"You can't run from them, you can't cheat them, you can't sway them with excuses. If you owe them money and you don't want to crumble yourself, you pay it back." -- Tywin LannisterThe head of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, was on 60 Minutes on Sunday. He was interviewed by the always solid Scott Pelley. After the usual blather about washing hands and opening the economy, there was this gem:...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday May 19 that are worth another look.German diversified industrial group Thyssenkrupp has detailed its restructuring plan, confirming plans to sell shares in its steel business and sell or close its heavy plate sites.Swedish state-owned iron-ore producer LKAB has confirmed that all production at its Kiruna mine has stopped following...Read More

Thank you for joining us in a weekly technical look at the mid-cap oriented INK Canadian Insider (CIN) Index. After some impressive weeks where it outperformed both US markets and precious metals, the Index endured a strong pullback of 45.1 points or 5% to 840.14 last week.MACD plunged 8.9 points to -7.3. RSI slid 10.39 points or 19% to 45.4.Support is at 820 (lower Bollinger) and 809. Resistance...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe were fairly stable day on day despite limited trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday May 19.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?409.84 ($444.90) per tonne on Tuesday, down by only ?,?0.16 per tonne from ?,?410.00 per tonne on Monday.Tuesday's index was calculated based on deals a...Read More

Some of the flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia increased this week, but the market is still very slowentering the last week of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and amid concerns about Covid-19, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday May 19.The reason behind the rising prices was strong domestic demand from China and India.No deals were heard during the week and ste...Read More

Production at Bosnian steelmaker ArcelorMittal Zenica has been interrupted by a strike, with unions protesting against temporary layoffs, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday May 19.The strikes were called on May 19 and affected all operations at the Zenica site except for the coking plant, sources said. The unions did not disclose how long the strikes will last....Read More

Steel billet and rebar prices in the United Arab Emirates had mixed fortunes in the seven days to Tuesday May 19, with demand limited by Ramadan and Covid-19 restrictions, market sources told Fastmarkets.Market participants in the UAE said that demand was unlikely to improve before the end of Ramadan in late May.Ramadan is normally a slow month for the region, but the Covid-19 curfe...Read More

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) export rebar and wire rod prices remained stable in the week to Monday May 18 while trading activity in the majority of the outlets was still modest, Fastmarkets learned.Some market participants expected some improvement in finished long-steel prices following the uptick in the scrap and billet segments last week, but there was no sufficient support on...Read More

With three very impressive advanced stage silver projects coming online over the next three-four years (Juancipio: 2020, Las Chispas: 2022, and Corani: 2023/2024), what comes after? This leaves very few silver projects to be excited about. There are a very large number of higher-grade deposits that are relatively small (i.e. those owned by Alexco Resource and Aurcana) and a larger number of low-...Read More

Graceland Updates By Stewart Thomson 1. To view an important weekly gold chart, please click here now. Double-click to enlarge. Gold is consolidating after reaching substantial resistance in the $1800 area. 2. There was wild gyration in 2012 around that resistance zone and a breakdown that disappointed investors.3. In contrast to the price action then, the world's "Queen o...Read More

By Hubert Moolman In my previous article, I've written about how important US dollar movements are for future Silver prices. The chances of a significant Silver rally during US dollar strength is very low; and it is very high during US dollar decline. The structure of the Silver bull market since 2001 has a lot in common with that of the 70s bull market. However, one of the important differenc...Read More

Ted Butler Having focused intently on the running open losses of the 8 big shorts (ex-JPM) for the past year, the latest price surge would seem to put the 8 big shorts in particular serious jeopardy. Simply put, the open losses ($7.8 billion, as of Friday, May 15) have never been larger, while the prospects for the big shorts buying back all or most of their short position at anywhere near brea...Read More

By: Ira Epstein Vaccine hopes yesterday helps markets. Gold was initially up on the Fed Chair's comments but then after the vaccine news, it took gold and silver from its highs. But the current set-up...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday May 19 that are worth another look.German diversified industrial group Thyssenkrupp has detailed its restructuring plan, confirming plans to sell shares in its steel business and sell or close its heavy plate sites.Swedish state-owned iron-ore producer LKAB has confirmed that all production at its Kiruna mine has stopped following...Read More

Ferrous scrap prices in Mexico rose for certain grades on thin deals and low availability, while some price cuts were announced in both Baj?-o and Monterrey regions.Local steel producers avoided announcing price changes last week, but market participants reported purchases being made at higher prices.Fastmarkets' assessment of the consumer buying price for No1 heavy melt, delivered mill Bajio rose...Read More

Why is hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), one of the most prescribed drugs in history, now suddenly labelled as a lethal threat? And yet barely-tested compounds, like Moderna's "vaccine", are quickly and loudly championed? It's getting harder and harder to see the inconsistency/hypocrisy as anything but a highly political show in which science is losing out to money. Perhaps nothing makes this point more t...Read More

Attorney General William Barr says it's unlikely that we'll see any criminal investigations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, so will they walk scot-free? Will Hillary Clinton and John Brennan escape justice too? And amid this slap in the face to the American people, the President's own attorney Alan Dershowitz is saying that there is no Constitutional right to refuse a vaccine if it's deemed "mandat...Read More

The Federal Reserve is going to create an inflationary environment that is like a tax that will hurt society on all levels, and this is what investors need to do to avoid wealth erosion, says Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital.In this interview, Schiff comments on the risks of holding dollar-denominated assets and what investors should be buying instead.0:16 - Moderna and vaccine trial resu...Read More

Peter Schiff is an internationally recognized economist specializing in the foreign equity, currency and gold markets. Mr. Schiff made his name as President and Chief Global Strategist of Euro Pacific Capital. He frequently delivers lectures at major economic and investment conferences, and is quoted often in the print media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Barron's, BusinessWee...Read More

Max Keiser explains why Bitcoin is the antidote to endless Fed money printingMax Keiser is an American broadcaster and film-maker. He hosts Keiser Report, a financial program broadcast on RT. He presents a weekly show about finance and markets on London's Resonance FM, and writes for The Huffington Post. Keiser invented "Virtual Specialist Technology," a software system used by the Hollywood Stock...Read More