.In fact, this is probably the most straight-forward weekly outlook a financial journalist could write because the only thing investors are watching next week is the Federal Reserve’s monetary po...Read More