Iranian exporters of billet and slab were quiet in the week ended Wednesday October 27 amid asoftening of the Asian long and flat steel markets, particularly in China, which has been one of the main export outlets for their material this year.A sharp drop in futures and physical prices for rebar and hot-rolled coil (HRC) in China resulted in a reduction of demand for imported semi-finished steel p...Read More
(Adds detail, comment, background)MOSCOW, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Russia needs to toughen monetary policy to slow inflation and lower inflation expectations, Central Bank Deputy Governor Alexei Zabotkin said on Wednesday, days after the bank sharply raised the key rate to curb growing prices.Last Friday, the central bank, which targets inflation at 4%, raised rates for the sixth time this year to 7.5%...Read More
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank is gingerly hiring new staff at its investment bank, which has become its biggest revenue generator here, as it pursues new revenue opportunities.In the first year-on-year increase in front-office staff at the investment bank since Germany's largest lender embarked on a restructuring in 2019, Deutsche said on Wednesday the number had risen in the third quarter...Read More
A weakening import billet market in Asia, particularly China - which has been one of the main destinations for CIS-origin material this year - has forced CIS mills to seek support in nearer markets.Interest in import billet dropped sharply in China over the past ten days following a crash in rebar futures prices due to lower demand for long steel products in the country.In such conditions, traders...Read More
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) -Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd, the country's largest insurer by market value, posted a 31.2% fall in third-quarter net profit on Wednesday as its premium income shrank on a weak economy and profit was dented by losses on investment assets.Net profit fell to 23.6 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) in the three-months ending September 30, compared with 34.4 billion in...Read More
(Recasts, adds details and comment, updates prices)Oct 27 (Reuters) - Germany's 10-year bond yield fell to the lowest in more than a week and its yield curve flattened on Wednesday.After a brief pause, government yield curves across developed markets are back to flattening over the last two sessions.That is a move which analysts say may reflect concern that central banks, particularly the Bank of...Read More
(Repeats story published on Oct. 26 with no changes to text.)ORLANDO, Fla., Oct 26 (Reuters) - Insatiable demand for bitcoin is forcing U.S. regulators to walk an increasingly fine line between opening up the booming market to investors, and shielding them from what is still a highly speculative, volatile and risky asset.By authorizing the first-ever bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds last week...Read More
The low-carbon ferro-chrome market in Europe leapt over the two weeks to Tuesday October 26 to a multi-year high due to extremely tight availability, with some sellers not offering on the spot market and consumers scrambling to find material.Fastmarkets' price assessment for ferro-chrome 0.10% C, average 65-70% Cr, delivered Europe was $3.43-3.75 per lb Cr on October 26, up by 38-50 cents (13.97%)...Read More
LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Finance minister Rishi Sunak was expected to announce multi-billion-pound public investments alongside tight controls on day-to-day outlays in a budget speech and three-year spending plan on Wednesday.Below are highlights of Sunak's speech in parliament:Employment is up. Investment is growing. Public services are improving. The public finances are stabilising. And wages...Read More
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Bottled water, vaccine development, short video platform TikTok and electric vehicle technology propelled the big earners on China's rich list this year, as embattled property moguls and others facing regulatory scrutiny slipped down the rankings.Zhong Shanshan was No. 1 on the Hurun China Rich List 2021 published on Wednesday, with personal wealth of $60.6 billion thanks to...Read More
Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate the food on our tables, but that probably isn’t stopping a lot of people from grumbling about how expensive the turkey and all the fixings have become.According to Statistics Canada, food prices are up 2.5% over the past year, but that may be underestimating the impact of inflation. New research from Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, q...Read More
BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Some Chinese property developers have proposed extending their offshore bond maturities or undertaking a debt restructuring to regulators, sources said, as an increasing number of defaults shakes investor confidence in the sector.The developers made the proposals at a meeting jointly held by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Administr...Read More
The price of steel hollow sections in Europe was unchanged on Wednesday October 27, with the market looking to recoup recent losses, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?1,230-1,275 ($1,427-1,479) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged week on week.Market sources believed that hollow sections prices had reac...Read More
The price of steel H-beams in Europe remained stable on Wednesday October 27 amid improving demand linked to better sentiment, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel beams domestic, delivered northern Europe was ?,?1,010-1,030 ($1,172-1,195) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged week on week."We are seeing sentiment starting to turn and...Read More
BERLIN (Reuters) - The pandemic-induced loss in working hours in 2021 will be equivalent to 125 million full-time jobs, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday, in a sign that the global labour market is not recovering as expected this year.That number is 25 million higher than what the ILO predicted in its last report in June, affected primarily by the disparities in vaccine...Read More
More than 10% of the global container fleet is waiting for berths to become available around the world, with effective capacity being "severely limited by port congestion," shipping giant Maersk said this week.While all vessels have been deployed, 12.5% of capacity has been removed while effects of vessel delays continue to worsen, it said, quoting Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis.Trade growth m...Read More
A summary of the operational results for Russia's largest steelmaker, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), which also has assets in Europe and the United States, for the third quarter (July-September) of 2021In brief?EUR? In the third quarter, NLMK's consolidated sales decreased by 4% compared with the second quarter, to 4.1 million tonnes amid steel output reductions at its Russian flat steel division.?EUR?...Read More
Guidance for China to achieve its carbon emissions peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 was jointly released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Sunday October 24.The guidance specifies that by the year 2025, China's energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product will be reduced by 13.5% from 2020 levels, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday October 27 that are worth another look.Long and flat-rolled steel producer Gerdau expects demand to continue to grow in 2022, after a rapid recovery of the local market this year from the lows of 2020 that were caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the...Read More
The low-carbon ferro-chrome market in Europe leapt over the two weeks to Tuesday October 26 to a multi-year high due to extremely tight availability, with some sellers not offering on the spot market and consumers scrambling to find material.Fastmarkets' price assessment for ferro-chrome 0.10% C, average 65-70% Cr, delivered Europe was $3.43-3.75 per lb Cr on October 26, up by 38-50 cents (13.97%)...Read More