The prices of base metals on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower day-on-day at the close of trading on Monday October 15, with a softer US dollar having little effect on prices but trade tensions and weak stock markets keeping investors cautious.The three-month lead price rose by 1.6% over the afternoon to reach an intraday high of $2,116 per tonne, its highest level since September 4.Whil...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales barely rose in September as a rebound in motor vehicle purchases was offset by the biggest drop in spending at restaurants and bars in nearly two years.But other details of the report from the Commerce Department on Monday were upbeat and suggested that consumer spending ended the third quarter with strong momentum, which should provide a boost to economic...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices edged up, trading near ten-week highs, as retail sales fell short of expectations in September. U.S. retail sales rose 0.1% in September following a downwardly revised advance of 0.1% in August, according to the latest data from the U.S. Commerce Department. Economists were expecting to see an increase of 0.7% in last month’s headline number. In an immediate reacti...Read More
The biggest question facing miners when planning for trade cycles is how flows will be redirected or constrained as a result of discussions between China and the United States, according to the president of marketing and supply at BHP. Arnoud Balhuizen said that BHP's commodities have been flowing as they always have, and the impact on prices has been relatively muted on a historical basis. How th...Read More
ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s cabinet on Monday approved the country’s expansionary 2019 budget bill, Prime Minister Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.Conte told reporters the budget “keeps our promises while keeping public accounts in order”, adding that the government had sent the budget framework to the European Commission in Brussels for its review.Reporting by Giuseppe Fon...Read More
Gold isgetting a lift from geopolitical tensions at the start of a new trading week,says Phil Flynn, senior market analyst with at Price Futures Group. Just after8 a.m. EDT, Comex December gold was $10.50 higher to $1,232.50 an ounce. TheU.S. has threatened to punish Saudi Arabia if it turns out that journalistJamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Turkey, and Saudi Arabiaresponded b...Read More
Comex copper prices rose to a multi-week high in morning trading on Monday October 15 amid a weaker dollar and optimism from LME Week in London last week. The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 3.00 cents to $2.83 per lb - the highest since October 4. While the rest of the complex...Read More
(Reuters) - A drop in technology stocks on Monday kept pressure on Wall Street and led the Nasdaq lower, but the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out slim gains as defensive sectors rose, while traders also pointed to technical support.Apple (AAPL.O) fell 1.5 percent and weighed the most on the three major indexes after Goldman Sachs said there were multiple signs of rapidly slowi...Read More
The European market for standard-grade ferro-silicon was unchanged for the third consecutive week on Friday October 12, with suppliers in talks about selling alloy within the present spot price range, while Chinese prices were beginning to slide on slow demand. European market solidifies price position Outlook slow, but stable for the near term Chinese market starts to slip on lackluster demand US...Read More
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar dipped on Monday after retail sales data for September missed economists’ expectations, and as benchmark U.S. Treasury yields consolidated after hitting seven-year highs last week.U.S. retail sales barely rose in September as a rebound in motor vehicle purchases was offset by the biggest drop in spending at restaurants and bars in nearly two years.Retail...Read More
The need for investment in new lithium projects creates a need for risk management tools, but the market's immaturity creates challenges, according to panelists at an LME focus session during this year's annual LME Week. Increasing demand for lithium compounds arising out of the electric vehicle and battery boom has created an appetite to bring new projects on stream, but there are risks associate...Read More
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo on Monday discussed his concerns about new Canadian tariffs on steel during a call with Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, a Canadian government source said.Guajardo said last week he rejected Canada's move to impose new quotas and tariffs on imports of seven categories of steel from many countries, including Mexico.Reporting by David...Read More
The gold and silver futures markets got even more unbalanced last week, with speculators (who are usually wrong at the extremes) going as short as they've ever been and commercials going even more long. Here's the gold data in chart form:These are historically huge imbalances that - if the action in the paper markets still has predictive value - point to a gold short squeeze in which the speculato...Read More
Editor's Note: Updating earlier story with more details from report.(Kitco News) - The headline index in the New YorkFederal Reserve's Empire State manufacturing survey climbed to a reading of21.1 in October from 19.0 the prior month.Going into the report, consensusexpectations compiled by various news organizations had been for the reading tobe roughly where it stood in September. Readings above...Read More
The fate of the Tuticorin copper smelter in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu will be decided at the end of November because more time is required to investigate the allegedly polluting project, local media reported on Monday October 15.The Times of India reported that a panel formed by the National Green Tribunal, India's environmental safeguarding body, wanted to listen to more views from...Read More
GENEVA (Reuters) - Global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 41 percent to $470 billion in the first six months of this year, the lowest since 2005, preliminary figures from the United Nations trade and development agency UNCTAD showed on Monday.President Donald Trump’s U.S. tax reforms were the main cause of the slump, which followed a 23 percent fall in 2017, as American firms repatri...Read More
The European market for standard-grade ferro-silicon was unchanged for the third consecutive week on Friday October 12, with suppliers in talks about selling alloy within the present spot price range, while Chinese prices were beginning to slide on slow demand. European market solidifies price position Outlook slow, but stable for the near term Chinese market starts to slip on lackluster demand US...Read More
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday pledged to go ahead with an increase in the national sales tax next October.Abe said the government will consider tax breaks for durable goods purchases, such as cars and homes, and come up with a scheme to ease the burden on small companies and small retailers once the sales tax is raised to 10 percent from 8 percent.The government wi...Read More
CloseGain/LossGold $1225.40+$7.40Silver$14.69+$0.08XAU70.45+1.70%HUI155.88+1.68%GDM557.90+1.37%JSE Gold1252.10+97.79USD95.08-0.20Euro115.81+0.22Yen89.21+0.03Oil$71.78+$0.4410-Year3.154%+0.001T-Bond138.4375-0.28125Dow25250.55-0.35%Nasdaq7430.74-0.88%S&P2750.79-0.59% The Metals: Gold gained $15.30 to $1233.30 in Asia before it chopped back lower in London and New York, but it still ended wit...Read More
"It Always Pays To Hold Some Gold"by John Stepek of Money Week"We have interest rates going up at a clip that's much faster than certainly a lot of people, including myself, would have anticipated. I think the Fed is out of control."Central banks are independent, in theory. But that won't stop the president of the US from giving his full and frank opinion on their performance.Gold Britannias 201...Read More