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
Gold is struggling to find acceptance above $1,321, which is the 78.6 percent Fibonacci retracement of the sell-off from $1,365 to $1,160 and could see a minor pullback as the short duration indicators are beginning to diverge in favor of the bears. 4-hour chart As seen above, the previous 4-hour candle clocked a high of $1,323 - a level last seen in May 2018 - but failed to close abov...Read More
Goldman Sach's head of commodities research Jeff Currie does not expect an early recovery in long-cycle investment and therefore prices of industrial metals due to a structural decline in demand from China, but he is very bullish on the gold price.Speaking on Bloomberg Surveillance, Currie says gold will benefit from strong central bank buying and the wealth effect in India and China due to streng...Read More
Is the Aussie Dollar signaling that a major commodity low is being established this month? Possible!The Aussie Dollar and commodities have been highly correlated for a couple of decades. The AU$ has spent the majority of the past couple of decades inside of rising channel (1). It hit the top of this channel in 2011 and a long-term decline was underway. As the AU$ has declined over the past 8-years...Read More
EY has announced the appointment of Paul D. Mitchell as the new EY global sector leader for mining and metals.In his new role, Mitchell will be responsible for driving the EY mining and metals sector strategy, leading a network of over 5,000 industry professionals worldwide. He will focus on strategic thinking and digital transformation for clients, in this age of sector disruption. Mitchell will...Read More
Australia's two biggest miners on Thursday backed calls for an indigenous advisory body in parliament, saying Prime Minister Scott Morrison's opposition to the proposal did not "stand up to scrutiny".Australia has struggled for decades to reconcile with descendants of first inhabitants, who arrived on the continent some 50,000 years before British colonists.The government only issued a formal apol...Read More
Ecuador-focused explorer SolGold (LON, TSX:SOLG) revealed Thursday plans to acquire Cornerstone Capital Resources (TSX-V:CGP), a Canadian firm which has a 15% interest in the miner's coveted Cascabel copper-gold project, located 180 km north of the capital Quito.The takeover would see Cornerstone's investors receive 0.55 SolGold shares for each their shares, which SolGold said was a 20% premium.I...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) coil in Europe resumed their downward trend this week, but have now "reached the bottom," sources told Fastmarkets.Market participants said that prices moved down this week on slow trading because buyers have sufficient stocks.Demand, however, is expected to improve due to the restocking that is expected to start in February."Buyers will be maki...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices moved down on Thursday January 31 following more bookings done at slightly lower levels, sources told Fastmarkets.Four more bookings add to the 16 other bookings that have come to light this week. A steel mill in the Samsun region booked a US cargo comprising 28,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (90:10) and 6,000 tonnes of shredded at an average price of $316 per tonne cfr...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday January 31 that are worth another look.United States President Donald Trump strengthened Buy America requirements for infrastructure in an executive order on Thursday January 31, in a potential boost to domestic iron, steel and aluminium industries, among others. Lawmakers in the United States have introduced legislat...Read More
Comex copper prices moved higher on Thursday morning in the United States, with an improving macroeconomic backdrop lifting the entire base metals complex.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.25 cents to $2.79 per lb. "The improved macroeconomic backdrop has provided risk sentiment with a good bullish vibe, allowing the red met...Read More
Polished trading sluggish with Far East dealers onholiday for Chinese New Year. Reduced expectations for Chinese Year of the Pigafter 4Q slowdown. US buyers cautious as Conference Board consumer confidence indexfalls 5% to 18-month low, due to volatile stock market and government shutdown.High-end luxury doing well. LVMH 4Q jewelry and watch revenue +8% to $1.3B. Roughpremiums decline, with contin...Read More
Dealers and cutters cautious as US restocking isslower than expected. Low volume of new goods coming to the market, withsignificant slowdown in diamond manufacturing. Inventory levels high and suppliersoffering old stock at deeper discounts. Steady demand for SI-I1 clarity goods.Concerns about tight profit margins and reduced bank credit. Rough tradingrelatively slow following De Beers sight. Ro...Read More
RAPAPORT... Retail sales of jewelry and other luxury items dropped in HongKong in December, amid the continued impact of global economic uncertainties onconsumer demand. Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuablegifts fell 4.9% year on year to HKD 8.27 billion ($1.05 billion), themunicipality's Census and Statistics Department reported Thursday. Sales in allretail categories wer...Read More
Zinc gained more than 1% in morning trading on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday January 31, breaching technical support at its 100 DMA for the first time since July 2018 amid continued stock drawdowns and cancelations. Volumes were decent at more than 5,000 lots as of 10:00am London time, just behind copper's 5,800 lots. Easing tightness in zinc's cash/three-month spread, which has narrowed t...Read More
RAPAPORT... Reuven Kaufman, president of New York's Diamond DealersClub (DDC), spoke with Rapaport senior news reporter Joshua Freedman at therecent International Diamond Week in Israel.Retailers had a good holiday season, but have been wary about taking on too muchinventory due to global economic factors affecting sentiment, Kaufmanexplained. He also outlined how changes in Chinese buying habits...Read More
In Zhuzhou - former home of China's top zinc smelter - the skies aren't exactly blue, but they're starting to clear up. Today the city in Hunan province registered an air quality index of close to 250, regarded as "very unhealthy". Still, the index, which measures particulate matter PM2.5, was close to 280 at the same time last year. It was home to the Zhuzhou Smelter Group, the world's fifth larg...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa has stopped supplying rough diamonds to Lev Leviev'sLLD Diamonds through its contract-sales arrangement, as part of a reshuffle of the miner's long-term client list.The tycoon's Israel-based firm is one of "several" former customersthat have dropped off the 2019 supply roster, known as the Alrosa Allianceprogram, the Russian company said. "Last year, there was a decision to...Read More
Trade log for nickel sulfate in China including transactions, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets MB.Unless otherwise stated, all prices are yuan per tonne on an ex-works basis. Fastmarkets MB prices Click here for Fastmarkets MB's price assessment for nickel sulfate, Ni 21% min 22.5% max, China ex-works, yuan/tonne. The exchange rate according to...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will offer $2million in scholarship funds to aspiring students in 2019, it said Wednesday. Students interestedin its gemology and jewelry-manufacturing arts programs, distance-educationcourse and lab classes can apply for funding. "Scholarships are a very important part of ourmission-driven education programs, helping hundreds of student...Read More
Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Thursday January 31 *Copper -$140.48 (-943.56 yuan) Aluminium -$371.26 (-2,493.56 yuan) Zinc -$60.86 (-408.77 yuan) Nickel -$290.82 (-1,953.32 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME three-month...Read More