When I reached my mid 20s, you could say I reached an important crossroads of sorts. I’m not sure if I was going through the moment of reaching my own version of “quarter life crisis” but many things didn’t feel right, and I felt like I was trapped in life.Granted, on the surface, many things seemed to be going well for me, especially in my corporate life: good job, high sa...Read More
(Reuters) - U.S. farmers finishing their harvests are facing a big problem - where to put the mountain of grain they cannot sell to Chinese buyers.For Louisiana farmer Richard Fontenot and his neighbors, the solution was a costly one: Let the crops rot.Fontenot plowed under 1,000 of his 1,700 soybean acres this fall, chopping plants into the dirt instead of harvesting more than $300,000 worth of b...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold andsilver prices aremodestly up in early U.S. trading Wednesday, supported by a weaker U.S. dollar indexon this day and by a rebound in the beleaguered crude oil market. December goldfutures were last up $2.60 an ounce at $1,223.80. December Comex silver waslast up $0.141 at $14.41 an ounce. Globalstock markets were mostly firmer overnight. U.S. stock indexes are also pointe...Read More
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States and opponents of President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs both confirmed their wish to litigate on Wednesday, triggering the procedure for World Trade Organization dispute hearings, a Geneva trade official said.China, the European Union, Canada, Mexico, Norway, and Russia all confirmed they would escalate their disputes by starting adjudicatio...Read More
Ontario's Government for the People is connecting communities and creating opportunities for economic development by investing in the 2018-19 winter roads program.Today, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, and Minister of Indigenous Affairs Greg Rickford attended the Chiefs of Ontario Special Chiefs' Assembly in Toronto to announce $5.7 million in funding for 29 First Nations and t...Read More
Comex copper prices bounced back during the midweek trading session with a softer dollar and technical support boosting the red metal.The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 1.20 cents to $2.7785 per lb.Prices could be volatile today with market participants sidelined due to the upcoming...Read More
(Kitco News) - With bitcoin now below $4,600, U.S. regulators are reportedly expanding their investigation into cryptocurrencies to see whether last year’s massive bitcoin rally was triggered by market manipulation.At the centre of the investigation is an allegation that traders used tether — another cryptocurrency — to control bitcoin’s price during its unprecedented rally...Read More
Editor's Note: Updating earlier story with more details from report.(Kitco News) - Goldmoved little - hanging on to overnight gains -- after Labor Department dataThursday showed that initial weekly U.S. jobless claims rose by 3,000 to aseasonally adjusted 224,000 in the week to Saturday.Consensusexpectations compiled by various news organizations had called for initialclaims to be around 2...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were up across the board by an average of 0.4% this morning, Wednesday November 21.Lead led the rebound with a 1% gain to $1,979 per tonne, while nickel was little changed and the rest were up between 0.2% and 0.3%, with copper up by 0.3% at $6,194 per tonne.Volume has been below average with 4,562 lots traded as at 7.19am London time. Th...Read More
(Kitco News)- Weaker-than-expected U.S. manufacturing sector data is keeping a bid under gold prices, which hit session highs following the numbers.Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau said that new durable goods orders fell by $11.5 billion or 4.4% to $248.5 billion, in October, down from up from September's increase of 0.7% and significantly missing expectations. Consensus forecasts were calling f...Read More
The Wednesday Market Minute Global stocks steady, with modest declines in Asia offset by gains for European benchmarks, as investors attempt to restore order on the final trading day of the week.Oil prices rebound following a Tuesday sell-off which push U.S. crude prices to the lowest level in more than a year as the dollar drifts and private data shows a drawdown in domestic stockpiles.Italy hi...Read More
Old King Coal was a dirty old soul, and a merry old soul was he... until a decade ago.I know my readers know this tale better than most.In 2008, coal, natural gas, and petroleum accounted for more than 83% of our total energy consumption.Coal and oil, however, held very similar monopolies on two sectors: transportation and electric power.Approximately 91% of our coal consumption was for electricit...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Group of 20 industrialized nations is drafting a communique that will exclude an explicit pledge to fight protectionism, which could help avoid a repetition of friction between U.S. President Donald Trump and world leaders at last year’s summit, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.The draft communique obtained by the FT calls for countries to keep markets ope...Read More
Albemarle Corp has entered into an exclusive deal with Australian miner Mineral Resources (MRL) that may lead to the development of new battery-grade lithium hydroxide plant in Western Australia.The companies have agreed to consider the creation of a joint venture that would own and operate the Wodgina hard rock lithium mine and ultimately develop an integrated lithium hydroxide operation at the s...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nancy Pelosi, working to reclaim the top job in the U.S. House of Representatives, has called for creation of a new leadership post in a move that could make room for younger lawmakers in the upper echelons of the House Democrats.The 78-year-old San Francisco liberal and current House Democratic leader is fighting hard to regain the job of speaker after the Nov. 6 elections...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New orders for key U.S.-made capital goods were unexpectedly unchanged in October and shipments rebounded modestly, which could temper expectations of an acceleration in business spending on equipment early in the fourth quarter.Sluggish business spending on equipment together with a lackluster housing market could fan concerns about the durability of the economic expansion...Read More
* U.S. jobless claims rise to more than four-month high * Trade volume subdued ahead of U.S. Thanksgiving holiday * GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: (Updates prices, adds details and comment)By Sumita LayekBENGALURU, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Gold rose on Wednesday as thedollar retreated after weekly data showed an increase in U.S.jobless claims, though bullion's gains were seen as limited by arecovery in equ...Read More
The London Metal Exchange is planning to launch a lithium contract in the second half of 2019 to meet growing demand from the electric vehicle industry, Fastmarkets learned during Asia Copper Week in Shanghai. The contract, announced as part of the exchange's Strategic Pathway in September 2017, will be settled against an index price, with Fastmarkets MB's lithium spot price index one of those bei...Read More
LONDON (Reuters) - Leaving the European Union without a transition deal would cost Britain tens of billions of pounds, and failure to support Prime Minister Theresa May’s preferred plan could jeopardized Brexit altogether, finance minister Philip Hammond said on Wednesday.“A smooth exit from the European Union, doing this in an orderly fashion, is worth tens of billions of pounds to ou...Read More
PARIS (Reuters) - Emmanuel Macron’s popularity took a further hit in recent weeks, according to a poll on Sunday, as fuel tax protests rumbled on across France in the latest sign of discontent with the president’s economic reforms.Only 25 percent of those questioned in an Ifop poll between Nov. 9 and 17 said they were satisfied with Macron, down from 29 percent in October, according to...Read More