A crackdown on industrial activity in Tangshan, China's steelmaking hub, is sending jitters throughout the sector. Fastmarkets examines what it means for the steel industry. Local authorities in the city issued a notice on the evening of Tuesday March 2 to say that it was embarking on a strict crackdown over March on industries that lag behind in terms of measures to lower emissions, with some act...Read More

Salesforce.com (CRM), a Dow Jones Industrial Average stock moved below $212.99 extending an intermediate downtrend.  Pre-opening Comments for Wednesday March 3rdU.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 future added 9 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures moved slightly lower following release off the March ADP Private Employment Report at 8:15 AM EST. Consensus was...Read More

Offer prices for bulk cargoes of steel scrap to China have continued to move upward in the past day, supported by price increases in China's local scrap market, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 3.Offers for Japanese heavy scrap (HS), which is equivalent to plate and structural (P&S) quality material, were heard at $510-515 per tonne cfr China on Wednesday.A Japanese trading house was he...Read More

Japanese export scrap prices have continued to increase following new deals to Vietnam, Taiwan and China, market participants told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 3."More offers are available now and exporters think now is the right time to make money on their scrap stocks," a Japanese scrapyard source said."The exchange rate is getting better so it's more favorable to sell scrap from the Japan mar...Read More

Coal export volumes from Australia's metallurgical coal hub of Queensland fell by 11.7% year on year in January 2021 and by 12.8% month on month, Fastmarkets understands.A total of 16.27 million tonnes of coal - including small volumes of thermal coal - were exported from Queensland in January 2021, compared with 18.43 million tonnes a year earlier and 18.66 million tonnes in December 2020, accord...Read More

Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices in fob markets declined on Wednesday March 3 after buyers lowered their bid prices due to negative short-term sentiment. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $124.68 per tonne, down $3.08 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.81 per tonne, up $0.50 per tonne Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $117.66 per tonne, down $2.01 per to...Read More

Finance is often cloaked in arcane terminology and math, but the one dynamic that governs the future is actually very simple. Here it is:All debt is borrowed against future supplies of affordable hydrocarbons (oil, coal and natural gas).Since global economic activity is ultimately dependent on a continued abundance of affordable energy, it follows that all money borrowed against future income is a...Read More

The market is abuzz about the next round of fiscal stimulus coming from Washington, D.C., and the "reflation trade" is dominating the discussion. This trade involves buying commodities, energy, basic materials, base metals like copper... and hybrid monetary/industrial metals like silver.Of all metals, silver has the highest electrical conductivity. That makes it ideal for solar cells and electric...Read More

The beatings will continue until morale improves. The Hon. Jerome H. Mr. Powell, in statements this Tuesday:There is a long way to go to maximum employment... We live in a time where there is significant disinflationary pressures around the world and where essentially all major advanced economy's central banks have struggled to get to 2% (inflation). We believe we can do it, we believe we will do...Read More

Iron ore prices increased on Wednesday March 3 amid bullish steel prices and despite the emissions restrictions in Tangshan strengthening, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $176.40 per tonne, up $0.85 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $176.41 per tonne, up $0.71 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $162.52 per tonne, up $1.60 per t...Read More

The Bretton Woods conference of 1944 set the global financial system that still prevails today. The period 1969-1971 can be regarded as the First Reset, which involved the creation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR, ticker:XDR), the devaluation of the dollar and the end of the gold standard.For years, commentators (myself included) have discussed the next global monetary realignment, which is sometim...Read More

China's hot-rolled coil prices surged on Wednesday March 3 after Tangshan, the major steelmaking hub in northern China, ordered several local mills to suspend blast furnaces to help curb air pollution.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,980-5,030 yuan ($770-778) per tonne, up 140-170 yuan per tonneSeveral Shanghai-based traders told Fastmarkets that spot sellers there could do deals at 5,010-5,030...Read More

The absence of the big orange You-Know-Who at center stage of American life has changed the mood of the scene from a five-alarm fire to just another day in a collapsing civilization.As long as he remains healthy, and evades assassin's bullets, Mr. Trump will go after his antagonists in Congress like a mad dog toward the 2022 midterm. But now he can only watch from the sidelines and throw stink bom...Read More

Export prices for Chinese steel plate have risen to their highest since September 2011 amid investors' concerns over inflation coupled with a recovery in demand.Fastmarkets' price assessment for April/May shipments of steel heavy plate export, fob China main port was $685-695 per tonne for the week ended Tuesday March 2, widening upward by $5 per tonne from $685-690 per tonne fob a week earlier.Mo...Read More

"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" - John 8:32 informs us.No, said Thomas Huxley. John was far from the facts."You shall know the truth," countered Huxley… "and the truth shall make you mad.""Mad" is angry by one definition. By another it is lunatic. Both definitions may pertain today.You shall know the truth about America's finances... and it shall make you mad.On...Read More

A summary of Spain-based Ferroglobe's financial results for the fourth-quarter and full-year 2020, published by the company on Tuesday March 2.In brief Ferrosilicon revenue declined by 29% to $1.14 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $1.62 billion in 2019. The drop was attributed to the impact of Covid-19 on volumes and pricing across all products.The full-year adjusted earning...Read More

The world was recently mesmerized by the ability of the Bros (short for "brothers"), a crowd of like-minded, mostly male millennials, to increase the price of GameStop from $20 per share to $400 per share in a matter of days.The fact that the Bros did this using stimulus check money and the Robinhood trading app did not diminish the sky-rocketing numbers behind the frenzy. The stock later collapse...Read More

An overview of the consumer electronics markets and their latest price moves.Ewa Manthey and Dalila Ouerghi in...Read More

What exactly is the Middle Class, and what unique role does it serve in the economy? Given that the Middle Class is constantly invoked by politicos and economists, you’d think the status quo has a solid understanding of the Middle Class. Alas, it isn’t that simple.The conventional view defines the middle class by income, education, or type of labor being performed. These are all superf...Read More

By now, you've heard of the Green New Deal, an ambitious agenda to decarbonize the economy. The overall Green New Deal calls for ending the use of oil and natural gas, moving to electric vehicles, solar, wind and geothermal power, imposing carbon taxes to reduce C02 emissions and providing government subsidies to non-carbon-based energy technologies.The U.S. would also seek to embed these policies...Read More