Gold has big year in 2020 and outlook for this year robust. Learn about monetary expansion and gold future prices.Read More
The gold futures price reached US$1,767/ounce this week before retreating, which was the second time it has surpassed US$1,760 in the past two months, marking some of gold's highest levels in several years.Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were for the most part firmer this morning, Wednesday December 12, with average gains of 0.3%. This after the complex climbed by an average of 0.4% on Tuesday, which followed Monday’s test of support levels – that held. This morning’s gains were fairly tightly bunched with prices rising between 0.2% for aluminium and 0...Read More
Hollow steel sections prices in Europe remained flat this week while the market mulled the implications of reaching the import quota limit, market participants said.Fastmarkets MB's domestic price assessment for commodity-size, grade-S235 square hollow sections made in Northern Europe was unchanged week on week at ?,?635-650 ($721-738) per tonne delivered on Wednesday December 12.The hollow sectio...Read More
European prices for mesh-quality wire rod stayed flat across the Northern and Southern parts of the continent on Wednesday December 12, with the EC's import quota now more than 90% filled.Fastmarkets MB's weekly domestic price assessments for mesh-quality wire rod in both Southern and Northern Europe stayed at ?,?540-560 ($613-636) per tonne delivered on Wednesday.The European Commission's import...Read More
The price for rebar produced and delivered in Southern Europe was flat on Wednesday December 12, with no buying ahead of the holidays and while the EC's import quotas run dry.Fastmarkets MB's weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Southern Europe stayed at ?,?530-540 ($602-613) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, with no new business now expected before the New Year and little before the Febr...Read More
Union Iron and Steel plans to produce 400,000 tonnes of rebar in 2019 after activating its new billet welding machine, chief executive officer Boris Van Thiel said at the Fastmarkets MB Middle East Iron and Steel conference in Dubai on Wednesday December 12.A re-roller of billets, Abu Dhabi-based rebar producer Union Iron and Steel has capacity of 350,000 tonnes per year. It produced 300,000 tonne...Read More
The price for rebar produced and delivered in Northern Europe remained stable on Wednesday December 12, with market participants uncertain of the impact of the rapidly filling of import quotas.Fastmarkets MB's weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Northern Europe remained at $540-560 ($613-636) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, al though few deals were reported in the week.Buyers had been...Read More
The European ferro-molybdenum market, which climbed almost 2.5% in trading a week ago, has pared gains since Friday in line with a drop in demand.Suppliers said there is plenty of alloy available if needed amid negligible levels of consumer demand and they have cut their offer prices as a result.The ferro-molybdenum, basis 65%, in-warehouse Rotterdam price has dropped 20 cents to $29.20-29.40 per...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 23 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the November Consumer Price Index at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus was unchanged versus an increase of 0.3% in October. Actual was unchanged. Excluding food and energy, consensus for the November Consumer Price Index was an increase of...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday December 12 pricing session in Europe. Key drivers European suppliers booked several sales in the past week, narrowing the price range to 50 cents.European market sources said there was downward market pressure from Russian suppliers, but those suppliers have reported doing deals around the middle of the current European price range.European market expected to be stabl...Read More
The following Fastmarkets minor metals prices changed on Wednesday December 12:Minor metalsCobalt MB free market high grade, $/lb: $29.90-31.40 per lb from $30.50-32.00Cobalt MB free market low grade, $/lb: $29.80-31.50 per lb from $30.30-32.00Cobalt MB China domestic, yuan/tonne: 355,000-380,000 yuan per tonne from 360,000-390,000...Read More
The following Fastmarkets noble alloys and ores prices changed on Wednesday December 12:Noble alloysFerro-molybdenum basis 65% min, in-warehouse Rotterdam, $/kg Mo: $29.20-29.40 per kg from $29.40-29.60Tungsten export...Read More
The first mechanized underground chrome production in Turkey has begun as part of a process to modernize all of the mines owned by Eti Krom and should increase the country's share of the global chrome market.Eti Krom is a subsidiary of Yildmadem Holding, Turkey's largest chromium producer. The mechanization is the initial step in a project to add 30% to Turkey's annual chrome ore production capaci...Read More
Brazilian pre-operational miner Sigma Lithium Resources expects the premium for high-quality lithium hydroxide monohydrate that goes into battery production to rise in the next few years while demand for electric vehicles (EVs) grows, vice-chairman Ana Cabral told Fastmarkets. "We believe prices for technical grade lithium hydroxide, at 56.5%, will fall further from now on, but premium for 90% con...Read More
Turkish steel producers extended their absence in the deep-sea scrap markets into Wednesday December 12 because of limited demand for finished steel products, sources told Fastmarkets MB.Mills in the country have been refraining from scrap purchases for more than two weeks now - only a single cargo has been booked since November 23.Demand for steel products, especially rebar, has been and remains...Read More
Today we trample sacred ground... trumpet a message of heresy... and offend the wrathful gods.In 2001, academic Hans-Hermann Hoppe scribbled a book bearing the soaring title Democracy: The God That Failed. Hoppe's work is a sharpened spear levelled against that holiest of secular divinities.Hoppe's primary tort against democracy?It wastes. It exhausts its capital. It forever takes the short view....Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. Latest transaction: iron oreIron oreVale, Global Ore, 170,000 tonnes of 62% Fe Brazilian Blend fines, sold at $71 per tonne cfr China, laycan December 26-January 4.Beijing Iron Ore Trading Center (Corex), 65,000 tonnes of 65% Fe Karara Standard Magnetite...Read More
The buck stops here, said Truman.But Trump says it stops with the next fellow in line. Let it be the next president's toothache.Last year administration bean counters unfurled a worrisome chart before the president…It revealed an approaching "hockey stick"-pattern spike in the national debt - but only after a possible second Trump term had concluded.Came the president's response, according t...Read More
Even more than our education, our habits reflect our lives. Habits are very easy to develop and very hard to break, and once they’re developed, they control our behavior-sometimes in ways that we don’t even recognize. Often these bad habits lead to other bad habits. It’s a vicious cycle.For instance, many people want to be in shape. In fact, we're only a few weeks away from that...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices increased moderately on Wednesday December 12 following a pick-up in China's spot steel prices. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $66.73 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.76 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $66 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.76 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $71 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $1.32 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium Index: $59.92 pe...Read More
The launch of a high-grade iron ore derivative by the Singapore Exchange last week represents a "leap forward for the [ferrous] industry, particularly those that are exposed to the high-grade product," according to Andrew Glass, head of iron ore trading at Anglo American.SGX launched the world's first high-grade iron ore derivative contract, settled against the daily MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Index publi...Read More