Base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange are experiencing downward pressure this morning, Friday February 9, with the complex posting an average loss of 0.7% amid healthy volumes. Nickel (-1.6%) has been hit the worst, while copper (-0.2%) appears to be the most resilient.The downward pressure across the industrial metals is driven by a deterioration in risk sentiment in Asia, evident in eq...Read More
Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves across the global metal markets this week.Base metalsThe London Metal Exchange's average daily volume was little changed for January 2018 from a year earlier but only when taking into account trading changes due to MiFID II. It was a tough week for the copper market - prices fell to their weakest since mid-December a...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 9 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures fell across the board today with SHFE tin and nickel down 2%. While copper slid over 1%, SHFE zinc, aluminium and lead all edged down.The performance of the ferrous complex was no different from its base metals peers. Coke dropped nearly 2% while hot-rolled coil was down 1.5%. Rebar fell 1% as coking coal and iron ore slipped. Copper: T...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 9 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures fell across the board today with SHFE tin and nickel down 2%. While copper slid over 1%, SHFE zinc, aluminium and lead all edged down.The performance of the ferrous complex was no different from its base metals peers. Coke dropped nearly 2% while hot-rolled coil was down 1.5%. Rebar fell 1% as coking coal and iron ore slipped. Copper: T...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 9 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures fell across the board today with SHFE tin and nickel down 2%. While copper slid over 1%, SHFE zinc, aluminium and lead all edged down.The performance of the ferrous complex was no different from its base metals peers. Coke dropped nearly 2% while hot-rolled coil was down 1.5%. Rebar fell 1% as coking coal and iron ore slipped. Copper: T...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 9 (SMM) – LME copper inventory added over 40,000 mt over the past two days to 336,225 mt as of Friday February 9, highest level seen since May 2017. The ratio of cancelled warrants also dropped to 12.9% amid weak demand. For editorial queries, please contact Daisy Tseng at daisy@smm.cn For more information on how to access our research reports, please email ser...Read More
This week's "flash crash" has inflicted some technical damage on the market but nothing too serious, for the moment. However, some caution is warranted.To gauge where the markets go from here I believe it important to focus on how the Dow Transport Index behaves, as it is the weaker of the two main Dow Indices (as was the case in 1998 and 1999, just before the tech crash of 2000). Currently, it is...Read More
Private Blog Posts have been Made Available on Gold & the Euro for Today’s ClosingPrivate blog posts are exclusively available to Socrates subscribers. To sign-up for Socrates or to learn more, please visit Ask-Socrates.com.Read More
DiggerLoop is headed back to SpaceX. The Colorado School of Mines student team was one of just 20 worldwide chosen this month to advance to the finals of the main 2018 SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition, set to be held this summer at SpaceX headquarters in California.It's the second year in a row that DiggerLoop has qualified for the international collegiate competition, which pits futuristic tran...Read More
Lead was the only base metal traded on the London Metal Exchange to close in positive territory on Friday February 9, with the others falling while the dollar strengthened further.The three-month copper price hit its lowest since December 14 earlier today before closing back below $6,700 per tonne for the first time in 2018. "The copper price continues to unwind, touching its lowest in nearly eigh...Read More
The London Metal Exchange's average daily volume (ADV) was little changed for January 2018 when compared with the previous year, but only when you take into account trading changes due to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II.The headline ADV figure for January 2018 is 712,722 lots per day, which appears to be a huge increase on face value compared with 619,524 lots in January...Read More
Iron ore prices fell below $77 per tonne cfr China on Friday February 9 due to a slowdown in trading activity ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays.Metal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore Index Today: $76.46 per tonne cfr QingdaoDaily change: down by $0.86 per tonneMonth-to-date average: $75.70 per tonneMetal Bulletin's 58% Fe Premium Index Today: $60.88 per tonne cfr QingdaoDaily change: down by $0.92...Read More
European stainless steel base prices have remained unchanged over the past week, sources told Metal Bulletin on Friday February 9.Metal Bulletin's weekly base price assessment on Friday for 2mm, grade-304 CR stainless steel sheet was ?,?1,060-1,120 ($1,299-1,373) per tonne delivered in Northern Europe."The good market sentiment in January didn't turn into much [buying] action, and it seems like th...Read More
Lead was the only base metal traded on the London Metal Exchange to close in positive territory on Friday February 9, with the others falling while the dollar strengthened further.The three-month copper price hit its lowest since December 14 earlier today before closing back below $6,700 per tonne for the first time in 2018. "The copper price continues to unwind, touching its lowest in nearly eigh...Read More
The US aluminium foundry premium has stayed flat again this month, while premiums in Germany and Eastern Europe slipped.US foundry alloy premium flat on limited spot activity The US aluminium foundry alloy premium has remained at 9-11 cents per pound, with market participants reporting that conditions cited for raising other US aluminium premiums did not appear to have an effect. "I assume ABI [Al...Read More
Rio Tinto is continuing to assess the viability of the Jadar lithium-borate project in Serbia, which already hits a number of key criteria for approval, a senior executive at Rio Tinto told Metal Bulletin. "For us, Jadar is a great asset and has a by-product credit, which puts it at the lower end of the cost curve. We have to finalize the feasibility and pre-feasibility studies, and get board appr...Read More
Comex copper prices slipped to a multi-month low in US morning trading on Friday February 9, with a stronger dollar, reduced liquidity and stock market gyrations all combining to weigh on the base metals complex. Copper for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was recently down 2.85 cents or 0.92% to $3.0535 per lb. This morning, the contract fell to $3.0475,...Read More
Chile's copper mine production fell 0.9% in 2017, mostly affected by strike action at BHP-operated Escondida mine. The country's total output came to 5.5 million tonnes, against 5.55 million in 2016, according to figures from the Chilean copper commission, Cochilco. Concentrates accounted for 3.92 million tonnes of copper produced last year, from 3.89 million tonnes in...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Friday February 9.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were down across the board during morning trading following a significant rise in aluminium and copper stocks. Here's how LME base metals prices looked at 12:11 London time:Read our live futures report here. "Base metals are likely to enjoy renewed...Read More
The London Metal Exchange's average daily volume (ADV) was little changed for January 2018 when compared with the previous year, but only when you take into account trading changes due to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II.The headline ADV figure for January 2018 is 712,722 lots per day, which appears to be a huge increase on face value compared with 619,524 lots in January...Read More