(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are modestly to slightly higher in early-afternoon U.S. trading Thursday, on mild corrective rebounds after both metals hit multi-month lows earlier this week. This afternoon’s release of the minutes from the latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) did not have a significant impact on precious metals prices. August gold futures were la...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices continue to hold on to its gains even after the minutes from the June Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting showed overall optimism on the U.S. economy.According to the June minutes, participants saw the U.S. economy has "very strong" with inflation rising to 2% over the medium term. In this environment, the committee saw interest rates rising to slightly abo...Read More
(Kitco News) - An escalating trade war could spiral out of control and bring the world to the brink of an economic collapse on the scale of the Great Depression of the 1930s, said John Doody, founder of Gold Stock Analyst.“We’re going to get a replay, to some extent, of the 1930s episode where the U.S. put the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, imposed taxes on 20,000 imports, and basically made...Read More
Editor's Note: Updating earlier story with more details from report. (Kitco News) - Goldman Sachs analysts are maintaining an “overweight” rating on commodities despite recent weakness in the complex. Commodities are still the top-performing asset class of 2018, although they fell in June due to weaker emerging-market demand, trade-war worries and supply concerns in the oil market, Gol...Read More
(Kitco News) - So-called “green technologies,” meant to better protect the environment while meeting the demands of consumers, should boost silver demand in the future, says a report from the Silver Institute.In particular, the report cited an expectation for exponential growth of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) and continued investment in solar photovoltaic energy. The combined demand fro...Read More
Gold had a nice bounce on Tuesday, pushing as high as $1,258 before seeing a little selling pressure but still managing to close at $1,253. On Wednesday with the markets closed for Independence Day, gold got to $1,263 in the Globex session. The real question - is this a dead-cat bounce or has gold bottomed? The next couple of days will give us the answers we are looking for. If gold fails from her...Read More
In his final column for Metal Bulletin, Lord Copper looks over the events that have shaped the metals industry during his tenure and considers and what might be in store over the coming years.ValeteWell, it's been a good run since December 2009 but now has come the parting of the ways. This is the last time Lord Copper will grace the pages - or, rather, the pixels - of Metal Bulletin. Looking back...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were mixed at the close of trading on Thursday July 5, pressured by macroeconomic uncertainty amid continued sell-offs in copper, zinc and tin prices.While zinc prices continue to be hampered by a flurry of short-covering, the metal's three-month price avoided another drop below the nearby support level of $2,700 per tonne at the afternoon close. In ad...Read More
Former Trafigura base metals trader Ben Thomson has joined Viant Commodities to look after the company's European business, Metal Bulletin has learned. Thomson joined the Singapore-headquartered trading company last month. He was the head of the base metals Singapore desk at Trafigura until January this year, having joined in 2013...Read More
In his final column for Metal Bulletin, Lord Copper looks over the events that have shaped the metals industry during his tenure and considers and what might be in store over the coming years.ValeteWell, it's been a good run since December 2009 but now has come the parting of the ways. This is the last time Lord Copper will grace the pages - or, rather, the pixels - of Metal Bulletin. Looking back...Read More
Metal Bulletin proposes to divide its existing 0.10% C low-carbon ferro-chrome product into two products according to chromium content. At present Metal Bulletin includes all price points for low-carbon ferro-chrome with a carbon and chromium content of 0.10% and 60-70% chrome respectively into the existing low-carbon ferro-chrome (0.10% C avg 60-64.9% Cr) delivered consumer works Europe $/lb...Read More
In his final column for Metal Bulletin, Lord Copper looks over the events that have shaped the metals industry during his tenure and considers and what might be in store over the coming years.ValeteWell, it's been a good run since December 2009 but now has come the parting of the ways. This is the last time Lord Copper will grace the pages - or, rather, the pixels - of Metal Bulletin. Looking back...Read More
Chinese cobalt metal prices fell to a seven-month low on Wednesday July 4, with buyers taking a step back to watch international prices that have continued to fall in recent weeks. Meanwhile, the gap between suppliers' expectations and buyers' bids widened further after local futures prices dipped to a fresh annual low. Metal Bulletin's spot Chinese domestic cobalt metal price dropped to 530,...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap import market remained silent on Thursday July 5, due to continuing weak demand in the country's finished steel markets, according to sources.After finishing bookings for July deliveries, Turkish steel producers have gone quiet as demand for finished steel in both the local and export markets has failed to bounce back after the country's presidential and general election...Read More
Comex copper prices crashed to a one-year low on Thursday morning in the United States with market sentiment in the red metal affected by fears of an escalating trade war as well as thin trading. Copper for September settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange tumbled 6.40 cents or 2.2% to $2.8530 per lb. Earlier, the contract touched $2.8370, the lowest since July 2017. T...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange broadly continued their recent run of weakness on the morning of Thursday July 5. Nickel prices were unchanged, while the rest of the complex was down by between 0.3% for copper ($6,382 per tonne) and 0.7% for aluminium ($2,089 per tonne). Volume has been above average with 8,855 lots traded as at 7:17am London time.This follows a general...Read More
Cobalt trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Metal Bulletin. Unless otherwise stated, all prices are per lb on an in-warehouse basis. Delivered prices are netted back. Metal Bulletin prices Click here for Metal Bulletin's price assessment for low-grade cobalt, in-warehouse, $ per lb Click here for Metal Bulletin's price assessment for high-grade cobalt, in-warehouse, $ per lb I...Read More
Activity in the European hot-dipped galvanized coil market has been slow this week, with buyers holding back from making new deals ahead of the preliminary decision in the European Commission's safeguarding case.The EC opened an investigation into 26 steel products in late March, in an attempt to prevent steel shipments being redirected to the EU market as a result of the United States Sectio...Read More
Profit margins for China's hot-rolled coil exports appear to have caught up with those in the country's domestic market, with a depreciation of the Chinese currency enabling mills to get more yuan than previously from dollar-denominated sales to foreign buyers. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,200-4,240 yuan ($633-639) per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 4,100-4,120 yu...Read More
Domestic prices for cold-rolled coil in Europe have moved up slightly over the week despite slow market activity, sources told Metal Bulletin.European buyers have been mainly holding back from making new deals ahead of the announcement of preliminary findings in a European safeguarding case, market participants said.The European Commission (EC) opened an investigation into 26 steel products i...Read More