Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday May 8 that are worth another look.The United States' anti-dumping duties on imports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from Ukraine will remain in place, the Commerce Department said in the final result of its first five-year sunset review of the product.Rio Tinto is partnering on a project to develop a zero-emission bus made of al...Read More
The battle between Elliott waves and supply/demand forecasting approach continues In case you just landed on Earth via Martian spaceship, 2020 has seen the biggest crash in oil prices ever.This chart captures crude's three-month, 80%-plus nosedive to 3-decade lows. (Price data as of May 1, 2020 and does not reflect the unprecedented April 20 plunge into negative territory at -$40.32. Yes, minus $...Read More
Ed Steer YESTERDAY in GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM and PALLADIUM09 May 2020 -- SaturdayThe gold price traded unevenly sideways to a bit lower until shortly before 1 p.m. China Standard Time on their Friday afternoon. It crept a bit higher from there until the high tick of the day was set at, or just before, the 10:30 a.m. BST morning gold fix in London. It was sold back to about the unchanged mar...Read More
By: Gary SavageThe most violent recoveries ever. The bad employment report sent markets rallying. Looking to fill the gap above before the daily cycle top..Gary SavageRead More
By: Ira EpsteinUnemployment data is not representative of the true situation. Gold's Bollinger upper band, on the monthly chart, is a resistance like a fence -- $1731 area. Weekly gold chart $26 from a record close. Is it a pennant?Read More
China produced 6.08 million tonnes of crude stainless steel in the first quarter of 2020, down by 9.04% from a year earlier, according to data released by the China Stainless Steel Council (CSSC) on Thursday May 7.Apparent consumption totaled 4.90 million tonnes in the first three months of this year, down by 806,100 tonnes or 14.12% from the same...Read More
$2,000, $5,000 or even the Jim Rickard’s $50,000 as the next target for gold. How realistic are these figures – could we see the yellow metal at $5,000 or even higher amid the coronavirus crisis? We invite you thus to read our today’s article and find out how high gold prices can go in this downturn. The first quarter of 2020 was clearly positive for the gold market, as the chart...Read More
Member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) raised their production rates in late April on steady demand and healthy profits, according to data released on Friday May 8.April 21-30 outputCrude steel: 2.01 million tonnes per day, up by 3.1%Finished steel: 2.04 million tpd, up...Read More
Gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and similar products account for a significant part of the gold market, with institutional and individual investors using them to implement many of their investment strategies without considering the true risk associated with many aspects of holding non-tangible assets. Gold ETFs are units representing physical gold in paper or dematerialized form, which is...Read More
The European Commission (EC) might start an anti-dumping case into imports of hot-rolled coil originating from Turkey, market sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 7.European steel association Eurofer has lodged a complaint with the EC, alleging that HRC has been exported from Turkey at dumped prices."In April 2020, a new [anti-dumping] investigation was opened into HRC from Turkey," ArcelorMit...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday May 8 that are worth another look.The United States' anti-dumping duties on imports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from Ukraine will remain in place, the Commerce Department said in the final result of its first five-year sunset review of the product.Rio Tinto is partnering on a project to develop a zero-emission bus made of al...Read More
By: Ira EpsteinUnemployment data is not representative of the true situation. Gold's Bollinger upper band, on the monthly chart, is a resistance like a fence -- $1731 area. Weekly gold chart $26 from a record close. Is it a pennant?Read More
Five LessonsChanges ComingAround the World from My HomeWe live in truly historic times. "There are decades when nothing happens, and weeks when decades happen," says a quote usually attributed to Vladimir Lenin. It certainly fits now.For thousands of years, people who lived through what we call "history" didn't realize it. We are the exceptions. We're seeing history and we know it. The Vietnam W...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday May 8 that are worth another look.The United States' anti-dumping duties on imports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from Ukraine will remain in place, the Commerce Department said in the final result of its first five-year sunset review of the product.Rio Tinto is partnering on a project to develop a zero-emission bus made of al...Read More
If ever there was a masterclass in the need to disaster-proof a supply chain, then the Covid-19 pandemic has provided a harsh reminder to the automotive sector that it's failing. It's a wake-up call for the industry, which, after a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in March 2011, had vowed to end its "just in time" production philosophy and diversify its supply chain in orderto limit a repe...Read More
The sharp decline in emerging market currencies combined with a collapse in oil prices are providing a twin saving grace for many metals and mining companies during the Covid-19 pandemic. For producers of energy-intensive metals like aluminium, and in particular the low-cost ones, the benefit is even greater. It's an emerging trend that is starting to be reflected in the earnings of corporates in...Read More
The Covid-19 pandemic may well provide Freeport-McMoRan with a silver lining it had never expected. The US copper producer is discussing with the government of Indonesia what should be done with the planned smelter in the Gresik region in the province of East Java. It has been forced to delay the completion timeline of December 2023 for the plant, due both to Covid-19-related disruptions to the wo...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: 'Sell the rally' mentality here to stayAlthough the London Metal Exchange aluminium price has managed to recover modestly from recent lows, we suspect this is mostly short-covering. The lack of producer restraint, growing exchange inventories, a weak demand outlook and the 7 million tonnes of oversupply forecast f...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: 4-million-tonne surplus for 2020We have made further downward revisions to our aluminium demand expectations for 2020 and, although there have been smelter capacity reduction in China too, the net effect is that our forecast for the global surplus this year has swelled to 4 million tonnes, from 2.7 million tonnes...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Average LME aluminium price down by 2.5% week on weekAlthough LME aluminium began this week on the rebound, prices extended their recent downtrend further last week, approaching the $1,400-per-tonne level. The weekly average LME aluminium cash price was down 2.5% last week to $1,432.50 per tonne from previous week's $1,469.6...Read More