The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Zweig famously referred to gold as a “Pet Rock” in 2015. He was blasted by people who understand that gold is no passing fad, and it serves some very important roles in an investment portfolio.The valuable roles played by gold have been well covered here. It’s a hedge against both inflation and deflation, it represents true diversification fo...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices were flat on Wednesday October 23 as active selling by stockists offset stronger billet and futures prices. Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,580-3,610 yuan ($505-510) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,550-3,590 yuan per tonne, unchangedTangshan's billet price picked up by 30 yuan per tonne after local blast furnace operators cut their production by...Read More

Precious Metals enjoyed a very strong move this past summer. Both Gold and gold stocks broke past multi-year resistance and showed the kind of positive momentum that has been lacking for years.  But strong momentum coupled with major technical resistance set in, along with a temporary shift in fundamentals, thus creating a roadblock and a correction. The precious metals complex has corrected...Read More

Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday October 23. Key drivers  Ferro-titanium market stability extended for a third week despite only low volumes reported sold.  Only one truckload of ferro-titanium was reported being sold at $4.50 per kg delivered, duty-paid.  Alloy suppliers are looking to start negotiations for deliveries on longer-term agreements as s...Read More

An overview of the noble alloys markets and their latest price moves.Read More

Richard (Rick) Mills, Ahead of the herd In the first quarter of 2019, global debt hit $246.5 trillion. Encouraged by lower interest rates, governments went on a borrowing binge as they ramped up spending, adding $3 trillion to world debt in Q1 alone. It reverses a trend that started in the beginning of 2018, of reducing debt burdens, when global debt reached its highest on record, $248 trillio...Read More

Clint Siegner, Money MetalsThe Wall Street Journal's Jason Zweig famously referred to gold as a "Pet Rock" in 2015. He was blasted by people who understand that gold is no passing fad, and it serves some very important roles in an investment portfolio.The valuable roles played by gold have been well covered here. It's a hedge against both inflation and deflation, it represents true diversifi...Read More

By: Ira EpsteinGold's volatility has been coming out of the market. $1,498.7 would break the bearish pattern: Read More

Gold is up big since we turned bullish on it about a year ago.With an impending move to either Quad 2 or Quad 3 (two economic regimes in which inflation is accelerating), the best of the returns in Gold might be behind.Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough and Senior Macro analyst Darius Dale explain why it doesn't mean you should "sell it all" or go short gold. As our subscribers know, Gold is up big sinc...Read More

Anglo American has raised the 2019 iron ore production guidance for its Minas Rio operations in Brazil while maintaining that for its Kumba operations in South Africa.The miner now expects Minas Rio to produce 20-22 million tonnes of the steelmaking raw material, compared with 19-21 million tonnes previously, it said in its third-quarter production report published on Tuesday October 22.The miner...Read More

Brazilian import volumes of flat steel products dipped by 22.51% in September 2019 while long steel imports almost doubled, soaring by 96.86%, according to figures from the country's economy ministry.Imports of hot-rolled coil (HRC) from China were only 619 tonnes last month, compared with 15,589 tonnes a year before.Meanwhile, China exported only 2,827 tonnes of cold-rolled coil (CRC) to Brazil,...Read More

Some readers have commented that the Gold ETF has outperformed the S&P 500 over its existence.That analysis erroneously takes into account only the price change of the two instruments, and does not take into account the dividend yield of the stock index.Gold can be thought of as a negative yielding asset that is bid up in times of stress. Gold prices have correlated highly with the stock of ne...Read More

An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More

Domestic hot-rolled coil prices in Northern Europe have been stable over the past week, while prices in the south declined by ?,?5 per tonne over the period, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday October 23.Although the prices have not changed significantly, the market remains under downward pressure from poor demand.Northern EuropeDomestic prices for HRC in the north of Europe have been stab...Read More

The price of steel rebar in the Southern European domestic market has been stable this week but participants were closely watching the ferrous scrap markets to see how prices there would develop, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday October 23.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Southern Europe, was ?,?445-465 ($496-518) per tonne on Wednesday, unc...Read More

CIS billet producers continued to increase their export offer prices, this week, amid reduced availability of the material in the market.Offers from Ukraine were limited because three mills- Dneprovskiy Dzerzhinsky Metallurgical Plant (DMKD), Dnipro Metallurgical Plant (DMP) and Elektrostal have idled parts of their facilities because of this year's unfavorable pricing environment.U...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday October 23 that are worth another look.Taseko Mines Limited is in the process of seeking a listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with approval anticipated prior to the end of 2019.Chilean iron ore and long steel producer Compa???-a de Acero de Pac?-fico (CAP) was forced to reduce production from some o...Read More

Trade unions representing workers for Chile's state-run miner Codelco have called on their members to mobilize in support of protests against the government.Union No1 for Codelco's Chuquicamata has joined Sindicato No1 for BHP's Escondida in backing protestors, whose opposition to inequality in the country has escalated into alleged looting and arson, and to violent confrontations with the militar...Read More

Three of the largest silver producers in the world saw their combined mine supply continue to weaken in the first seven months of 2019...by Steve St Angelo of SRSrocco ReportThree of the largest silver producers in the world saw their combined mine supply continue to weaken in the first seven months of 2019. While Mexico and Chile experienced declines in their silver production, Peru was by far...Read More

A combination of weak macroeconomics and an anticipated increase of global aluminium supply is prompting expectations that more participants will purchase metal with the intention of holding and financing it for long-term gain. The expected slowdown of the global economy, participants say, will lead to a decline in demand and metal consumption meaning more stock will be put on warrant on the Londo...Read More