The long, long bull market since 2009 has finally matured into a fully-fledged epic bubble. Featuring extreme overvaluation, explosive price increases, frenzied issuance, and hysterically speculativeContinue...Read More

One of the dishes at the banquet of consequences that will surprise a great many revelers is the systemic failure of the Federal Reserve's one-size-fits-all "solution" to every spot Continue...Read More

Investment demand for gold and silver coins reached its highest level in four years.Continue...Read More

"Keep with the reflation trade. Commodities have been dead money for ten years but we are probably coming out of that funk," says John LaForge, Wells Fargo Head of Real Asset Strategy. In a world of currency debasement, excessive money printing, and negative real interest rates, he calls gold a bang-for-your-buck scenario. While Laforge is bullish the yellow metal, he tells Daniela Cambone why the...Read More

Turkish steel mills remained quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets on the second working day of the week, while the market was generally slow during the new year holidays, sources said on Tuesday January 5.Market participants believed that the mills in Turkey would be out of the market until next week, when they are expected to start their purchases for February-March cargoes.Turkish steelmakers hav...Read More

The export market for steel billet originating in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has remained quiet this week with most producers still out of the market for holidays, although sentiment remained upbeat, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday January 5.Most CIS mills were out of the market for new year and Christmas holidays and were expected to come back next week, sources said.There a...Read More

Technical analyst Clive Maund charts Generation Mining and explains why he believes the stock should go "considerably higher quite quickly." Generation Mining Ltd. (GENM:TSX; GENMF:OTCQB; 9GN:FSE) is a palladium stock that is in a strong long-term uptrend, and has been since mid-2018 as we can see on its latest 3-year chart shown below. This is a most useful chart as it makes several positive poi...Read More

Thibaut Lepouttre of Caesars Report describes how Generation Mining is "wrapping up a busy year," including publication of an "excellent" preliminary economic assessment that he expects will be followed by a feasibility study that will "optimize" the company's returns. Editor's Note: Technical analyst Clive Maund on Jan. 5 charted Generation Mining, notes that it is a "palladium stock that is in...Read More

Sector expert Michael Ballanger lays out the foundation for his investment strategy in the new year, with uranium and copper augmenting his focus on the precious metals. As I sat down in mid-December to formulate the draft outline for my 2021 Forecast Issue, I was immediately engulfed with a feeling of impending dread, not by way of dissatisfaction with the investments currently being held in my...Read More

Steel rebar and billet prices in the United Arab Emirates increased this week because of higher offers and assessments, but market activity was yet to resume after the end-of-year period, sources said on Tuesday January 5. Domestic rebar The country's steel producers sold rebar at 2,259-2,295.5 dirhams ($615-625) per tonne ex-works the week before for orders to be produced in January and have clos...Read More

Gold and silver continue tobe bullish, the gold miners are mixed and bitcoin continues to outperform. Despitethe unprecedented events of 2020 the precious metals have had a positive year,the pandemic brought volatility to the market with a sharp drop followed by acontinuation of the upward trend that had begun before Covid disrupted ourlives.Unprecendented globalliquidity since the pandemic has be...Read More

Brazil's iron ore exports increased by a third in December compared with a year earlier, according to statistics from the country's economy ministry.It shipped 33.17 million tonnes of the steelmaking raw material last month, compared with 24.99 million tonnes in December 2019.Strong demand for steel in in China has...Read More

China aims to diversify its iron ore supply sources and strengthen its bargaining power in purchasing, according to the country's Ministry of Industry & Information Technology (MIIT).Seeking feedback on a steel masterplan that will form part of the country's 14th Five-Year Plan, MIIT said in a document published on Thursday December 31, that one of its goals was to strengthen the iron ore res...Read More

Chinese steelmakers have wasted no time in booking ferrous scrap from abroad following a change in the country's import rules for the steelmaking raw material, with purchases of several cargoes from Japan agreed in the last few days.A notice released by the Chinese Ministry of Ecology & Environment late on December 31 formally confirmed the relaxation of steel scrap import regulations for material...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday January 5 that are worth another look.Russia's government has done as was expected and has approved an increase in the export duty to be applied to ferrous scrap for the next six months.London Metal Exchange...Read More

A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday January 5.Please click...Read More

Steel scrap prices in Mexico resumed an upward trend in the week ended Friday January 1, with many consumers accepting higher prices for scrap in the final days of 2020 when struggling to secure supply.At least two steel producers in Mexico increased their scrap purchase prices because it has been difficult to secure material, due to the strong competition.In mid-December, tough competition betwee...Read More

Three-month LME copper and tin prices continued to rise on Tuesday January 5, with the red metal coming close to its 2020 high, on a day when the rest of the base metals all saw increases, supported by a low US Dollar Index.Copper's three-month price settled at $8,002 per tonne on Tuesday at the 5pm close, just a few dollars short of the metal's 2020 high of $8,028 per tonne reached on Decemb...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday January 5 that are worth another look.Russia's government has done as was expected and has approved an increase in the export duty to be applied to ferrous scrap for the next six months.London Metal Exchange...Read More

London Metal Exchange spreads are usually a key driver for duty-unpaid aluminium premiums in Europe but this was not the case toward the end of 2020, leaving market participants wondering what will be main driver in 2021. Since late November, the Rotterdam duty-unpaid premium has been steadily rising despite spreads trading at levels that would usually bring it down. Fastmarkets assessed the ...Read More