(Kitco News) - It takes three times as much energy to produce one dollar’s worth of bitcoin than one dollar’s worth of gold, according to a new research study.More specifically, it requires seventeen megajoules of energy to digitally mine one dollar's worth of bitcoin versus five megajoules needed to physically mine the same value in gold, said the report titled ‘Quantification O...Read More
(Kitco News) - With the U.S. midterm election and the latest Federal Reserve decision out of the way, gold analysts are now switching focus to the U.S. dollar and global macro data releases— the two biggest triggers that could impact gold in the short-term, according to TD Securities.Gold saw another setback on Monday, with the December Comex gold futures tumbling from above $1,220 to around...Read More
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar surged on Monday to its highest point in 16 months against a basket of currencies and world stocks fell broadly amid concern about political risks in Europe, while U.S. and European technology shares were hammered.Major U.S. stock indexes dropped more than 1 percent, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq slumping over 2 percent. Indexes were weighed down by a 4.3-percent...Read More
Ann SaphirIDAHO FALLS, Idaho (Reuters) - With the U.S. economy at or beyond full employment and inflation likely to rise slightly above a 2 percent goal over the next year, the Federal Reserve should continue to raise rates gradually, its newest policymaker said Monday — but not necessarily next month.“My modal forecast is for two to three (rate hikes) over the next period of time, wit...Read More
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude prices turned negative, reversing course as U.S. President Donald Trump said he hoped there would be no oil output reductions, after Saudi Arabia said OPEC was considering cutting supply next year, citing softening demand.U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 fell 17 cents a barrel to trade at $60.02 a barrel by 1:24 p.m. EST (1824 GMT). If the contract...Read More
(Kitco News) - While all commodities are suffering under the boot heel of a surging U.S. dollar, one junior explorer CEO sees the potential for gold and silver to shine as the current environment is unsustainable. Thomas Smeenk, CEO of Broadway Gold Mining Monday, the U.S. dollar rose to its highest level in 16 months, while gold fell to a one-month low and is in striking distance of testing p...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are moderately down and have hit four-week and eight-week lows, respectively, in early-afternoon U.S. trading Monday. The precious metals are pressured by a very strong U.S. dollar on the foreign exchange market. The U.S. dollar index hit a 16-month high today. December gold futures were last down $5.30 an ounce at $1,203.30. December Comex silver was last do...Read More
(Kitco News) - Money managers trimmed their bearish positioning in gold during the most recent reporting week for data compiled by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, although these accounts have likely reversed course since and are accumulating bearish positions again, analysts said.During the week-long period to Nov. 6 covered by the report, Comex December gold gained $1 to $1,226.30 an ou...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
The U.S. dollar rally has resumed in the wake of last week’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, says Brown Brothers Harriman. “U.S. rates are headed higher, while event risk in the euro zone and the U.K. remain in place,” BBH says. Analysts say the news flow this week is expected to be dollar-supportive. Consensus estimates call for the October U.S. Consumer Pric...Read More
As the ferro-alloys community prepares to gather in Lisbon for a busy few days of meetings and contract negotiations, Fastmarkets outlines some of the key topics likely to dominate discussions at this year's International Ferro-alloys Conference, on November 11-13.Is the ferro-vanadium mating season nearing completion?What promises to be a busy few days in Lisbon for purveyors of ferro-alloys may...Read More
As the ferro-alloys community prepares to gather in Lisbon for a busy few days of meetings and contract negotiations, Fastmarkets outlines some of the key topics likely to dominate discussions at this year's International Ferro-alloys Conference, on November 11-13.Is the ferro-vanadium mating season nearing completion?What promises to be a busy few days in Lisbon for purveyors of ferro-alloys may...Read More
Prices for steel billet showed mixed trends in the various global trading regions in the week ended Friday November 9, increasing in the CIS, Turkey and Egypt, while falling in Iran and China.The current high level of scrap prices in Turkey led to higher procurement of billet and improved sentiment among steelmakers in the Commonwealth of Independent States.Fastmarkets' daily index for Northern Eu...Read More
European stainless steel market participants were losing confidence that the market will recover early in the New Year, they told Fastmarkets on Friday November 9, with transaction prices falling further this week.Transaction prices for grade-304 cold-rolled (CR) stainless sheets were assessed at ?,?2,150-2,200 ($2,454-2,511) per tonne delivered on Friday, down by ?,?30-60 per tonne from ?,?2,180-...Read More
China's finished steel exports were up by more than 10% year on year in October, but fell when compared with September's volumes, according to preliminary Chinese customs data published on Thursday November 8.The country exported 5.5 million tonnes of finished steel in last month, up 10.4% from the 4.98 million tonnes shipped out in October 2017, according to the customs data. October shipmen...Read More
Latin American steel association Alacero has appointed M??ximo Vedoya as its new president on Wednesday November 7.Vedoya, who is the chief executive officer of Latin American steel group Ternium, will lead the association...Read More
Prices for steel billet showed mixed trends in the various global trading regions in the week ended Friday November 9, increasing in the CIS, Turkey and Egypt, while falling in Iran and China.The current high level of scrap prices in Turkey led to higher procurement of billet and improved sentiment among steelmakers in the Commonwealth of Independent States.Fastmarkets' daily index for Northern Eu...Read More
London Metal Exchange members are considering a multitude of ways to continue to service their EU clients in the event that a financial services deal is either not forthcoming or does not go far enough when the UK finally leaves the European Union. Some companies have even told their LME sales teams they need to be prepared to move to another major European city to be able to legally service their...Read More
If Brexit - the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union on March 29, 2019 - isn't on your radar, it should be. With the annual London Metal Exchange Week now in full swing, the exchange, its members and their customers need to have contingency plans in place if they are expecting to be affected in any way by Brexit. And as with anything political, an element of brinkmanship will na...Read More
When the London Metal Exchange finished its 12-step warehouse reform package, it proved once more that you cannot please all of the people all of the time. It faced some inevitable criticism of the rules, in particular that the LME went too far in certain areas and should consider tweaking or rolling back some of its reforms. In particular, the focus of attention was on the load-in, load-out (LILO...Read More