Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday July 11 that are worth another look.Mexican steel association Canacero has denied that Mexican fabricated structural steel producers who export to the United States have been receiving subsidies, as alleged by US authorities.One of the world's biggest copper miners, Chile's Antofagasta, began to break away from the tr...Read More
A sharp increase in global freight rates over the past seven to 10 days has eroded margins at manganese ore market participants and caused shipments to be postponed, sources told Fastmarkets. Freight rates have risen by $5-8 per tonne for routes to China from South Africa, Brazil and the Black Sea amid increased demand for freight from some soft commodity sectors such as soybean and grain, sources...Read More
- SRSrocco In June, the gold price finally broke above the $1,400 level after five long years. So, who was responsible for pushing the gold price to a new high since 2013? Well, if we look at the data, it most certainly wasn't the physical gold investor. And, according to several dealers I spoke with, physical gold retail investors took advantage of the $1,400+ price to sell metal rathe...Read More
Fed Chief Powell supposedly has strong support inside Congress to fend off Trump's calls for lower interest rates. How do we know this? Well, there was this headline atop the lead story in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal: 'Powell's Support Inside Congress Is Deep'. And here was the sub-hed, in case you missed the point: 'Lawmakers on both sides say they would oppose any bid to oust the Fed chai...Read More
Former Nevsun Resources president and CEO Peter Kukielski was named interim CEO.Kukielski was one of the nominees put forward by Waterton Global Resource Management, Hudbay's second-largest shareholder, and was an agreed nominee as part of the settlement struck between Waterton and Hudbay days ahead of the miner's May AGM. The company is already searching for a new chairman, with Alan Hibben...Read More
Trend for gold and silver is bullish. Interest rate cut towards the end of the month has been confirmed by the Federal Reserve chairman. If gold rises very sharply till Monday, then value based buying in silver should catch and there can be some rise. I am quite confident that silver will break free from the recent consolidation phase by next week. Tensions in the Persian Gulf can result in hi...Read More
* GRAPHIC-2019 asset returns: (Adds closing prices)By Zandi ShabalalaLONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - Copper was supported by a weakerU.S. dollar on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman JeromePowell raised expectations for an easing of monetary policy,although trade war tensions capped gains.Powell said on Wednesday the U.S. economy was under threatfrom a damaging trade war between Washington and Be...Read More
The Turkish steel producers have gone another day without making any deep-sea scrap bookings because of the slowdown in the finished and semi-finished steel markets, sources said on Thursday July 11.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region had booked a UK cargo on July 9 at $288 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20). The mills then went quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets.But market participants...Read More
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019* Graphic: Trade-weighted sterling since Brexit vote* Pound on course to reverse week's losses * Virgin's Richard Branson warns of parity with dollar * Brexit and lower rates still a drag for sterling (Adds quote, updates prices)By Olga CotagaLONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - Sterling firmed on Thursday,erasing most of this week's losses, after U.S. Federal ReserveChairm...Read More
Although rate cut expectations encouraged the London Metal Exchange three-month base metals prices to move higher yesterday, they have started to weaken in early trading today, Thursday July 11, and been unable to attract follow-through buying. In his prepared remarks, Federal Reserve Chairman Gerome Powell last night noted that uncertainties since the June FOMC meeting continued to dim...Read More
It's not aircraft carriers and nuclear missiles that make the U.S. one of the most feared countries in the world.It's our currency.And this country has a long history of weaponzing the dollar in an effort to make its enemies crumble.But this practice is about to backfire. Because if you threaten folks long enough and screw with their money, they'll eventually strike back. And there is mounting evi...Read More
Argosy Minerals has started lithium carbonate production at its industrial-scale pilot plant at its flagship Rincon lithium project in Argentina, it said late last week. The Australian junior lithium miner owns 77.5% of Puna Mining SA, the company that holds 100% of Rincon, which is located in the northern province of Salta in the South American lithium triangle. Upon reaching the commercial opera...Read More
Trading activity in eastern China's hot-rolled coil market rose to moderate levels on Thursday July 11 after sellers cut prices.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,860-3,880 yuan ($561-564) per tonne, down 20-30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,830-3,840 yuan per tonne, unchangedTrading in Shanghai was robust in the morning when traders set prices at 3,860-3,870 yuan per tonne.But once pr...Read More
As we head into summer there is very little change to our Top 10 most shorted stocks list. Bonterra Energy (Mostly Sunny; BNE) returns to our Top 10 list after having slipped off it in the mid-June edition. It takes the place of Automotive Properties REIT (Cloudy; APR.UN) which saw its short position drop after it completed an $84 million equity financing deal on June 28th.Meanwhile, our signals...Read More
European distributors of flat steel products reported a 1% year-on-year rise in shipment volumes in May 2019, Eurometal said this week.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?475-490 ($532-549) per tonne on July 10, compared with ?,?480-495 per tonne ex-works a week earlier. Prices moved down due to poor demand.Eurometal's stock index f...Read More
Mexico's steel association, Canacero, has denied that Mexican producers of fabricated structural steel who export to the United States have been receiving subsidies, as alleged by US authorities.The denial on Tuesday July 9 followed the US Commerce Department's issuance of affirmative preliminary determinations a day earlier in its countervailing duty investigations of fabricated structural steel...Read More
Ukraine's largest producer of long steel, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, is performing hot tests of one of two new continuous casting machines, designated CCM No2 and CCM No3, the company announced on Thursday July 11."The machine will be put into operation in the third quarter of 2019," the company said in a recent release, adding that the second new CCM will be ready by the end of the year.The constr...Read More
Turkish rebar export prices increased slightly this week, while wire rod prices remained largely unchanged, sources said told Fastmarkets on Thursday July 11.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) export, fob main port Turkey, was $455-465 per tonne on an actual-weight basis on July 11, narrowing up from last week's $445-465 per tonne.Turkish steel mills...Read More
The Turkish domestic long steel markets have remained quiet over the past week amid sluggish summertime demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday July 11.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was TRY3,100-3,130 ($542-547) per tonne on Thursday, widening upward slightly from last week's TRY3,100-3,120 per tonne.The...Read More
The Turkish steel producers have gone another day without making any deep-sea scrap bookings because of the slowdown in the finished and semi-finished steel markets, sources said on Thursday July 11.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region had booked a UK cargo on July 9 at $288 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20). The mills then went quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets.But market participants...Read More