Gold COT Report - Futures Large SpeculatorsCommercialTotal LongShortSpreadingLongShortLongShort 272,19653,16237,007108,654365,277417,857455,446 Change from Prior Reporting Period -15,9522,928-2,944-23,323-41,022-42,219-41,038 Traders 20260715556284161 Small Speculators LongShortOpen Interest 57,88820,299475,745 -1,410-2,591-43,629 non reportable pos...Read More

By: Ira EpsteinGold is in a correction, but strong supports in the $1,600's:Read More

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More

While the government has encouraged regulatory agencies to use virtual meetings to avoid face-to-face meetings, in practice, that has not been so simple for public hearings related to the award of concession contracts or prior consultation processes, Angela Salazar, head of mining at Lloredo Camacho said on a Colombia Mining Legal Tour webinar."The ANM [National Mining Agency] has implemented a mi...Read More

The inter-merchant spot price for light iron scrap in the United Kingdom moved up for the second consecutive week on Friday June 5, driving by ongoing tight material availability. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK was ?65-80 ($82-100) per tonne on Friday, up from ?60-70 per tonne on May 29. This is the second wee...Read More

The price of containerized ferrous scrap imports into India maintained its upward momentum in the week to Friday June 5, as activity returned to the market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated the steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India at $278.58 per tonne on Friday, up from $275.21 per tonne a week earlier.Most market sources reported offers for shredded material...Read More

Vehicle production increased in Latin America during May, when compared with the all-time lows reported in April, but continued to represent a sharp year-on-year decrease while most plants remained closed or are just starting to reopen following Covid-related halts.Mexico, Brazil and Argentina are the region's top auto producing countries, Fastmarkets understands.MexicoMexican light vehicle output...Read More

The metals were mixed this morning, Friday June 5, but Asian-Pacific equities were mainly stronger, as were pre-market major western equity index futures. The unemployment rate in the United States is expected to climb to 19.4%. Equities have followed history by focusing on governments' monetary/fiscal actions... ...but can money alone right the impact of the virus, or can only a vaccine do that -...Read More

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of regional supply chain security for critical materials like cobalt, the president and chief executive officer of First Cobalt said. According to Trent Mell, the increasing trend toward electric vehicles (EVs) has added to the impetus to ensure that a reliable and ethical supply of refined cobalt is available for use in batteries. "If the Covid...Read More

The uptake of batteries for energy storage is expected to soar between 2020 and 2030 in Europe, supporting the growth of flexible electricity assets while new renewable capacity ramps up in its key economies.Investments in green mobility and renewable sources of electricity are high on the agenda of the EU member states, to comply with energy transition targets.With sales of electric vehicles (EV)...Read More

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More

Turkish prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) and color-coated coil increased in the week to Friday June 5 and some producers have stopped accepting new orders because of increasing production costs, sources told Fastmarkets.Demand is strong due to restocking and expectations that prices will rise further.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HRC, domestic, exw Turkey was $430-440 p...Read More

Magnets...They're pretty much the most boring thing on Earth. They're about as exciting as waiting in line at the post office.But magnets are a huge part of modern life. In fact, you likely rely on high-powered magnets every moment of your day.As the world continues to modernize, more and more of these high-powered magnets will be needed to satisfy the demand for new technologies. And that creates...Read More

Vehicle production increased in Latin America during May, when compared with the all-time lows reported in April, but continued to represent a sharp year-on-year decrease while most plants remained closed or are just starting to reopen following Covid-related halts.Mexico, Brazil and Argentina are the region's top auto producing countries, Fastmarkets understands.MexicoMexican light vehicle output...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe declined slightly day on day on Friday June 5 due to low demand, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was calculated at ?,?398.75 ($449.19) per tonne on Friday, down by ?,?1.33 per tonne from ?,?400.08 per tonne on Thursday.Friday's index was calculated based on deals and "workable...Read More

Yesterday, in Real Vision's Daily Briefing (free) Roger Hirst again made the case that the influence of robotic passive strategies such as automatic retirement savings contributions into passive index funds is waning due to layoffs. Meanwhile, the impact of retail investors is growing as many of those laid off and furloughed investors use some of their unemployment benefits to speculate in the st...Read More

The current situation with Middle Eastern oil producers of low production and low prices is not sustainable according to Warren Pies, chief energy strategist for Ned Davis Research. In a must watch interview for oil patch investors, Pies pictures an oil market that remains under stress despite the recent rally. He also updates his playbook as crude oil demand recovers from its lows. He continues...Read More

Domestic steel rebar prices in Poland resumed their decline over the week to Friday June 5 on pressure from buyers with Covid-19-related uncertainty restraining their trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets.Sources noted a minor increase in trading activity over the assessment week but this was largely from attempts to destock."Stockists are lowering prices just to get rid of the old stock...Read More

European distributors of flat steel products reported a 50.8% year-on-year drop in shipment volumes in April, Eurometal said on Thursday June 4.In first four months of 2020, shipments of flat steel products by European steel service centers decreased by 18.5% year on year. Eurometal does not disclose product volumes.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe ...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices snapped over a week of increases on Friday June 5 due to heavy rain in the country's southern region and high temperatures in the north sapping demand. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,600-3,630 yuan ($508-512) per tonne, down by 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing) - weekly assessment: 3,700-3,730 yuan per tonne, up by 100 yuan per tonneAdverse weather condi...Read More