LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The cost of insuring exposure to Italy's banks jumped on Friday, after the country's government bond market sold off sharply as the European Union slammed Rome's draft budget. Five-year credit default swaps in UniCredit rose to 204 basis points, from a closing price of 194 bps on Thursaday and was the highest since Dec 2016. CDS in Intesa Sanpaolo widened eight bps to 21...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. home sales fell in September by the most in over two years as the housing market continued to struggle despite strength across the broader economy.The National Association of Realtors said on Friday that existing home sales dropped 3.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.15 million units last month.Home sales have now fallen for six straight months. A dear...Read More
CloseGain/LossOn WeekGold $1226.40+$1.30+0.69%Silver$14.63+$0.06+0.14%XAU70.09+0.05%+1.17%HUI155.58+0.07%+1.49%GDM558.84+0.35%+1.56%JSE Gold1194.92-3.89+3.52%USD95.72-0.25+0.46%Euro115.10+0.51-0.42%Yen89.12-0.25-0.07%Oil$69.12+$0.47-3.11%10-Year3.196%+0.014+1.36%Bond137.84375-0.28125-0.45%Dow25444.34+0.26%+0.41%Nasdaq7449.03-0.48%-0.64%S&P2767.78-0.04%+0.02% The Metals: Gold dropped $1.90...Read More
Gold COT Report - FuturesLarge SpeculatorsCommercialTotalLongShortSpreadingLongShortLongShort189,200171,53371,278166,143198,139426,621440,950Change from Prior Reporting Period 9,454-46,3887,521-8,16649,6968,80910,829Traders17895885749279194 Small Speculators (C) GoldSeek.com LongShortOpen Interest 47,79733,468474,418 356-1,6649,165 non reportable positionsChange from...Read More
Here is our Friday digest of the important news, commentary, charts and videos we were informed by this week including our special podcast on Direct Access Gold.From our perspective, the most important developments were the IMF's financial warnings and the escalation in central bank gold buying with Hungary increasing its gold reserves by a whopping 1,000% due to increasing "safety concerns."For...Read More
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank’s policy meeting will be relegated to a sideshow next week as the wrangle over Italy’s budget takes the main stage.The Italian government is looking to boost spending in the hope of engineering faster economic growth.But its resolve to breach European Union fiscal rules will be put to the test as it faces a rebuke from the Commission, dow...Read More
* Gold has risen by 0.7 pct so far this week* SPDR Gold holdings up 2.5 pct in past two weeks (New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments)By Sethuraman N RBENGALURU, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Gold prices edged up onFriday, on course for a third week of gains as weaker stockmarkets spurred investors to seek refuge in bullion, which alsogained technical momentum after scaling major milest...Read More
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Friday on signs of surging demand in China, the world’s second-biggest oil consumer, although the market was heading for a second week of losses on rising U.S. inventories and concern that trade wars were curbing economic activity.Benchmark Brent crude oil LCOc1 was up 70 cents a barrel at $79.99 by 1100 GMT. U.S. light crude CLc1 was 40 cents higher at...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
GENEVA (Reuters) - Disputes over U.S. tariffs and retaliatory moves by other states have sparked 12 requests for adjudication at the World Trade Organization, signalling an escalation in global trade tensions.The agenda for an Oct. 29 meeting of the WTO's dispute settlement body on Friday confirmed the legal moves, which Reuters reported late on Thursday.The dispute procedure begins with a 60-day...Read More
The Mountain Province Diamonds, 49%, and De Beers Canada, 51%, Gahcho Ku?(C) diamond mine located 280 km northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. [MPVD-TSX, NASDAQ] reported results of its eighth diamond sale completed on October 5th 2018.Total proceeds from the sale were US$24.2 million (CDN$31.4 million) from 366,505 carats at an average realized value of U...Read More
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s economic growth cooled to its weakest quarterly pace since the global financial crisis, with regulators moving quickly to calm nervous investors as a years-long campaign to tackle debt risks and the trade war with the United States began to bite.Chinese authorities are trying to navigate through numerous challenges, as the trade war fears have sparked a blistering...Read More
WASHINGTON/ANKARA (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he presumes missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is dead and that the U.S. response to Saudi Arabia will likely be “very severe” but that he still wanted to get to the bottom of what exactly happened.Turkish police are searching a forest on the outskirts of Istanbul and a city near the Sea of Marmara for the rema...Read More
* Acacia seeks direct talks with Tanzania * Spat deepens with charges in Tanzania this week * Shares slump the most since July 2017 (Updates with shares, analyst)By Zandi ShabalalaLONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Acacia Mining threatenedto use a bilateral investment treaty to force face-to-face talkswith Tanzania over a long-running tax dispute that has seen thegold miner hit with a huge tax bill.Acacia...Read More
By Peter HobsonLONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The London Bullion MarketAssociation (LBMA) is planning to help modernise and improvetransparency in the industry with an approval process forcompanies using blockchain technology to track the movement ofgold.The embracing of blockchain, the technology behind bitcoin,aims to exclude from the global supply chain metal that isillegally mined or traded or use...Read More
Prices for grade 18/8 alloy steel scrap in the UK and Europe decreased in the week ended Friday October 19, largely because of weak demand.Market participants described an extremely slow alloy scrap market in general, with trading levels diminished both through low demand from stainless steel mills and also by limited supplies.Mills have been buying lower-than-normal quantities of alloy scrap in O...Read More
* Indian dealers offer biggest discounts since mid-June * Moderate buying in other top Asian hubs * Benchmark spot gold prices set for third weekly gain * China premiums at $4-$7/oz; 60 cents to $1.20 in Singapore By Rajendra Jadhav and Vijaykumar VedalaMUMBAI/BENGALURU, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A key festival broughtlittle activity to the physical gold market in India this weekas purchases remained sig...Read More
When it comes to early FI, I think the end game for all of us is to find a way to maximize our time on this planet. As everyone well knows, time is finite and thus the ultimate currency in the Game of Life. Over the years, more and more folks are realizing this stark truth, and I think that’s why the concept of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) continues to grow in popularity and mo...Read More
Prices for light iron scrap in the United Kingdom have been steady over the past week, extending a period of stability for the sixth consecutive week, sources told Metal Bulletin on Friday October 19.The market has been steady in line with domestic consumer demand and has garnered further support from increases in export prices to key destinations such as Turkey, although prices in the European ma...Read More
* Euro under pressure amid EU-Italy stand-off * Dollar index inches higher * Sterling rises on Brexit hopes * Graphic: World FX rates in 2018 (Updates prices)By Tom FinnLONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The euro fell towards a two-monthlow on Friday after the European Union criticised Italy'sspending plans, raising fresh concern about a conflict withinthe common currency zone.Political wrangling over the...Read More