Seaborne coking coal prices were steady on Thursday December 26, with Chinese market participants driving trading activity in the absence of buyers from other parts of the world due to the year-end festive season.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $133.13 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $147.95 per tonne, up $0.48 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT:...Read More
China and the U.S. have reached a preliminaryagreement, which softens their trade war, while the landslide victory ofConservative Party in the UK parliamentary elections clears the path to Brexit.Given that downside risks for the global economy are now significantly lower,how much do investors still need gold? UKParliamentary Elections and GoldOn Thursday, the British people voted in another snapp...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil producers kept their export offers high on Thursday December 26 amid stability in the domestic market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,890-3,910 yuan ($556-559) per tonne, widening upward by 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,640 yuan per tonne, narrowing upward by 10 yuan per tonneA Shanghai-based trader reported moderate trading activity in eastern China dur...Read More
Federal Reserve ChairmanJerome Powell’s comments on inflation last Wednesday added fuel to the contra-dollartrade.During a press conferencefollowing the Fed’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged, Powell said,“In order to move rates up, I would want to see inflation that's persistent andthat's significant. A significant move up in inflation that's alsopersistent..."To...Read More
Trade log for battery-grade lithium carbonate in China including trades, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Unless otherwise stated, all prices are per tonne on an ex-works China basis. Delivered prices are netted back. Fastmarkets prices Click here for Fastmarkets price assessment for lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot price range exw China, yuan/tonne. Fastmarkets lithi...Read More
Tonight I would like to update some commodities charts we haven’t looked at in a while. There have been some subtle changes taking place that need to be addressed. Just like the PM complex that topped out in 2011 many commodities also topped out that same year and have been correcting ever since. With the US dollar at an important inflection point it may be time for commodities in general to...Read More
Earlier this year, various gold stock indices (XAU, HUI, GDX) gained more than fifty percent in just three months. Most of the negativity associated with the sector was brushed aside and replaced by positive expectations for the future.Of course, the 90-day rush to this year’s highs did not occur in a vacuum. The price of gold rose by twenty percent over the same three-month period. Th...Read More
Technical analyst Clive Maund charts the longer term picture for silver.Like gold, silver has been in a corrective downtrend following its peak early in September, and it looks like it has further to run before its done, partly of course because we have a downside target for gold in the $1360–$1400 area before it turns up. On the 6-month month we can see how it has been stumbling lower withi...Read More
The gold miners’ stockshave largely been consolidating high following last summer’s powerful upleg. That resilience has left sentiment relativelybullish, with traders mostly expecting this sector to soon start surging again. But the jury is still out on whethergold stocks will be lucky enough to evade a bigger correction. Major downside risks still abound, primarilyin...Read More
The Fed kept the interest rates unchanged in December. The statement was rather hawkish, while the dot-plot rather dovish. What does such a mix imply for the yellow metal? Fed Keeps Interest Rates UnchangedYesterday, the FOMC published the monetary policy statement from its latest meeting that took place on December 10-11th. In line with expectations, the U.S. central bank left the federal funds r...Read More
Verylittle happened in the precious metals market both yesterday and in today’spre-market trading – at least so far. We will take this opportunity to discusssomething that we haven’t done in a while – silverstocks.To be clear, we’re not going to discuss the silver mining stock selection, asthat’s something our proprietaryalgorithms do on a daily basis. And yes,...Read More
Gold-linked exchange-traded products are growing in popularitywith investors. Assets held by gold ETFs have grown 38% globally in 2019. In October, according to the World Gold Council, gold ETFsattracted $1.9 billion in net inflows to reach a new record high total goldholding of 2,900 tonnes – at least on paper.There is good reason to be skeptical of whether all these “gold”vehic...Read More
Gold,silver, and mining stocks reversed practically exactly at their double trianglereversal point and the short positions that we opened along with takingprofits off the table from the previous longpositions, became profitable almost instantly. There’s quite a decline to catchhere, and it seems that only a small part thereof had already taken place. PMsReversingTheabove chart clearly shows...Read More
WOOD, one of the Ishares ETF symbols related to the Real Estate and Construction sectors may become the next hottest instrument for skilled technical traders. Over the past three years, Wood has rallied over 110% between a $40 to $84 range and the trading volume of WOOD has been relatively consistent near an average of about 140k shares per week. Let’s dig into the opportunities...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices weakened further on Thursday December 26 with late-January-loading cargoes of Pilbara Blend materials traded at discounts to indices.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $90.63 per tonne, down $0.40 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $89.72 per tonne, down $0.40 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $90.61 per tonne, down $0.78...Read More
We're witnessing serious banker short covering in silver, and we are also just saw a humongous increase in silver's open interest. Here's an update...by Harvey Organ of Harvey Organ BlogDEC 24//THE ASSAULT ON 1500 DOLLAR GOLD AND 18 DOLLAR SILVER BEGINS: GOLD UP $14.60 TO $1499.75//SILVER UP 32 CENTS TO $17.75//GOLD:$1499.75 UP $14.60 (COMEX TO COMEX CLOSINGSilver:$17.75 UP 32 CENTS (COMEX...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices were steady on Thursday December 26, with Chinese market participants driving trading activity in the absence of buyers from other parts of the world due to the year-end festive season.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $133.13 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $147.95 per tonne, up $0.48 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT:...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil producers kept their export offers high on Thursday December 26 amid stability in the domestic market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,890-3,910 yuan ($556-559) per tonne, widening upward by 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,640 yuan per tonne, narrowing upward by 10 yuan per tonneA Shanghai-based trader reported moderate trading activity in eastern China dur...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices dropped further in the morning of Thursday December 26 on weak demand, though they recovered in the latter part of the day due to rising futures. Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,610-3,660 yuan ($516-523) per tonne, down 20-40 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,480-3,520 yuan per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonnePrices in eastern China dropped to 3,610-3,630 yuan per...Read More
The China Smelters Purchase Team (CSPT) has set its treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) purchase price floor for the first quarter of 2020 at $67 per tonne and 6.7 cents per lb, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday December 26.The CSPT, which comprises purchasing managers from the country's largest copper smelters, made the decision at its quarterly meeting in Fuzhou city, Fujian province, on...Read More