Cobalt hydroxide prices and payables stretched to new highs in the week ended Friday December 11 when buyers came back to the market looking for prompt January cargoes and evaluating the availability of January-shipment material, after a lull in activity since the second half of November.Fastmarkets' cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets' standard-grad...Read More
China's domestic magnesium price moved up for a sixth consecutive week and surged to its highest since September 2019 on a stockpiling initiative in Yulin, Shaanxi province as well as rising input costs for magnesium plants, market sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for magnesium 99.9%, exw China was 15,000-15,500 yuan ($2,291-2,367) per tonne on Friday December 11, an increase of 1...Read More
Base metals prices on both the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed this morning, Tuesday December 15, this despite some healthy Chinese economic data.* Stricter lockdowns measures in many countries are a headwind for equity markets, which may flow into the metals* With gold prices up and US treasury yields down, this suggests a pick-up in haven demandBase metalsThe three...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 26 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures responded to expectation of more government stimulus.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the December Empire State Manufacturing survey at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus was a slip to 6.00 from 6.30 in 6.30 in November. Actual was 4.90The Canadian Dollar add...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday December 11 that are worth another look.ArcelorMittal restarted blast furnace No2 at its Dunkirk operations in northern France this week, in a bid to increase hot-rolled coil output to meet growing demand, the company said.Waiting...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday December 11 that are worth another look.ArcelorMittal restarted blast furnace No2 at its Dunkirk operations in northern France this week, in a bid to increase hot-rolled coil output to meet growing demand, the company said.Waiting...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday December 11 that are worth another look.ArcelorMittal restarted blast furnace No2 at its Dunkirk operations in northern France this week, in a bid to increase hot-rolled coil output to meet growing demand, the company said.Waiting...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday December 11 that are worth another look.ArcelorMittal restarted blast furnace No2 at its Dunkirk operations in northern France this week, in a bid to increase hot-rolled coil output to meet growing demand, the company said.Waiting...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday December 11 that are worth another look.ArcelorMittal restarted blast furnace No2 at its Dunkirk operations in northern France this week, in a bid to increase hot-rolled coil output to meet growing demand, the company said.Waiting...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mainly firmer this morning, Monday December 14, following the pullback from highs at the end of last week, but the base metals on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mainly weaker while they followed Friday’s weakness on the LME.* Germany to enter a hard lockdown on Wednesday, South Korea considers raising Covid-19 restrictions to highest le...Read More
Biotech equities and related ETFs (e.g. IBB, BBH, FBT) are higher this morning following the $39 billion takeover offer of Alexion Pharma. BioMarin Pharma, a NASDAQ 100 stock moved above $80.94 completing a base building pattern.Pre-opening Comments for Monday December 14thU.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 27 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures...Read More
ArcelorMittal has signed a binding agreement with Invitalia, an Italian state-owned company, forming a public-private partnership for the Taranto flat steel plant in the south of Italy, formerly known as Ilva, the steelmaker said late on December 10.The investment agreement will result in a recapitalization of AM InvestCo, ArcelorMittal's subsidiary, which signed the purchase agreement for Ilva's...Read More
ArcelorMittal Gijon resumed steel making operations this week after six days of downtime due to industrial action, a company representative told Fastmarkets.The steel production at ArcelorMittal's Gijon plant, located in Asturias, Spain, was suspended on December 3 because of a worker's strike, Fastmarkets understands.Gijon steelworks has a capacity to produce about 600,000 tonnes per year of heav...Read More
Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) set the iron ore guidance for its own production and purchases from third parties at 33 million tonnes in 2020 and 38-40 million tonnes in 2021, the Brazilian steelmaker and miner said on Thursday December 10.CSN previously expected its output and third-party purchases to total 33-36 million tonnes this year, compared to 38.46 million tonnes in 2019.A business...Read More
Now is not the time for Freeport-McMoRan to be thinking about mergers and acquisitions, the mining company's chief executive officer says.According to Richard Adkerson, the company - which is just over half-way through a mega-project to transform its giant Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesia from an open-pit to an underground operation - is on the verge of creating huge shareholder value."I jus...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese domestic and export flat steel prices surged in November 2020, with the export hot-rolled coil index rising to $592 per tonne during the month from $519 per tonne previously, and the monthly average increasing by 7.5% over October.Economic activity in China continued to expand, with manufacturing output rising by 7.5...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:?EUR? Flat steel product prices in the United States moved largely in line with our expectations in October, although the increases slightly outpaced our projections. US hot-rolled coil prices averaged $655 per ton in October, exceeding our forecast price of $640 per...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Flat product prices in the US moved largely in line with our expectations in October, posting impressive gains across the product range, and slightly exceeding our forecasts for coil products.Domestic hot-rolled coil prices averaged $722 per tonne in October, exceeding our forecast of $705 per tonne forecast price.Although w...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Approaching the end of the calendar year, steelmakers and consumers enter a busy period of contract negotiations for supply for 2021 or at least the first quarter or half year.With the sharp increases in spot market steel prices during recent months, steelmakers are understandably looking to take advantage and secure higher c...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Key ferro-alloy forecast highlights for the coming months:?EUR? A strong recovery in both bulk and noble alloys is expected in 2021 but the markets are unlikely to return to the levels seen before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have seen a quicker-than-expected recovery across various regions amid the economic fal...Read More