You say you're tired of punching that clock each day, the pinhead boss, the stale coffee, and the office politics?Enough is enough.You've been planning to breakout on your own for a long time. You have your business plan.You have customers lined up.Now you're ready to pull the plug and enjoy the freedom that comes with self-employment.Well, I worked as an employee for a bunch of years and for the...Read More

It’s no surprise that I’m a fan of investing in today’s retail sector.As I talked about on Saturday, it’s like someone forgot to tell the group that the market is in “correction mode!”Both American Eagle (AEO) and Lululemon Athletica (LULU) are now sitting at 52-week highs after fantastic performances last week. Even department stores Macy’s (M) and Dillar...Read More

Aluminium on the London Metal Exchange continued its record-breaking rally by the close of trading on Monday April 16, rocketing over 5% to reach a high of more than $2,400 per tonne.The light metal closed a dollar short of the $2,400 pertonne mark, its highest since September 2011.Despite lighter volumes in comparison to last week's 35,871lot average, aluminium's strong sentiment continues to dom...Read More

The London Metal Exchange will allow open positions with Russian aluminium producer Rusal to remain open until June 5 and hedges to be unwound as long as payments are made into segregated accounts, it said in a notice to its members on Monday April 16. Some LME members holding hedging or clearing contracts with UC Rusal have been worried about having to immediately unwind positions since the Unite...Read More

Comex copper prices recovered further in the US morning on Monday April 16 amid a brief pause in geopolitical tensions. Copper for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 3.60 cents or 1.2% to $3.1070 per lb. "We expect volatility to remain high this week as the geopolitical situation with Russia remains...Read More

Peter KrauthThe stock market has been especially volatile this year, and that's proving to be a boon for the price of gold…The CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX) more than tripled its January average on Feb. 5, when the Dow Jones sank more than 1,000 points. The VIX is still nearly double its Jan. 1 level.Since the start of 2018, there have been some 100 trading days with a daily movement of...Read More

Turkish steel producers continued their deep-sea scrap purchases for May on Monday April 16 but the prices have gone down slightly following the latest bookings, Metal Bulletin has heard.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a European cargo, comprising 12,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (75:25) at $342 per tonne and 12,000 tonnes of bonus at $362 per tonne cfr, late on April 13.Another steel mill in...Read More

Chinese domestic ferro-silicon prices stabilized last week, with production cuts and a sudden jump in ferro-silicon futures on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange supporting the free market. China garners production, futures support  Europe awaits tenders results  US ends six-week losing streak Metal Bulletin assessed Chinese domestic spot ferro-silicon (basis 75% silicon) prices uncha...Read More

China's newly implemented restrictions on imported copper scrap have caused some drastic changes in global flows that may prompt the country to revert its policy within the next two years, consultant and scrap specialist Michael Lion said during the annual CESCO Week copper conference held in Santiago, Chile, last week. "People are adopting extreme caution," Lion, who serves as president of Lion C...Read More

Vale's copper output in the first quarter of 2018 was 13.2% lower on an annual comparison, reflecting the company's decision to place some mines on care and maintenance and lower ore grades obtained at Salobo mine in Brazil. Vale's copper output in the first quarter of 2018 was 13.2% lower on an annual comparison, reflecting the company's decision to place some mines on care and maintenance and lo...Read More

Vale's nickel production fell 17.9% year on year in the first-quarter 2018, following the company's decision to place non-competitive mines in Canada on care and maintenance, among other steps taken to optimize margins.Finished nickel output came to 58,600 tonnes in the three months ended in March 31, against 71,400 tonnes in the corresponding months of 2017, the Brazilian diversified miner and wo...Read More

Minera Lumina Copper Chile (MLCC) has reached a deal for a new labor contract with union workers at its Caserones mine, the company said late on Friday April 13. The agreement includes a gross bonus of 14 million Chilean pesos ($23,473.90) per worker, as well as a soft loan of 3 million pesos and an average pay rise of 2.5%. The offer was approved by 88% of the unionized workers, the miner said. T...Read More

Comex copper prices recovered further in the US morning on Monday April 16 amid a brief pause in geopolitical tensions. Copper for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 3.60 cents or 1.2% to $3.1070 per lb. "We expect volatility to remain high this week as the geopolitical situation with Russia remains...Read More

The Brazilian competition regulator, Cade, has approved the sale of long steel assets from ArcelorMittal Brasil to Mexico's Grupo Simec, according to a document published in the country's official gazette on Monday April 16.These divestments are part of the merger process between ArcelorMittal Brasil and local long steel producer Votorantim Siderurgia. In February, Cade approved the merger between...Read More

Mexico's steel association, Canacero, has appointed M??ximo Vedoya its new president, it announced on Monday April 16.Vedoya, chief executive officer at Latin American steel producer Ternium, will lead the group for one year, but with the possibility of his mandate being extended for a further two years.He replaces...Read More

Evrim have released some stunning assays from some trenching done at Cuale (link and link), and their share price has gone crazy.However, there may be a bit of a hangover, especially when you look at the detailed assay results  (link), where you can see that in Trench 4, you can see that they have sampled  2 very high-grade structures surrounded by a wide zone of >1 g/t Au mineralizat...Read More

Trading activity in the export market for hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil from the Commonwealth of Independent States remained low during week ended Monday April 16, Metal Bulletin was told. "We will see some activity in the market this week because producers, traders and buyers will meet at a trade fair in Dusseldorf," one trader told Metal Bulletin Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment f...Read More

CIS export rebar and wire rod prices decreased in the week to Monday April 16 on thin trading and a less positive sentiment in the global market.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for CIS wire rod exports dropped to $580-605 per tonne fob Black Sea on April 16, compared with $590-620 per tonne Offers from Russia's Abinsk Steel Mill for May delivery were heard at $595-600 per tonne fob.....Read More

CIS export billet prices remained largely unchanged in the week ended Monday April 16 amid reduced buying activity in the major outlets.Some market participants expected more price declines in the near term, because of the uncertainty in the scrap market."The market [for steel billet exports] will soon fall to $505 per tonne fob Black Sea," one trader said.Meanwhile, some sources expected the mark...Read More

Turkey's flat steel exports increased by 46.53% in February 2018, compared with February 2017, according to the latest figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).But current demand for flat steel is weak in the country's export markets, so export volumes may decrease in the next few months, Turkish market participants told Metal Bulletin.The import tariffs applied by the United States o...Read More