I think it was the great investor Warren Buffett who said, "Find the lie in the market and exploit it."Right now, the market is overwhelmingly short the coal industry because it believes these five lies.1. Coal mining is going out of business. Yes, this is true in some cases. All unprofitable coal mines in Europe have closed, as the EU stopped subsidies on January 1, 2019.In the U.S., over half...Read More
Prices for flat steel products imported into the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have remained stable over the past week due to demand being limited by the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday May 7.End-user demand has been poor recently, with buyers unwilling to book material because the market was not expected to improve any time soon.And Ramadan...Read More
The market for flat steel products in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow was under pressure from low-priced imports in the week to Tuesday May 7, Fastmarkets understands.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for Russia-origin 4mm hot-rolled (HR) sheet was was unchanged for the second week in a row on May 7 at 43,000-44,500 roubles ($660-683) per tonne cpt Moscow, in...Read More
The global long steel market was mostly unstable despite a balance between supply and demand, the International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association (Irepas) said in its most recent short-range outlook document for the long steel sector.This was a change of sentiment from the positive outlook Irepas offered in March.Although the balance of supply and demand has been maintained in the global lon...Read More
Domestic rebar producers in the UAE maintained their prices this week despite the cost of rebar and billet imports falling due to weak demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday May 7.Domestic rebar Local rebar producers in the UAE kept their prices unchanged for May production material, with demand remaining poor due to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that started this week.The observance of R...Read More
EU long steel market participants are preparing for a deluge of Turkey-origin material to hit European shores in July when buyers race to fill up new quotas, sources told Fastmarkets. That means the European Commission's year-long quotas for Turkish rebar and wire rod - which begin on July 1 - are likely to be filled up within the same month, the Fastmarkets MB research team believes. Turkey-...Read More
Will investors see the glass half full thanks to more Chinese stimulus, or the glass half empty due to Trump tariff tweets? Meanwhile, meet the CEO who will be staring down short sellers when he reports Q1 earnings this week.We cover all that and more in this week's free Insights newsletter. Click here to read (no registration required). Read More
The temporary truce on tariffs between China and the United States could be over, injecting a new round of uncertainty into the global financial markets and suspending hopes that a resolution to the countries' trade impasse was likely.US President Donald Trump has threatened to raise the tariff on $200 billion-worth of Chinese imports to 25% from 10% by Friday May 10. He also said that the US may...Read More
Turkish steel producers have continued to book deep-sea scrap with prices going down further, sources said on Tuesday May 7.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a US cargo, comprising 23,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $300 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus at $310 per tonne...Read More
Turkish domestic ship scrap prices went down in line with the weakening of the country's lira during the week ended May 6, while auto bundle scrap prices remained largely stable, sources said on Tuesday May 7.Three steel mills lowered their buy prices for ship scrap to $305 per tonne delivered, while a fourth mill kept its buy price flat at $310 per tonne delivered.As a result, Fastmarkets' weekly...Read More
Weakening prices in the flat steel markets of Turkey and Europe, particularly for hot-rolled coil (HRC), meant that there were reduced bids for CIS export slab, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday May 7.Slow trading both domestically and in the export outlets was the major reason for the drop in finished flat steel prices.Given these conditions, bids for CIS-origin slab dropped significantly, dragging th...Read More
Domestic rebar producers in the UAE maintained their prices this week despite the cost of rebar and billet imports falling due to weak demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday May 7.Domestic rebar Local rebar producers in the UAE kept their prices unchanged for May production material, with demand remaining poor due to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that started this week.The observance of R...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices edged up on Tuesday May 7 on trading activity generated by gains in the futures market, while the export segment was quiet despite less competition with the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,100-4,150 yuan ($607-614) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,990-4,040 yuan per tonne, widened upward by 10 y...Read More
The temporary truce on tariffs between China and the United States could be over, injecting a new round of uncertainty into the global financial markets and suspending hopes that a resolution to the countries' trade impasse was likely.US President Donald Trump has threatened to raise the tariff on $200 billion-worth of Chinese imports to 25% from 10% by Friday May 10. He also said that the US may...Read More
By: Gary ChristensonLance Roberts listed James Montier's 7-Immutable Laws of Investing. They are:Always insist on a margin of safety.This time is never different.Be patient and wait for the fat pitch.Be contrarian.Risk is the permanent loss of capital, never a number.Be leery of leverage.Never invest in something you don't understand.Those sensible rules apply to gold and silver.ALWAYS INSIST...Read More
Several weeks ago we wrote about the downside risk in the gold stocks.After the various gold stock indices formed distribution-type tops, the subsequent selling has been swift. Miners have plunged through moving averages and short-term breadth indicators quickly reached oversold extremes.While the gold stocks are oversold, it could be a little while before we can expect a sustained rebound.We p...Read More
Shades of Smoot-Hawley!? Stocks plummeted for the second time in less than 24 hours Monday when Trump signaled to China's trade negotiators that he means business. A long-delayed, $200 billion hike in tariffs will take effect on Friday because the Chinese reneged on commitments they'd already made. I don't say they allegedly reneged or that they reportedly reneged, since no one ever believed for...Read More
Trump and his twitter trumpet of reigniting trade war failed to life gold price yesterday. Short covering will be there if gold breaks and trades over $1290-$1292 zone. Silver needs to trade over $1500 to rise further. Copper and crude oil may have formed a short term bottom yesterday. "Akshay Tritiya" demand if it comes in below expectations in India can result in small correction in gold pri...Read More
Outokumpu expects higher quarter-on-quarter earnings in April-June 2019, with "no significant changes" anticipated in the stainless steel market's dynamics, it said on Tuesday May 7.The Finnish stainless steelmaker expects its stainless steel deliveries for the second quarter to remain at a similar level to the 621,000 tonnes delivered in the first quarter of 2019. This was down from 644,000 tonne...Read More
China imported around 901,767 tonnes of chrome ore and concentrates in March, a drop of 20.6% month on month and a fall of 41.9% year on year, according to official but unconfirmed data seen by Fastmarkets. Meanwhile, China's chrome ore imports from South Africa, the world's largest chrome ore producer, came to 660,503 tonnes in March, accounting for around 73.2% of total shipments despite recordi...Read More