NEW YORK/LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Global equities retreated from record highs on Thursday, while safe-haven gold rose after the U.S. economy grew at its slowest pace in more than a year in the third quarter, hit by an uptick in COVID-19 infections and shortages caused by stretched supply chains.U.S. gross domestic product increased at a 2% annualized rate last quarter, slowest since the second q...Read More
Oct 28 (Reuters) - Analysts and traders have sharply lowered their price forecasts for platinum and palladium after a chip shortage forced auto makers to cut production of vehicles containing the metals, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.Auto makers account for some 40% of platinum demand and 80% of palladium demand, embedding them in exhaust systems to neutralise harmful emissions.The chip shorta...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday October 28 that are worth another look.The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent a notice to Brazil-based miner Vale regarding a possible investigation surrounding the Brumadinho tailings dam disaster in 2019. Brazilian miner Vale will resume activities...Read More
WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will urge Democrats in Congress to back a new $1.75 trillion framework for economic and climate change spending, and is confident he will win their backing despite deep divisions between moderate and progressive Democrats, senior administration officials said on Thursday.The framework would be fully paid for by repealing certain tax rebates p...Read More
Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here! (Kitco News) - Disappointing investment demandcontinues to dominate the gold market as the World Gold Council reported a 7%decline in demand for the precious metal in the third quarter.In its latest Quarterly Demands...Read More
A healthy price arbitrage for Japanese hot-rolled coil producers to export into steel markets in the Americas has enabled these mills to keep raising their steel scrap buying prices in recent months, sources told Fastmarkets.Japanese HRC exports to the Americas totaled 1.36 million tonnes in January-August 2021 under HS codes 7208 and 722530, up by 37.6% year on year, according to statistics from...Read More
It may seem like a hyperbole, but if you want to invest in the next chipmaker set to rise to unprecedented heights like its counterpart NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) has over the past five years, look no further than Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD). I can't say enough good things about this company. Originally, I got my first followers into this company in 2018. It's been an incredible journey since...Read More
Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here! (Kitco News) - Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM, TSX:NGT) today announced third quarter 2021 results. The company produced 1.45 million attributable ounces of gold and 315 thousand attributable gold equivalent ounc...Read More
Oct 28 (Reuters) - Following is the text of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde’s statement after the bank’s policy meeting on Thursday:Link to statement on ECB website: hereGood afternoon, the Vice-President and I welcome you to our press conference.The euro area economy continues to recover strongly, although momentum has moderated to some extent. Consumers continue to...Read More
ArcelorMittal has moved forward scheduled maintenance of its galvanizing lines at its Florange site in northeastern France due to reduced demand from the automotive industry, a company representative told Fastmarkets.The company revealed the decision earlier this week, citing in part, the decreased demand from the automotive industry due to an ongoing global semiconductor shortage.The maintenance...Read More
The price assessment for imported billet into Egypt decreased in the week to Thursday October 27, but local rebar prices widened upward on higher offers, sources told Fastmarkets.Local rebar producers increased their prices, effectiveOctober 20.Current offer prices for rebar range from E ?14,900 to15,350 ($946-975) per tonne ex-works including 14% VAT.Demand failed to improve in the country, howev...Read More
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -The European Central Bank kept policy unchanged on Thursday as widely expected, holding fire before a crucial December decision on whether to end emergency stimulus and return policy to a more normal setting.The bank reaffirmed its plan to keep buying bonds to pin borrowing costs near record lows and also promised to hold down interest rates for years to come - a pledge increa...Read More
Steel wire rod producers in Southern Europe have tried to increase offer prices this week, despite buyer resistance, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, delivered southern Europe, remained at ?,?760-800 ($882-928) per tonne on Wednesday, October 27. ItalyIn Italy, wire rod was heard traded at ?,?760-770 per tonne delivered...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy grew at its slowest pace in more than a year in the third quarter as COVID-19 infections flared up, further straining global supply chains and causing shortages of goods like automobiles that almost stifled consumer spending.Gross domestic product increased at a 2.0% annualized rate last quarter, the Commerce Department said in its advance GDP estimate on Th...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices continued to fall on Thursday October 28, but demand picked up following gains in the futures market during the afternoon trading session.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 5,100-5,150 yuan ($798-806) per tonne, down by 80-100 yuan per tonneThe most-traded January rebar futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped to 4,464 yuan per tonne on Thursday morni...Read More
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent a notice to Brazil-based miner Vale regarding a possible investigation surrounding the Brumadinho tailings dam disaster in 2019.The SEC staff made a preliminary determination to recommend the beginning of proceedings against Vale, alleging that the company's disclosures about dam safety management and the Brumadinho dam could have...Read More
LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L)hit back on Thursday against an activist fund's call for the company to break up, with top executives saying its businesses operate better together than apart.Hedge fund Third Point, which has built a large stake in Shell, on Wednesday called for the oil major to split into multiple companies to improve its performance.The push was the lates...Read More
Prices for pig iron originating from the Black Sea basin continued to grow in late October, supported by limited availability of the material.Most producers continued to stay away from the market to better assess the situation. Some of their facilities were on maintenance.A supplier from Eastern Ukraine was said to have increased offers for its material to $550-560 per tonne fob, following last we...Read More
Prices for imports of basic pig iron into China have inched upward over the past fortnight, after transactions for Brazilian cargoes completed on October 15, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday October 28.Following those deals, however, buying activity started to slow down because sellers were offering cargoes at higher prices due to tight supply, market participants said.Around 120,000 tonnes of...Read More
Oct 28 (Reuters) - French video game group Ubisoft (UBIP.PA) cut its full-year forecasts on Thursday as it pushed back three major new releases to the next fiscal year.Free-to-play game "Tom Clancy's The Division Heartland", slated for release in 2021-22, is now expected to premiere over 2022-23, Ubisoft said, along with "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" and "Rocksmith+", two titles that had...Read More