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
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures gained 26 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for September Personal Income was an increase of 0.3% versus an upwardly revised gain of 0.4% in August. Actual was an increase of 0.2%. Consensus for September Personal Spending was an inc...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Tuesday October 30.Base metal prices on the London Metal Exchange were lower at the close of trading on Monday October 29, with strong consumer spending figures from the United States fueling broad strength in the US dollar index and adding downward pressure to the market. Read more in our live futures report.Here are how prices looked at t...Read More
Turkish steel producers have continued to book cargoes in the deep-sea scrap trade, with two more transactions coming to light, pushing prices up further on Monday October 29.These two deals were heard on Friday after the data submission deadline for the day.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $335 per tonne, shredded at $340 per tonne and...Read More
Iron ore prices were largely steady on Monday October 29, with limited liquidity in the spot market amid expectations of a loosening of steelmaking restrictions in China.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $76.48 per tonne cfr Qingdao, unchanged.MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $75.51 per tonne cfr Qingdao, unchanged.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $80.23 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.17 per tonn...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. Latest transaction: iron oreIron oreBeijing Iron Ore Trading Center (Corex), 20,000 tonnes of 61.82% Fe Pilbara...Read More
Sellers of seaborne coking coal appear to be less willing to sell to the Chinese market, with cargoes of premium products fetching a higher fob Australia price than cfr China ones.A November-laycan cargo of a top Australian brand was traded at $219.50 per tonne cfr China while a December-laycan shipment of the same product changed hands at $220 per tonne cfr China. The last transaction involving t...Read More
When will the strong dollar weaken? Ultimately, the answer is whenever the Treasury wants.When the Treasury is not overly concerned with the dollar, market forces can prevail to raise or lower the exchange rate compared with euros, Swiss francs, yen or any other currency.Sometimes, other central banks intervene to raise or lower their currencies relative to the dollar and the U.S. does not seem to...Read More
Seaborne iron ore pellet prices dipped for the third consecutive week on Friday October 26, on limited demand from China according to market participants.Fastmarkets' MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Pellet Index (MBIOI-PT) was $152.47 per tonne cfr China on Friday, down by $3.16 per tonne from a week earlier.The fall in the MBIOI-PT is based on the visible market activity detailed below.A 65% Fe Indi...Read More
China's ferrous futures fell during morning trading on Monday October 29 after the central Chinese government voiced its objection over what it considered to be indiscriminate restrictions to cut emissions.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange January rebar: 4,168 yuan ($600) per tonne, down 34 yuan per tonneJanuary hot rolled coil: 3,854 yuan per tonne, down 41 yuan p...Read More
The great Chinese growth slowdown has been proceeding in stages for the past two years. The reason is simple. Much of China's "growth" (about 25% of the total) has consisted of wasted infrastructure investment in ghost cities and white elephant transportation infrastructure.That investment was financed with debt that now cannot be repaid. This was fine for creating short-term jobs and providing bu...Read More
As retirement nears for millions of Baby Boomers, they are scrambling for deck chairs on the Titanic.For about 40 years now I have been watching a major financial disaster developing. Its contributing factors include the shaky financial foundations of Social Security and Medicare, compounded by most Americans’ lack of financial education and entitlement mentality.When President Franklin D. R...Read More
A non-binding agreement between the Aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco) and Rio Tinto for the former to acquire the latter's entire stake in the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea has lapsed."Rio Tinto and Chinalco, who respectively own 45.05% and 39.95% of Simandou, will continue to work with the government of Guinea, in West Africa, to explore other options to realize value from the world-class S...Read More
Beneath the rah-rah statistics of “the greatest economy ever,” the social depression is accelerating. The mainstream is reluctantly waking up to the future of the American Dream: downward mobility for all but the top 10% of households.A 2015 Atlantic article fleshed out the zeitgeist with survey data that suggests the Great Middle Class/Nouveau Proletariat is also waking up to a future...Read More
The tail is now where the head was generations ago, said 19th-century British historian Thomas Macaulay.Today, the "tail" of American society wallows in an opulence once reserved for its "head."The late political scientist James Q. Wilson:The poorest Americans today live a better life than all but the richest persons 100 years ago.Before air conditioning, for example, even the industrial titan hem...Read More
Calgary, Alberta (October 29, 2018) - PRIZE MINING CORPORATION ("Prize" or the "Company") (TSXV:PRZ) (OTCQB:PRZFF) (MQSP:GR:FRANKFURT) is pleased to announce that it has retained the engineering and geological consulting firm, Stantec Consulting Ltd. to complete a regional and property-scale data compilation. This project will include such datasets as regional magnetics, gravity, property-scal...Read More
Up airy mountain, down rushy glen the market has trekked this year…Up in January, down February through March, up April through August, down again in October.But after all its ups and all its downs... the market has gone backward.Even with yesterday's 401-point rebound, the Dow Jones is still negative for the year. So too is the S&P.It is as if the stock market struck out on a thousand-m...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in London and Shanghai on Friday October 26.China Compared with last week, stockpiling activity among traders eased. In addition, domestic consumption was stable due to there being enough stock in the downstream secondary aluminium alloys sector. Spot export deals were rare, but market participants suggested that momentum would be regained when consumers started...Read More
Global antimony continued to trade last week amid weak demand for the metal, with prices remaining unchanged in both China and Europe on scarce spot market activity.In China, Fastmarkets MB's price assessment for Chinese Minor Metals Trade Association (MMTA) standard grade-II antimony price, delivered, duty-paid, was 51,000-51,500 yuan ($7,341-7,412) per tonne on Wednesday October 24, unchang...Read More
A lack of demand for imported cobalt material weighed on the Chinese domestic cobalt metal price last week, while the price for cobalt salts widened downward on lower offer prices in a weak market. Fastmarkets assessed the Chinese domestic cobalt metal price at 445,000-465,000 yuan per tonne ($25.07-26.20 per lb) on Friday October 26, down 2.2% from 450,000-480,000 yuan per tonne during the m...Read More