Technical expert Clive Maund explains why he believes gold and silver are powering up for a stratospheric advance.The deflation and depression is right here, right now, and if you don't believe that, try asking some of the 30 million people who just lost their jobs in the U.S., or those who (used to) work in the catering and tourism industries.The Federal Reserve is reacting to this situation by w...Read More

Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) will try to apply price increases to flat steel products next month, to compensate for the recent loss of value of the local currency."With the current value of the dollar [versus the Brazilian Real], a price increase is unavoidable; it is a matter of survival," commercial director Luis Martinez said during the company's first-quarter earn...Read More

A summary of production figures and financial results from Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) for the first quarter of 2020, as stated in its earnings report published on Thursday May 14.In brief CSN's hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and galvanized domestic steel sales fell year on year in the first quarter of 2020, but tinplate and long steel sales were up in the sa...Read More

China's crude steel output was largely flat in April, but finished steel production significantly increased to exceed 100 million tonnes, according to data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday May 15.Steel outputAprilCrude steel: 85.03 million tonnes, up by 0.2% from a year earlier and up by 7.7% month on monthHot metal: 72.02 million tonnes, down 1.2%...Read More

Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) will try to apply price increases to flat steel products next month, to compensate for the recent loss of value of the local currency."With the current value of the dollar [versus the Brazilian Real], a price increase is unavoidable; it is a matter of survival," commercial director Luis Martinez said during the company's first-quarter earn...Read More

By Mike GleasonGold and silver markets are inching closer to achieving major upside breakouts.On Thursday, gold rallied above a near-term consolidation pattern to close at $1,747 an ounce. That put the monetary metal about $30 away from making new highs for the year. As of this Friday recording, gold prices are marching higher again and come in at $1,761, up 2.5% for the week.Turning to silver,...Read More

Gold COT Report - Futures Large SpeculatorsCommercialTotal LongShortSpreadingLongShortLongShort 277,77134,94335,158126,023404,556438,952474,657 Change from Prior Reporting Period 2,2009,376-4,8525,9782,8753,3267,399 Traders 20445825556290158 Small Speculators LongShortOpen Interest 57,78722,082496,739 3,070-1,0036,396 non reportable positionsChange...Read More

By Gary TanashianSo here we are, with the sector leading the recovery out of the March crash during still-deflationary times. Inflation? It is not yet anywhere to be found, and that probably has a lot of inflation-centric would-be gold boosters on the sidelines. Someday, when these ladies are in full cheer with inflation signals rising, it will be time for caution.Meanwhile, for years we have st...Read More

No Place to Hide: How Market Manipulation in the Age of Pandemic is Destroying Traditional Safe HavensBy Neil VowlesUniversity of Sussex, Brighton, England, UKThursday, May 14, 2020http://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/52005The coronavirus pandemic has created enormous volatility in global financial markets but prices of safe-haven assets such as gold and bitcoin are not surging as one might ex...Read More

The major gold miners' stocks have rallied dramatically out of mid-March's stock-panic lows, soaring to new bull-market highs. Their just-reported Q1'20 operational and financial results reveal whether today's higher gold-stock prices are fundamentally justified. They also illuminate whether this gold-stock upleg is likely to continue powering higher, despite the catastrophic economic damage...Read More

By: Ira EpsteinGold is thrusting higher and now looking at prior highs, watch these key resistance and breakout levels. Read More

A diversified portfolio may well prove to be a winning ticket for metals and mining companies during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the former chief executive officer of Rio Tinto. This is in stark contrast to the global financial crisis of 2008-09, when an across-the-board hit to demand broadly left diversified miners in the same position as pure-play operators, Tom Albanese said. "When the...Read More

Export prices of Brazil-origin slab increased week on week amid recent deals and offers to China as well as increased raw material costs.Fastmarkets assessed the price for steel slab export, fob main port Brazil at $335-350 per tonne on Friday May 15, up by $5 from $330-345 per tonne the week previous.Chinese customers recently purchased material, sources said, with deals being heard at a minimum...Read More

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More

The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to lead to another casualty: the mega mine. The volatility created by crises like Covid-19 is adding a layer of uncertainty to the development of large-scale projects that take a decade or more to progress and are highly capital intensive, according to Tom Albanese, the former chief executive officer of Rio Tinto.This means that mining projects are likely to be deve...Read More

Alcoa Corp has called on the aluminium industry to assess the cost effectiveness of its smelting capacity and make cuts where appropriate - or face a ratcheting up of inventories and a protracted period of low prices. Roy Harvey, the US producer's chief executive officer, said that while curtailments were costly, both financially and in terms of job losses, they were more than necessary at this mo...Read More

Precious metals markets enter the month of May with somemixed signals near term.  But thelong-term picture continues to look constructive.  All the metals appear to have put in majorbottoms during the panic selling of mid to late March. Barring another wave of virus outbreaks and economiclockdowns, the gradual reopening of state, local, and national economies shouldstart to unleash more...Read More

Silver is poweringhigher in a new bull market after getting clobbered in March’s stock panic.  Investors have been flocking back to silverin the aftermath of that ultra-rare extreme-fear event.  That brutal selloff also utterly wiped out speculators’upside bets in silver futures, giving them massive room to buy back in.  After being pummeled to record-low levelsrelative...Read More

The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange fell by 0.54% to close at $5,181.50 per tonne on Friday May 15.All the base metals remained under pressure on Friday and despite copper reaching an intraday high of $5,272 per tonne, it failed to maintain momentum and closed below the $5,200-per-tonne threshold with a turnover of just under 14,000 lots.Total copper stocks stood at 278,750 t...Read More

10 years ago every “analyst” and his brother was hyping the future price of gold and I kept track of their guesses in an article entitled “Gold Going To $2500, $5000, $10000, Even More? These 148 “Analysts Think/Thought So“. None of their forecasts “panned” out (pun intended) but some are back at it again suggesting that we are going to see gold going as h...Read More