The ongoing China-US trader war has battered the South Korean won, causing weaker demand for imports of Japanese scrap and dampening prices as a result."The bearish sentiment brought about by the China-US trade tensions has caused the South Korean won to depreciate because the South Korean economy is so dependent on Chinese demand," Hisatoshi Kojo of Japan's Metz Corporation said at the BIR 2019 W...Read More
Copper premiums in Shanghai dropped over the week ended on Tuesday May 21, with a slew of deals for SX-EW cathodes at low levels, while the spike in premiums in the United States may not last if key smelters return to the market.?EUR? Shanghai premiums drop down to two-year lows?EUR? US premiums pushed down while Comex copper trades at a small discount to the London Metal Exchange?EUR? European pr...Read More
London Metal Exchange base metals prices were suppressed in the morning session on Wednesday May 22, with macro-inspired bearish selling equating to thin trading volumes and a strengthened dollar exerting downward pressure."Base metals open in a sea of red amidst a stronger dollar [and] with low levels of general participation in our space we remain vulnerable to sharp price moves amidst lower liq...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were down across the board during morning trading on Wednesday May 22, with a challenging macroeconomic backdrop and firm dollar weighing on the complex.Unresolved trade tensions between China and the United States, concerns over a slowdown in global economic growth and a strong dollar dented investors' appetite for commodity investment on Wednes...Read More
Hot Chili secures copper 'super hub' SPONSOREDhot chili limitedVimy ready for move to higher uranium groundSPONSOREDvimy resourcesWhite Gold Corp a force in Yukon as exploration drive reaps dividendsSPONSOREDwhite gold corp"It's not regulation that fails, it's [the industry] as engineers and operators"SPONSOREDsrk consultingThe loan bears a coupon of 12% and will mature n...Read More
The following Fastmarkets minor metals prices changed on Wednesday May 22:Antimony MB free market regulus, $/tonne: $6,800-7,000 per tonne from $6,900-7,150Antimony MMTA standard grade II, $/tonne: $6,600-6,750 per tonne from $6,800-7,000Antimony MB Chinese free market MMTA standard grade II, yuan/tonne: 39,000-40,000 yuan per tonne from...Read More
Fastmarkets has amended the names and specifications of its China cobalt sulfate assessments, effective Wednesday May 22, 2019. Fastmarkets has assessed the price of cobalt sulfate, ex-works China, on a 20.5% Co basis since the assessment was launched in June 2018, but due to an error, the definition of cobalt purity for the assessment was incorrectly stated as "Co 20.5% min" instead of "Co 20.5%...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 13 points in pre-opening trade.The Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged at U.S. 74.67 cents following release of March Canadian Retail Sales at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was an increase of 1.0% versus a gain of 0.8% in February. Actual was an increase of 1.1%.Lowe's dropped $8.10 to $103.00 after reporting lower than...Read More
Import prices for stainless steel in East Asia have declined over the week ended on May 22 because of limited buying interest amid the heightened trade tensions between China and the United States.China declared that it would impose duties on $60 billion worth of US goods from June 1 in retaliation to US president Donald Trump's announcement that the US would raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of...Read More
European Metal Recycling (EMR) has sold parts of specialty scrap recycler Metal & Waste Recycling (M&W) to UK-based Recycling Lives following a competition inquiry. As part of the transaction, the two London-based sites of M&W will be retained by EMR. The sale will complete on Thursday May 30, EMR said. The disposal comes following an intervention by...Read More
According to a recent Empower Retirement survey, 66% of respondents said they don't understand what "rebalancing investments" means. A similar percentage, 69%, said they don't know what "asset allocation" means. And the survey found that millennials in particular find financial terms difficult to understand.I'd say it's not just the younger generations struggling to understand today's financial ja...Read More
The following Fastmarkets UK non-ferrous scrap and foundry ingot prices changed on Wednesday May 22:Aluminium scrapBaled old rolled: ?720-740 per tonne from ?730-750Commercial cast: ?750-780 per tonne from ?750-800Group 7 turnings: ?430-450 per tonne...Read More
Here is the trouble with America's jingos, warhawks, drum-beaters, glory hounds, world-improvers and idealists:They are not patriotic.A jolting, nearly scandalous claim, it is true. Do these Americans not cry tears red, white and blue?Do they not yell about American "greatness"… American "exceptionalism"… the "shining city" atop the hill?That and more they do, yes. Yet they are not pat...Read More
Germany's Aurubis has agreed to acquire copper-tin recycler Metallo Group in a ?,?380 million ($424 million) share purchase deal, it said on Wednesday May 22.Fastmarkets reported in February that TowerBrook Capital Partners, Metallo's private equity owner, was close to agreeing a sale of the company, which operates plants in Belgium and...Read More
A decline in output from the automotive market in Europe has negatively affected demand in the vanadium and ferro-chrome markets, with prices for both materials falling to multi-month lows.From January to April 2019, demand for new cars in the European Union decreased by 2.6% year on year to 5.3 million units registered in total, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA...Read More
Bitcoin is back! So say the true believers, even with Friday's flash crash. But there less there than meets the eye.Bitcoin has staged a notable comeback from its 2018 crash. From a level of about $4,000 through the month of March, 2019, bitcoin had a two-day 23% spike from $4,135 on April 1, 2019 to $5,102 on April 3, 2019.Bitcoin then moved sideways in the $5,000 to $6,000 range until May 8, 201...Read More
My readers know that I'm a longtime critic of bitcoin. Bitcoin rose from about $2,000 in May 2017 to $20,000 by December 2017 in one of the greatest asset price bubbles in history.I argued repeatedly that it was nothing but a massive bubble and that the bubble would probably burst when it hit $20,000.In late 2017 it did.Bitcoin crashed from $20,000 all the way to $3,300 by December 2018 - an 83.5%...Read More
Today our spirits wallow. And our brow is creased with worry…For we are informed the United States is racing into a "death spiral" of debt.That is, when every public dollar it borrows must service its debt... crowding out all other demands.That debt presently exceeds $22 trillion.It expands by day, by hour, by minute, by second.But when does America finally go corkscrewing into the fatal aby...Read More
"Dr. Juan Lucena leads Humanitarian Engineering (HE) at Colorado School of Mines. The program brings together engineering and social science professors to transform the ways engineers are taught to think, define and solve problems with communities. ...'We don't presume that we know more than countries we want to serve,' said Lucena. That intellectual humility sets apart the Mines program from othe...Read More
Hot Chili secures copper 'super hub' SPONSOREDhot chili limitedVimy ready for move to higher uranium groundSPONSOREDvimy resourcesWhite Gold Corp a force in Yukon as exploration drive reaps dividendsSPONSOREDwhite gold corp"It's not regulation that fails, it's [the industry] as engineers and operators"SPONSOREDsrk consultingThe editor of MJ has warned me, on pain of insta...Read More