Brazil-based steel group Gerdau is confident about a recovery in steel demand in the country, mainly from the industrial and automotive industries."We are seeing an increase in demand, especially in the industrial and automotive sectors," chief executive officer Gustavo Werneck said on Wednesday February 28."In construction, there are signs of a gradual recovery, and at a stronger pace than in 201...Read More

RAPAPORT... Rapaporthas signed an agreement to be the official media partner for the Carat+ tradeshow taking place in Antwerp this May. As part of the deal, Rapaport Magazineand its online news site, Diamonds.net, will offer coverage of the show, whilealso promoting the event through print and digital advertising. Carat+, which will run from May 6 to 8 atAntwerp Expo, is being billed as the world...Read More

(IDEX Online) - India's polished exports in January soared by almost 29 percent to $2.08 billion.   Polished exports for the April to January period showed a rise of 4.2 percent to $19.3 billion, according to the figures released by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).   The GJEPC said that imports of rough surged by 13.6 percent in January to almost $1.44 billi...Read More

RAPAPORT...Three companies in Nirav Modi's jewelry empire - A.Jaffe, FirestarDiamond, and Fantasy - have filed for bankruptcy in the US, with two of themhoping to find buyers soon.Indian investigators are probing allegations that Modidefrauded Punjab National Bank of $1.8 billion by obtaining unauthorized loans.The total amount could be about $200 million more than that, the lender said inan updat...Read More

China's steel purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell into contraction territory in February after nine months of expansion.The index fell 1.4 points to 49.5 points in comparison with that for January, according to data released by the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing (CFLP) on Wednesday February 28.Business activity in the steel industry thinned...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers' diamond-grading unit will launch two of itseducational courses in Chinese, aiming to tap the important and fast-growingmarket. The International Institute of Diamond Grading &Research (IIDGR) will offer its online Diamond Foundation Course - covering theentire pipeline - in Simplified Chinese from March 1. It will translate itsPolished Diamond Grading Course later this ye...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research (IIDGR), part of De Beers Group, will launch two of its diamond education courses in Simplified Chinese, helping students in one of the largest and fastest growing markets for diamond jewelry to enhance their knowledge of the industry.   The online Diamond Foundation Course, which was launched last year and is the i...Read More

RAPAPORT...Indian companies Dharmanandan Diamonds and Hari Krishna Exportshave adopted blockchain technology to improve traceability of stones throughthe supply chain.Dharmanandan, a Mumbai-based manufacturer, has partneredwith technology company Everledger to place its diamond-tracking data onto ablockchain platform. The collaboration marries two existing projects:Everledger's diamond blockchain,...Read More

Prices for domestic steel wire rod inched upward by ?,?5 per tonne in Southern Europe this week with mills well-booked and supply tight, sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday February 28.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic mesh-quality wire rod in Southern Europe widened upward to ?,?535-560 ($658-688) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, compared with ?,?530-555 per tonne delive...Read More

Export prices for Southern Europe-origin rebar have held steady this week with prices remaining too high for customers in Algeria, market sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday February 28.Metal Bulletin's weekly export price assessment for Southern European rebar was ?,?480-490 ($590-602) per tonne fob main ports on Wednesday, unchanged week-on-week.Mills in Italy and Spain have seen their lead...Read More

Base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange are mainly weaker this morning, Wednesday February 28, with prices off by an average of 0.4%. Lead prices lead the decline with a 1% drop, followed by copper prices (-0.6%) at $6,989 per tonne. Tin, zinc and nickel prices are off between 0.2% and 0.4%, while aluminium prices are little changed. This follows a day of general weakness on Tuesday that s...Read More

Domestic prices for cold-rolled coil (CRC) in the EU have been largely unchanged over the past week, although import prices have inched upward, sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday February 28."The market is more or less quiet, because buyers have booked their required volumes. Non-EU suppliers have increased their offers so imports are not having any negative effect on prices," a German trade...Read More

SHANGHAI, Feb 28 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures saw mixed trading on Wednesday February 28 with SHFE lead leading the loss with a 1.5% drop. SHFE copper was down by 1.4%, zinc slid over 1%, while nickel edged down. Aluminium and tin inched up.In the ferrous market, rebar and hot-rolled coil were up slightly while coking coal was down over 1%. Coke and iron ore edged down.Copper: The SHFE...Read More

SHANGHAI, Feb 28 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures saw mixed trading on Wednesday February 28 with SHFE lead leading the loss with a 1.5% drop. SHFE copper was down by 1.4%, zinc slid over 1%, while nickel edged down. Aluminium and tin inched up.In the ferrous market, rebar and hot-rolled coil were up slightly while coking coal was down over 1%. Coke and iron ore edged down.Copper: The SHFE...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) in the EU have been largely stable over the past week, with buyers holding back from new deals after booking sufficient volumes earlier, sources have told Metal Bulletin."Second-quarter production coil is well sold, so buyers are in no hurry to make new deals until a new trend in the market becomes clear," a German trader said.In the meantime, prices are u...Read More

SHANGHAI, Feb 28 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures saw mixed trading on Wednesday February 28 with SHFE lead leading the loss with a 1.5% drop. SHFE copper was down by 1.4%, zinc slid over 1%, while nickel edged down. Aluminium and tin inched up.In the ferrous market, rebar and hot-rolled coil were up slightly while coking coal was down over 1%. Coke and iron ore edged down.Copper: The SHFE...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 2 point in pre-opening trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the second estimate for real U.S. fourth quarter GDP growth. Consensus was a slip to 2.5% from the first estimate at 2.6%. Actual was growth at a 2.5% rate.The Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged following release of the Federal...Read More

SHANGHAI, Feb 28 (SMM) -Copper: A stronger US dollar drove LME copper lower towards the 60-day moving average, but prices are likely to rise in the medium term as downstream consumption recovers and Chinese scrap imports decline. We see LME copper to trade at $7,000-7,070/mt and the SHFE 1804 contract at 52,500-53,100 yuan/mt today. Spot discounts are seen getting smaller as sellers held up.A...Read More

After almost 2 years of poor earnings performance going into the 2016 elections, the S&P 500 Index earnings per share (EPS) has grown strongly in each of the last 5 reporting periods ending March 1st, 2018. The current reports indicate that nearly 75% of companies beat both earnings and sales estimates, the highest quarter of surprises since this metric was first tracked by FactSet in 2008. Th...Read More

SHANGHAI, Feb 28 (SMM) -Copper: A stronger US dollar drove LME copper lower towards the 60-day moving average, but prices are likely to rise in the medium term as downstream consumption recovers and Chinese scrap imports decline. We see LME copper to trade at $7,000-7,070/mt and the SHFE 1804 contract at 52,500-53,100 yuan/mt today. Spot discounts are seen getting smaller as sellers held up.A...Read More