An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
The following Metal Bulletin minor metals prices changed on Friday June 29:Minor metals Antimony MB free market regulus, $/tonne: $7,900-8,150 per tonne from $8,000-8,250 Bismuth MB free market, $/lb: $4.30-4.80 per lb from $4.50-5.00 Bismuth MB China domestic, yuan/tonne: 59,000-60,000 yuan per tonne from 60,000-61,000 yuan Chromium MB free market alumino-thermic, $/tonne: $12,700-13,250 per tonn...Read More
China's domestic stainless steel prices were unchanged over the past week amid weak but stable demand. Metal Bulletin's assessment of prices for benchmark 304 stainless cold-rolled coil in the major market of Wuxi was 15,200-15,600 yuan ($2,295-2,356) per tonne including VAT for the week ended Thursday June 28, flat from a week earlier. Demand remained weak over the past week, with end-users...Read More
The following Metal Bulletin non-ferrous European free market scrap prices changed on Friday June 29Aluminium scrap Mixed turnings 6%: ?,?1,065-1,100 per tonne...Read More
The UK light iron scrap market was stable in the week to Friday June 29 for the 12th week in a row, confounding expectations for a rise in line with renewed demand in major export market Turkey in general this month, sources said. Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for UK grade-5C ferrous scrap on an inter-merchant basis was ?90-120 ($118-157) per tonne on Friday. This compares with the low...Read More
Import prices for containerized heavy melting scrap (HMS) in Taiwan remained stable as end-users resisted higher offers from sellers amid tepid demand.Metal Bulletin's assessment of import prices for United States-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) sold into Taiwan was $330-335 per tonne cfr for the week ended Friday June 29, unchanged from a week earlier.US-origin scrap was offered at $340-343 per tonne cfr...Read More
Three of the most senior base metals managers of Castleton Commodities International (CCI) will leave by the end of year, even though the trading book created three years ago has made money, Metal Bulletin understands.Peter Sellars, global head of metals trading, and Sam Hainsword, head of physical metals trading, will retire by the end of the year, several sources told Metal Bulletin this we...Read More
Copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) rose sharply in late June, with production disruptions at several Asian smelters give Chinese plants greater buying power.The Metal Bulletin TC/RC index firmed to $79.8 per tonne/7.98 cents per lb from $77/7.7 cents. Terms have risen over 11% in a month from $71.60/7.16 cents at the end of May. "Every time you turn around it's $2.50/0.25 c...Read More
Imports of hot rolled coil (HRC) into the European Union (EU) rose by 5.8% to 3.52 million tonnes during the first five months of 2018 from 3.3 million tonnes in January-May 2017, according to regional steel association Eurometal.Import volumes of Russian-origin HRC into the EU rose sharply to 749,000 tonnes in January-May 2018 from 147,000 tonnes a year earlier.In October 2017, the European Commi...Read More
"In out, in out, shake it all about" - not just a line from the Hokey Cokey, but a pretty accurate picture of the attitude of banks toward the metals (and general commodities) business during his career, Lord Copper reflects.Sometimes it's hot, sometimes it's not, and trading teams have been built, dismantled and built again with what often seems like gay abandon. But that all stopped after the Do...Read More
Governments around the world are keen to prove their green credentials by announcing target dates for the end of sales of vehicles powered by internal combustion engine vehicles and their total replacement by electric ones.The actual demands of different governments vary. Norway, at the forefront of EV take-up, originally believed it could phase out its subsidies by 2015: now, the target has moved...Read More
It is not about whether or not gold is currently oversold; rather it is all about whether or not the U.S. dollar is overbought. The current selloff in gold, which began immediately following prices reaching the 2018 apex at $1,370 ounce, has been driven first and foremost by dollar strength. It is the dollar leading gold prices and not the other way around. There are market analysts who are lookin...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Internal Revenue Service promised independent leadership of the U.S. tax-collecting agency on Thursday, but drew a senator’s criticism for not disclosing business ties to a Trump-branded hotel in Hawaii.Charles Rettig, a Beverly Hills, California, tax lawyer, will be tasked with implementing Trump’s sweeping new...Read More
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Struggling health sector shares and U.S.-driven trade confrontations capped gains in global stocks and drove down safe-haven U.S. Treasury and German Bund yields on Thursday, while financial companies boosted Wall Street.Wall Street was slightly higher in afternoon trading, but gains were largely capped by plummeting shares of drug distributors and retailers after Amazon annou...Read More
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks swung between gains and losses on Thursday, as Amazon’s foray into drug retailing whipped the healthcare sector, while a rise in financial stocks for the first time in 14 days cushioned the markets.Amazon.com said it would buy online pharmacy PillPack, a move that will put the online retail giant in direct competition with drugstore chains, drug distributors and pharm...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are trading moderately lower in early-afternoon U.S. dealings Thursday. Gold hit a nearly 12-month low today and silver notched a seven-month low. Gold and silver bulls need a good dose of bullish fundamental news, which has been absent from the marketplace in recent weeks. Chart-based sellers in the futures markets have been emboldened this week, amid price d...Read More
(Kitco News) - Detour Gold Corp. (TSX: DGC) has updated the life-of-mine (LOM) plan for its Detour Lake operation, making changes aimed at reducing large annual fluctuations in the amount of gold that is mined but conceding some higher costs that were contained in the previous plan.However, the company’s chief operating officer also pledged to work on reducing those expenses. And while Detou...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices are seeing a very limited reaction to disappointing U.S. gross domestic product data that showed weaker than expected growth in Q1, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. The final estimate of the first-quarter gross domestic product showed the U.S. economy growing at an annual rate of 2% versus the expected 2.2%. This is the third GDP reading. The very first estimat...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
Trading Places was the hit movie in the 1980s, with a scene in which Winthorp and Valentine were in the frozen-orange-juice pit watching the market going straight up. Valentine, getting nervous, says to Winthorp, “Louie, is it time?” The answer was simple -- not now. They watched the rally continue, waiting patiently for their opportunity. The gold market is becoming very similar to th...Read More