Exchange operator CME Group reports that metals-tradingvolume averaged a record 763,000 contracts per day in January, up 45%from 525,000 in the same month a year ago. Sequentially, last month’s volumewas up 44% from 531,000 in December. January gold futures and options averagedaily volume was 45% higher year-on-year to 491,000 contracts, while that forsilver rose 48% to 112,000 con...Read More
(Kitco News)- Thegold market has fallen into negative territory on the day as the U.S. labormarket showed stronger-than-expected growth last month.Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said 200,000 jobs were created in January.Economists were expecting to see job gains of 181,000. While the January numbers were better than expected, the report said that November employment was revised down to 216...Read More
NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. bond market's gauges of inflation expectations added to their earlier rise on Friday as domestic wages recorded their strongest annual increase in more than 8-1/2 years, suggesting inflation may be accelerating. The 10-year inflation breakeven rate, or the yield gap between 10-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities and regular 10-year Treasury notes, reac...Read More
MOSCOW, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Russian steelmakers are anticipating rising domestic demand in 2018 thanks in large part to Russia's economic recovery, despite expectations that current buoyant global steel prices would edge lower mid-year.Severstal , one of Russia's largest steel producers, posted better-than-expected financial results for the fourth quarter of 2017 on Friday and said it forecast a ris...Read More
BRASILIA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Brazil has shelved a planned railway to ship commodities destined for China through Peru as it was too costly and faced "absurd" engineering challenges, a Brazilian official said.The 5,000-km (3,300-mile) railway over the Andes to the Pacific coast, announced during a visit by President Xi Jinping in 2014, was meant to speed up soybean and iron ore exports to...Read More
Yamana Gold Inc. (TSX: YRI; NYSE: AUY) reportstwo fatalities occurred in an accident at the Gualcamayo mine in Argentina.Officials say the incident involved two employees of a local contractortraveling in a truck on an access road at the Las Vacas exploration site, butfurther details and exact cause are not known at this time. An investigationhas begun. “On behalf of everyone at Yamana,...Read More
Equities aregetting clobbered again this morning as volatility is back. This week, theequities have had 300-point ranges everyday showing price volatility. Themetals have been active as well but remain in a consolidation range indicatingthey are setting up a big move as well.The mostinteresting item of the week, with the equities seeing increasing fear,interest rates at 4-year highs, gold and...Read More
Editor's Note: Welcome to Kitco's new Bitcoin Daily Technical Alert. Every trading day veteran Kitco technical analyst Jim Wyckoff will provide you with a concise and easy-to-understand near-term technical brief on Bitcoin. Importantly, Jim will glean the short-term charts and technical studies, and then alert you to the signals he sees regarding upcoming potential bigger price moves or price tren...Read More
Editor's Note: Welcome to Kitco's new Bitcoin Daily Technical Alert. Every trading day veteran Kitco technical analyst Jim Wyckoff will provide you with a concise and easy-to-understand near-term technical brief on Bitcoin. Importantly, Jim will glean the short-term charts and technical studies, and then alert you to the signals he sees regarding upcoming potential bigger price moves or price tren...Read More
* U.S. Treasury yield spike fails to boost dollar* Euro holds close to $1.25 mark; gains on week* Traders prepare for non-farm payroll data* Chinese yuan hits fresh 2 1/2 year high* Graphic: World FX rates in 2018 By Tommy WilkesLONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The dollar reversed earlier falls against the euro on Friday as traders took some profits ahead of U.S. non-farm payroll numbers, although its ri...Read More
(Kitco News) - U.S. nonfarm payrolls areback and gold is under pressure, but one analyst says the focus should be onthe U.S. dollar when it comes to gold’s next move. “The gold market wentsideways during yesterday’s [Thursday’s] session as the market is looking forclarity in the movement of the dollar index,” noted Colin First of FX Empire ina post Friday.“...Read More
(Writes through with new quotes, detail)JOHANNESBURG, Feb 2 (Reuters) - All the miners who were trapped underground for more than 24 hours after a storm knocked out powerlines supplying electricity to the Beatrix gold mine in South Africa have been rescued, operator Sibanye-Stillwater said on Friday.In a painstaking rescue mission, the exhausted miners were hoisted up one by one after temporary p...Read More
* Gold in India trades at premium for first time in 5 weeks* Premiums in China at $6-$8/oz* Spot gold rates headed for weekly drop By Nithin ThomasPrasad and Rajendra JadhavBENGALURU/MUMBAI, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Demand for physical gold improved this week in India as jewellers resumed purchases after the government kept import taxes on the precious metal unchanged, while buying remained subdued in m...Read More
Mining and metal companies are rediscovering the downside of rallying prices: higher costs.A sharp rebound in commodity markets in the past two years put producers in a profitability sweet spot after years of cost-cutting to cope with low prices. Now, as the upturn matures and the higher cost of energy and other materials starts to bite, some companies are beginning to struggle to maintain margins...Read More
Mining and metal companies are rediscovering the downside of rallying prices: higher costs.A sharp rebound in commodity markets in the past two years put producers in a profitability sweet spot after years of cost-cutting to cope with low prices. Now, as the upturn matures and the higher cost of energy and other materials starts to bite, some companies are beginning to struggle to maintain margins...Read More
Mining and metal companies are rediscovering the downside of rallying prices: higher costs.A sharp rebound in commodity markets in the past two years put producers in a profitability sweet spot after years of cost-cutting to cope with low prices. Now, as the upturn matures and the higher cost of energy and other materials starts to bite, some companies are beginning to struggle to maintain margins...Read More
Mining and metal companies are rediscovering the downside of rallying prices: higher costs.A sharp rebound in commodity markets in the past two years put producers in a profitability sweet spot after years of cost-cutting to cope with low prices. Now, as the upturn matures and the higher cost of energy and other materials starts to bite, some companies are beginning to struggle to maintain margins...Read More
Mining and metal companies are rediscovering the downside of rallying prices: higher costs.A sharp rebound in commodity markets in the past two years put producers in a profitability sweet spot after years of cost-cutting to cope with low prices. Now, as the upturn matures and the higher cost of energy and other materials starts to bite, some companies are beginning to struggle to maintain margins...Read More
Shares in Africa-focused Gem Diamonds (LON:GEMD) got a fresh boost on Friday after the miner said sales in the fourth quarter of 2017 were higher than in the previous three months, adding it also achieved better prices for its gems.The company, which last month found the world's fifth-biggest diamond in history at its flagship Let??eng mine in Lesotho, sold 31,476 carats during the three month...Read More
Shares in Africa-focused Gem Diamonds (LON:GEMD) got a fresh boost on Friday after the miner said sales in the fourth quarter of 2017 were higher than in the previous three months, adding it also achieved better prices for its gems.The company, which last month found the world's fifth-biggest diamond in history at its flagship Let??eng mine in Lesotho, sold 31,476 carats during the three month...Read More