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
Alcoa will start to curtail half of the one operating potline at its Aluminierie de Becancour Inc (ABI) smelter in Quebec, Canada, it said on Wednesday December 19. The smelter has a nameplate capacity of 413,000 tonnes per year across its three potlines. Alcoa owns 74.95% of the Becancour smelter while Rio Tinto owns the remaining...Read More
Domestic prices for heavy steel plate in Europe have been largely stable due to the seasonal market slowdown ahead of Christmas, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday December 19.Yet, prices are expected to move down in January after market participants return to the market after holidays. "Demand was not good in December and it is unlikely to significantly recover in January, apart from some seas...Read More
European prices for mesh-quality wire rod stayed flat across the Northern and Southern parts of the continent on Wednesday December 19, with questions over the future of the region's import quotas continuing.Fastmarkets MB's weekly domestic price assessment for mesh-quality wire rod in both Southern and Northern Europe was at ?,?540-560 ($614-636) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, unchanged from l...Read More
The price for rebar produced and delivered in Southern Europe fell slightly on the low end on Wednesday December 19, with some low offers from Spain carrying into the year-end period.Fastmarkets MB's weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Southern Europe slipped to ?,?520-540 ($591-614) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, but there is very little activity predicted ahead of the New Year and t...Read More
The price for rebar produced and delivered in Northern Europe stayed flat on Wednesday December 19, with the year-end and uncertainty over import quotas keeping the market quiet. Fastmarkets MB's weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Northern Europe remained at ?,?540-560 ($614-636) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, with very little activity in the week while the market winds down for the...Read More
Domestic prices for steel beams in Europe were flat week on week due to the market winding down for Christmas holidays, sources said on Wednesday December 19.Fastmarkets MB's weekly price assessment for domestic S235-grade, 200x200mm, category-2 H-beam in Northern Europe was at ?,?620-645 ($705-733) per tonne on December 19, flat week on week."Prices are stable as expected, everybody is closed now...Read More
Hollow steel sections prices in Europe were unchanged this week, which reflects doubts about the ability of mills to push through proposed price increases, market participants told Fastmarkets MB on Wednesday December 19.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 to...Read More
BEIJING - Representatives from China's biggest aluminium producers will hold a meeting in the southern region of Guangxi to discuss slumping demand and falling prices, three sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.The producers held a similar gathering in late 2015 and the meeting comes as a protracted price decline leaves smelters struggling to turn a profit, even after significant out...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 14 points in pre-opening trade. Futures responded to overnight news that the U.S and China will resume trade negotiations in early January. Investors are waiting for news from the FOMC meeting to be released at 2:00 PM EST. Consensus calls for a 0.25% increase in the Fed Fund rate to 2.50%. The Canadian Dollar added 0....Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Thursday December 20.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the close of trading on Wednesday December 19, reflecting a continued retreat in the dollar index. Read more in our live futures report.Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:Leading pig iron exporter Metalloinvest is to modernize two of i...Read More
Stainless scrap prices in the United States were flat this week, with the seasonal year-end lull poised to linger into next year due to low nickel prices and an anticipated downturn in ferro-chrome pricing in the first quarter, market sources said. "It is a typical fourth-quarter slowdown and inventory reduction period, but excess supply is compounding the ugliness [and] allowing mills [consuming...Read More
Leading pig iron exporter Metalloinvest is to modernize two of its four blast furnaces before the end of 2020, but will keep its pig iron capacity largely unchanged, the Russian company said this week. A major global supplier of iron ore, pig iron and hot-briquetted iron (HBI), Metalloinvest awarded the upgrade contract to Netherlands-based global equipment suppliler Danieli Corus, which...Read More
Mr. Jerome Powell entered this day hung from the hooks of a mighty dilemma.Should he deliver another rate hike... or hold steady?In two opposite directions he was yanked plenty hard…His inner lights, his inner mother-in-law, urged him to hike.GDP expanded an average 3.85% the two most recent quarters, they reminded him.Unemployment - at 3.7% - plumbs depths unseen in a half-century. Wages ar...Read More
Our country is facing a retirement crisis. The unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare coupled with the low savings rates and decimated 401(k) large parts of the baby boomer generation not having enough money to retire.Retirement FundsUnfortunately, the retirement funds of many boomers are either minimal or nonexistent. The statistics are somewhat grim: 41% of baby boomers between the...Read More
German steelmakers have settled their monthly scrap contracts for December with a decline for E3 and E40 grades, reflecting the decline in the international market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for domestic grade-E3 scrap in Germany was at ?,?270-280 ($307-318) per tonne delivered in December, compared with ?,?275-290 per tonne delivered in November.Deals that had...Read More
It’s been a long December and there’s reason to believeMaybe this year will be better than the last - Counting CrowsThe lyrics from one of my favorite mellow songs seems appropriate right now. With the market currently experiencing its worst December since 1931, traditional investors have reason to be a bit introspective right now.But are things really as bad as they seem?Today, I w...Read More
Turkish scrap import prices fell again Wednesday December 19, following news of a fresh deep-sea cargo booking, sources told Fastmarkets MB.Details of a steel producer in the Iskenderun region booking a European cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (75:25), 7,000 tonnes of a mixture of bonus and shredded and 3,000 tonnes of busheling, at an average price of $285 per tonne cfr, came to light...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices remained below $70 per tonne cfr China on Wednesday December 19, with market participants cautious over the more stringent implementation of steelmaking restrictions in China.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $69.15 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.12 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $68.95 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.12 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina:...Read More
The trading lull persisted in the seaborne coking coal market on Wednesday December 19 amid muted demand in China and the lack of a clear direction for the ex-China market. "No one is trading in the market now because people just don't know which way prices are going," an end-user source in India said. While the source does not think supply is tight in the market, he is keeping an eye on developme...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed during morning trading on Wednesday December 19, with moderate volumes facilitating a broadly upward trend while commodity investors continued to be cautious ahead of expected interest rate rises in the United States. Trading above $6,000 per tonne, the three-month copper price has edged 0.6% higher after falling more than 2.5% at Tue...Read More