StrengthsThe best performing metal this week was palladium, up 1.44 percent as Jeffrey Currie, head of global commodities research at Goldman Sachs, commented he sees the potential for palladium to test $3,000. With Friday's gain, gold saw a third straight day of positive momentum as concerns of economic fallout surrounding coronavirus outweighed stronger-than-expected U.S. job gains. Holdings i...Read More

By: David HaggithThe best time to size up the collapse in housing that I called almost two years ago will be when it is over so we can visualize its full extent. Since it is now over by some measures, though not by others, this might be as good as we get for awhile as a moment when we can pause to take a broad scan of the full extent of our damages to date. However, as you'll see below, we'...Read More

Richard (Rick) Mills, Ahead of the herdThe Trump administration has just granted its Commerce Department sweeping powers to slap tariffs on countries it decides are manipulating their currencies to the detriment of the United States and its exporting companies. For some this will come as news; at AOTH, it is confirmation that our earlier warning, reported here, has come true. In our article '...Read More

Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks Could it possibly get any better? Trump has shrugged off impeachment and taken a well-earned victory lap, the Democrats are headed for a landslide loss in November, and the U.S. consumer economy is hitting on all twelve cylinders, powered by shop-till-you-drop exuberance that has made even the ongoing, trillion dollar writedown of shopping malls a relatively nigg...Read More

Fastmarkets outlines five key takeaways from SteelOrbis' 11th Annual Rebar and Wire Rod Conference that was held in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 3.Panelists included Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America; Philip Bell, president of the Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA); and Vince Pappas, president of Stone Steel Corporation. Steel imports currently sub...Read More

Fastmarkets has amended the publication date of its Brazilian domestic steel price assessments, ex-works Brazil, reais per tonne, following market feedback.The publication of the Brazilian domestic flat steel and rebar price assessments has moved from the first Friday of each month to the second Friday of each month, allowing Fastmarkets to capture price changes more quickly and accurately.The nex...Read More

Shredder feed price adjustments in the United States were erratic in the week to Monday February 10, with individual shredders moving their scale buying prices based on their specific needs as they questioned where ferrous scrap prices are likely to head in March. The US scrap market was extremely disjointed in February, with prices holding up better in the Midwest than on the East Coast and in th...Read More

Turkish steel producers have continued to book deep-sea scrap from the United States and Europe for end of February and early March shipments, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday February 10.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a European cargo of 20,000-25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $252 per tonne cfr.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a US cargo, comprising 18,000 tonnes of H...Read More

Turkish domestic auto bundle and ship scrap prices have continued to slide over the past week in line with the falling cost of imported scrap, sources said on Monday February 10.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap, auto bundle scrap, domestic, delivered Turkey, was 1,510-1,715 lira ($251-285) per tonne on February 10, down from 1,560-1,800 lira per tonne last week.The Turkish stee...Read More

Falling scrap costs in Turkey as well as low demand in the major sales outlets negatively affected steel billet producers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the first week of February.Chinese customers' cancelling orders stoked negative sentiment in and added pressure to the Asian market.Up to 100,000 tonnesof steel billet initially orderedfor China is now being offered to Southe...Read More

Bob Moriarty of 321gold discusses this company's latest drill results. There are times I want to grab the average investor by the stacking swivel and give them a good hard shake. While the shares are up about 35% since the first of the year, they took a 15% tumble on Friday when the company announced the first deep hole. Strong investors in Irving should wave at the weak hands and remind them to...Read More

Sector expert Michael Ballanger sees something "terrifying" in the charts for copper and long-term bonds. One of the advantages of being a sexagenarian is that after forty years investing in stocks, bonds, commodities, and currencies you have a pretty good idea when something is not exactly "right." If you have lived a good, normal life and you still have decent control of over your mental facult...Read More

Steel billet prices in most major markets around the world fell in the week to Friday February 7 amid expectations of lower ferrous scrap import prices in the bellwether Turkish market.Scrap prices in Turkey, the world's largest importer of the steelmaking raw material, had fallen by $44.68 per tonne to $260 per tonne on February 7 from a year-to-date high of $304.68 on January 7.The coronavirus o...Read More

Import prices for steel slab in Southeast Asia and East Asia fell slightly over the past week amid market participants' cautious stance on China's return from the extended Chinese New Year holiday. Most market participants were likely to stay on the sidelines to observe how prices would change from February 10, the first working day in many Chinese cities, amid the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, sour...Read More

Coronavirus has officially surpassed SARS in death tollThe Dow picked up an impressive triple-digit win today, despite trading more than 100 points in the red at its session lows. Powered by a 2.6% burst from Microsoft (MSFT), the blue-chip index at least for a day shook off the worsening coronavirus outbreak, which has now surpassed SARS with a death toll of 908. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 roared hig...Read More

Put buying hasn't been relatively popular on GLD Gold-tracking exchange-traded fund (ETF) SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) is trading up 0.2% today at $148.15, as the coronavirus concerns push some investors to gold. In the meantime, options trading has picked up, with puts trading at six times the expected pace today.The most popular contracts by far are the April 135 and 140 puts, where more than 156,000...Read More

The shares of MCK, SPCE, and LYFT are gaining todayThe shares of McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK), Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE:SPCE), and Lyft Inc (NASDAQ:LYFT) are all trading higher today. In response, options trading has picked up on MCK, SPCE, and LYFT. Let's take a look at the data around the stocks.MCK was last seen up 3.6% at $161.93, flirting with two-year high territory, while tryin...Read More

The appareler just ran into familiar pressure at its 160-day moving average With earnings due out before the bell tomorrow morning, Under Armour (NYSE:UAA) has clung close to the breakeven today, but is now up 0.6% at last check, to trade at $20.38. For the year, the equity has lost over 6%, but has been mostly contained by its $21.50 and the $20 regions. However, a recent run up to its 160-day m...Read More

Analysts were unsure of the equity coming into todayOne biotech in focus this afternoon is Adverum Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:ADVM), the equity surging near the top of the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) after revealing an upbeat, early stage trial data for its macular degeneration gene therapy drug. Specifically, the trial drug did not need "rescue injections" to control the disease. In response, ADVM...Read More

Coronavirus concerns step back as tech moves higherStocks are bringing in modest gains in afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) paring its early morning losses. A surge in Amazon.com (AMZN) shares has the Nasdaq Composite Index (IXIC) moving higher as well, while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) is following closely behind. Concerns regarding the lack of containment of fatal Corona...Read More