Chinese vanadium prices have dropped significantly since this year's week-long Lunar New Year holiday (February 4-10) amid falling international prices and weak demand in both the domestic and international markets.For example, Fastmarkets assessed the export price for ferro-vanadium, min 78%, fob China, at $50-54 per kg on Thursday April 11, which is down by around 28.5% from $70.50-75 per kg on...Read More
Copper's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange climbed above $6,600 per tonne at the close of trading on Wednesday April 17, buoyed by strong GDP figures out of China while a softer dollar index below the psychological level of 97 supported afternoon buying.Volumes traded in the red metal reached their highest level since March 22 over the day, with more than 24,000 lots changing hands by...Read More
The lead price could rebound above $2,000 per tonne and even touch $2,100 per tonne in the next six months because it is oversold and supply and demand conditions remain tight this year, Macquarie bank said on Tuesday April 16. "The recent decline in the lead price is overdone and was on the back of a large re-warranting in Asia rather than a change in fundamentals," Macquarie metals strategist Vi...Read More
The Comex copper market jumped up in US morning trading on Wednesday April 17 amid positive reaction to a combination of better-than-expected Chinese economic news and a softer dollar.The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange surged 5.95 cents to $2.99 per lb. At last glance, the dollar index was at 96.95, down 0.16% and just below the psychologi...Read More
China's month-on-month new electric vehicles (NEV) sales rebounded in August after month-on-month declines in June and July. The drop in sales between May and June was the first drop since September 2016, but Fastmarkets MB had expected Chinese NEV sales to dip temporarily after the June subsidy changes came into effect because consumers and NEV manufacturers would have to adjust to the new subsid...Read More
Money manager Adrian Day looks at recent results from several royalty companies in his portfolio, as well as recent developments in the ongoing Goldcorp saga, and provides updates on a couple of favorite exploration companies.Goldcorp Inc. (G:TSX; GG:NYSE, US$11.52) looks set to be acquired by Newmont, but not without continuing controversy, particularly over chairman Ian Telfer's egregious "retir...Read More
Iron ore prices fell sharply in the second half of November after climbing through October, with prices for higher-grade material pioneering the decline.Fastmarkets MB daily benchmark for 65% Fe fines dropped by 22% by Monday November 26 after peaking on October 29. The 62% Fe iron ore index declined by 16% over the period, as some Chinese steelmakers started to seek larger volumes of cheaper ores...Read More
The steel scrap sector in the United States still depends on exports to Turkey, a member of the Fastmarkets research team said during the ferrous session at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in London.This dependence persists despite the changes in the international markets created by the US' imposition of its Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel products, metals analyst Le...Read More
The gold miners’ stocksare still marching, grinding higher on balance in a solid upleg. While interest in this sector has faded sincelate February, it is nicely set up for a strong rally. After consolidating high and establishing asturdy base, the gold miners are likely to soon report greatly-improvedfirst-quarter results. Couple that with golditself powering higher, and th...Read More
Mayday, mayday,we are sinking! The global economy is slowing down. How serious is the currentslump? We invite you to read our today’s article about the true condition ofthe world’s economy and find out what are its likely implications for theprecious metals market. Economists andmarket analysts often make volte-face. We remember that in 2018 the punditswere heralding the synchronized g...Read More
In March, the World Gold Council released the newest edition of its Investment Update. What can we learn from the publication? Let’s examine the most recent history of Fed tightening and loosening with respect to its effect on gold prices.Is Fed’s Dovish Turn Positive for Gold?The WGC has recently published the new Investment Update about the effects of monetary policy on gold. The mai...Read More
While so many were getting so bullish of the metals market over the last few months, my work was telling me that we were not likely going to be seeing a major break out just yet. So, I have been waiting patiently for a good set up for another long trade.But, during my wait, I have seen extremes in sentiment again. At the highs, the extremes were quite bullish. And, now, the fear is starting to cre...Read More
Sector expert Michael Ballanger discusses the pitfalls of market reversals and forecasting. As I reach end-of-week, end-of-month book-squaring, where all of my urgent e-mails and all of my myopic missives and all of my topical tweets are summarized in once terse and quite concise "Monthly P&L," I am astounded at the most recent example of how masterfully the Gold Cartel works in suckering inve...Read More
It’s possible last week’scascading selling rout in palladium ended its multi-year bull market. Theformerly white-hot metal lost more than $200/oz (but is beginning to rebound).For now, however,palladium prices remain in a long-term uptrend above the bullishly aligned 20-weekand 50-week moving averages – and physical supply remains tight. Regardless of whether the palladium market...Read More
In February, the World Gold Council released the newest edition of Gold Investor. What can we learn from the report? Let’s discuss gold’s role in the onslaught of the cashless society, its role as a portfolio diversifier, reverse asset and source of liquidity.Rogoff Wants Cashless Society, but Appreciates GoldAs a lot has happened recently, we didn’t have time to analyze the late...Read More
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Precious Metals disappointed again.The miners were leading the metals but the metals broke down from bear flag patterns and that took the miners lower, suggesting an interim top is in place.The technicals suggest weakness could be ahead for the sector but the fundamentals are finally turning bullish.Before we get to fundamentals, let’s look at the t...Read More
As we’ve been suggesting for months, expect continued moderate price weakness in Gold and Silver through most of April 2019 and possibly into early May 2019 before a strong price rally will setup and push Gold prices well above $1500 before the end of 2019. Our Adaptive Dynamic Learning predictive price modeling system has been calling for this move for many months (see the chart below...Read More
Clive Maund sees some rough waters with gold and discusses how to play it. I have not been happy about the pattern that has been forming in gold since it plunged rather rudely and sharply around the end of February. The concern that was engendered by that plunge and the accompanying momentum breakdown, that we can see on gold's latest 8-month chart below, were allayed by its managing to stabilize...Read More
An overview of the noble alloys markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
Gold futures settled at their lowest in more than week on Monday, with apparent progress in U.S.-China trade talks helping to dull haven-related demand for the metal, as investors also showed disappointment that recent weakness in the dollar has failed to provide support. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday the U.S. and China are continuing to make progress on trade talks and "get...Read More