The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Friday January 5.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange mostly stepped slightly lower during morning trading but are generally consolidating at higher levels.Aluminium fell $12.50 but is still in a strong position, with supply-side reforms in China continuing to burnish its underlying fundamentals. The three-...Read More
Good morning from Metal Bulletin's offices in Asia, bringing the key news and market stories on Friday January 5. SHFE copper prices retreated in Asian morning trading on Friday January 5 after surging in the previous afternoon's session, as the market awaits US payroll numbers due out tonight.Check Metal Bulletin's live futures report here. LME snapshot at 0232 London timeLatest 3M LME Pric...Read More
Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves across the global metal markets this week. Base metals Two trading companies have accepted Nornickel's $300 per tonne nickel premium for 2018, while the majority of Nornickel's long-term contract premium negotiations cif China are still in the air. Striking workers at Empresa Nacional de Mineria's (Enami's) copper smelter in Chile...Read More
Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market over the past week.Iron ore prices started 2018 on a rise, gaining further ground on Friday January 5 to $76.80 per tonne cfr Qingdao despite the Chinese steel market retreating again.There was barely any movement in the seaborne coking coal market amid a lack of indicative and firm bids, with buyers still trying to figur...Read More
Steel exports from the Middle East, CIS and India are expected to be the main price setters in Asia in 2018, as production cuts in China over most of the first quarter leave a gaping hole for them to continue to wrestle their way in.Steelmakers in India, Turkey and the Middle East will likely find it easier to raise their offers this year due to Chinese steel products losing their competitiveness,...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange closed mostly lower on Friday January 5 although tin bucked the trend.The three-month copper price ended $67.50 lower back below $7,200 per tonne at a one-week low. "The complex may have reached slightly overbought levels, however, and most of the positive catalysts may have been priced in," Metal Bulletin analyst Andy Farida said. "It would not surp...Read More
The massive waves recorded in London Metal Exchange copper stocks could subside in 2018, with the big bull buying up tonnage to meet the coming year's commitments and deliveries from the bears to the exchange expected to return to their normal pace seen before 2016. The battle between two major trading houses that played out in the LME copper warehouses began in 2016, causing prices to rise and fa...Read More
Iron ore prices edged up and remained above $76 per tonne cfr China on Friday January 5 despite a further retreat in Chinese steel prices.Metal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore Index Today: $76.80 per tonne cfr QingdaoDaily change: up by $0.26 per tonneMonth-to-date average: $75.76 per tonneMetal Bulletin's 58% Fe Premium Index Today: $62.32...Read More
Gold is back on everyone's list as a must-have investment this year, and one of the best ways to profit from rising gold prices is to invest in gold mining stocks.Gold prices are up 6.3% since hitting a five-month low on Dec. 12. And this gold price rally is only just beginning.Money Morning Resource Specialist Peter Krauth predicts we are entering a gold bull market that could last until 2020, a...Read More
For over 40 years, legendary resource investor Rick Rule has followed one simple formula for producing astounding gains….That includes 6,100% on Silver Standard, 7,900% on Lumina Copper, and an astronomical 99,900% windfall on Paladin Energy."It's very simple," says Rule. "I look for commodities where demand is assured over time and where it's being sold in the market for less than the cost...Read More
Global plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) sales hit 1 million units in 2017, according to a report from Navigant Research.Sales revenues of such vehicles have increased by over 40% every year since the launch in 2011 and it is expected maintain a 38% growth rate in 2020, the reported noted.“Battery costs have dropped dramatically over the past five years and they will continue to go down with th...Read More
Global plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) sales hit 1 million units in 2017, according to a report from Navigant Research.Sales revenues of such vehicles have increased by over 40% every year since the launch in 2011 and it is expected maintain a 38% growth rate in 2020, the reported noted.“Battery costs have dropped dramatically over the past five years and they will continue to go down with th...Read More
Global plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) sales hit 1 million units in 2017, according to a report from Navigant Research.Sales revenues of such vehicles have increased by over 40% every year since the launch in 2011 and it is expected maintain a 38% growth rate in 2020, the reported noted.“Battery costs have dropped dramatically over the past five years and they will continue to go down with th...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 8 points in pre-opening trade.U.S. equity index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus for December Non-farm Payrolls was 190,000 versus revised 211,000 in November. Actual was148,000. Consensus for December Unemployment Rate was unchanged at 4.1% from November. Ac...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 5 (SMM)? 1/4 ? Copper concentrate treatment charges (TCs) have come down to $76-85/mt over the past week, below the floor price at $87/mt set by China Smelters Purchase Team (CSPT) for the first quarter of this year.SMM understood that most transactions were done by small to medium-sized smelters with sellers giving pressure to buyers. In fact, such market condition is likely to last...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 5 (SMM)? 1/4 ? A similar product to nickel pig iron (NPI) produced in Indonesia, FeNi Luppen, is set to change the global nickel supply pattern if Chinese stainless steel mills are receptive, SMM learned.Backed by Russian investors, Blackspace in Indonesia launched the nickel intermediate product in 2017 and claimed the production could hit 200,000 nickel mt in 2019. A source add tha...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 5 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper prices remained rather firm with a support at the 10-day moving average. It is possible that prices would resume the upward movement and we expect the contract to trade at $7,160-7,210/mt today. The SHFE 1803 copper, on the other hand, is forecast to trade at 54,600-55,100 yuan/mt today while we see decent physical restocking demand.Aluminium: LME alu...Read More
The following is a summary of our recent FS Insider podcast, US Productivity Is Accelerating, Says RenMac's Neil Dutta, which can be accessed on our site here or on iTunes here.The bull is likely to remain intact through 2018 - if not 2019 - based on the global growth outlook and leading indicators.That's the outlook from Neil Dutta, Head of Economics at Renaissance M...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 5 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper prices remained rather firm with a support at the 10-day moving average. It is possible that prices would resume the upward movement and we expect the contract to trade at $7,160-7,210/mt today. The SHFE 1803 copper, on the other hand, is forecast to trade at 54,600-55,100 yuan/mt today while we see decent physical restocking demand.Aluminium: LME alu...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 5 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper prices remained rather firm with a support at the 10-day moving average. It is possible that prices would resume the upward movement and we expect the contract to trade at $7,160-7,210/mt today. The SHFE 1803 copper, on the other hand, is forecast to trade at 54,600-55,100 yuan/mt today while we see decent physical restocking demand.Aluminium: LME alu...Read More