The US stock markets have surged to all-time-record highs, fueled by extreme Fed easing. It jawboned about rate cutting, slashed rates, and birthed a new large-scale Treasury monetization campaign! All this has left traders hyper-complacent, assuming the upside will continue indefinitely. But are these lofty stock levels fundamentally-justified? The big US stocks' just-reported Q3'19 r...Read More
By: Ira EpsteinGold - how far low can it go?Read More
Typical gold and silver price movement after Diwali. Gold and silver have always formed short term peak around Diwali. Irrespective of the news, history has repeated itself. I will prefer to use sharp dips to invest for next year. Long term investment is good at current price. Short term investors and very short term traders need to remain on the sidelines. Physical demand and investment demand...Read More
Primary aluminium foundry alloy premiums in Europe fell to all-time lows on Friday November 8, while the premium in the United States held steady under quiet spot market conditions.European foundry premiums still fallingPrimary aluminium foundry alloy premiums in Europe hit record lows, with some participants saying premiums have hit a bottom.Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium wheel alloy silicon...Read More
Prices for 18/8 stainless steel scrap increased this week in Europe despite market participants insisting that demand was still at "rock bottom", sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 8. While mills continued to enjoy high discounts for the nickel component of the scrap, traders said the recent fall in alloy scrap prices had happened too quickly and that scrap merchants were u...Read More
The inter-merchant spot market for light iron scrap in the UK moved up by ?5 ($6) per tonne in the week ended Friday November 8, repeating the increase by a similar amount the week before, on steady domestic demand and higher European export prices.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK, was ?70-90 ($90-116) per tonne on F...Read More
The flip-flip nature of headlines surrounding trade talks between China and the United States is calling the tune in the markets; there was initial weakness on news that a signing of a partial trade deal would be delayed, but markets then turned higher after it was announced that progress had been made with both sides agreeing to remove some tariffs.This morning, Friday November 8, markets are giv...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
China's domestic spot battery-grade lithium compound prices tumbled week on week on Thursday November 7 after producers cut their offers to stimulate downstream buying, while the European and US carbonate price fell by $0.50 per kg after buyers faced little resistance to lower bids amid a well-supplied market. Chinese producers reduced offer prices for battery-grade lithium carbonate to combat slo...Read More
It's crazy out there.And what's truly frightening: We all know it's crazy out there, but few people seem to be doing anything about it.Earlier this week, billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio published a blog where he argues an excess of free money, enormous government deficits, and excessive social liabilities have set the world up for a "big paradigm shift." Dalio concludes, "The system of ma...Read More
The majority of steel import prices in South America fell slightly during the week ended Friday November 8, because the region had not yet caught up with the recent Chinese upturn and the latest deals had been settled at lower levels.Fastmarkets' most recent price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, import, cfr main ports South America, was $450-470 per tonne on Friday, falling from $455-475 per...Read More
Indian producers of hot-rolled coil increased their export prices for the commodity by $10-15 per tonne in the week ended Friday November 8, with some mills claiming to have their order books full for the current calendar year.The price of steel HRC (commodity), export, fob main port India, was assessed by Fastmarkets at $415-425 per tonne on Friday, an increase of $10-15 per tonne compared with l...Read More
Turkish prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG), and color-coated coil or pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI), increased in the week to Friday November 8, despite demand remaining weak, sources told Fastmarkets.The rise in raw materials prices is the reason for the higher steel prices, they added.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), Northern Europe origin, cf...Read More
Domestic rebar prices in Poland have been largely stable over the past seven days, but mills expect to increase their offer prices next week in response to rising scrap costs, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 8.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland, was 1,950-1,970 zloty ($506-511) per tonne on November 8, compared with 1,950-1,970...Read More
Restrictions on international trade may lead to a further decline in the volumes of steel exports from Turkey to the EU, with the country's exports to the United States already near zero, according to Ugur Dalbeler, chief executive officer of Turkish steelmaker ??olakoglu Metalurji.Dalbeler is also a member of the board of directors of the Turkish Iron & Steel Producers' Association (T???oeD). He...Read More
Gold COT Report - Futures Large SpeculatorsCommercialTotal LongShortSpreadingLongShortLongShort 344,59164,76398,524181,688498,826624,803662,113 Change from Prior Reporting Period 9,1685,85533,1194,69120,61346,97859,587 Traders 20283815755290196 Small Speculators LongShortOpen Interest 65,37828,068690,181 -239-12,84846,739 non reportable positionsCha...Read More
The US stock markets have surged to all-time-record highs, fueled by extreme Fed easing. It jawboned about rate cutting, slashed rates, and birthed a new large-scale Treasury monetization campaign! All this has left traders hyper-complacent, assuming the upside will continue indefinitely. But are these lofty stock levels fundamentally-justified? The big US stocks' just-reported Q3'19 r...Read More
By: Ira EpsteinGold - how far low can it go?Read More
Typical gold and silver price movement after Diwali. Gold and silver have always formed short term peak around Diwali. Irrespective of the news, history has repeated itself. I will prefer to use sharp dips to invest for next year. Long term investment is good at current price. Short term investors and very short term traders need to remain on the sidelines. Physical demand and investment demand...Read More
Salzgitter expects a significant decrease in its earnings for the first nine months of 2019, the German steelmaker said.It forecasts preliminary earnings before taxes at ?,?40.7 million ($45.01 million) for the first nine months of 2019, down by 85.7% from ?,?284.6 million in the corresponding period of 2018.Sales outside the group declined down by 4.55% to ?,?6.6 billion in January-September 2019...Read More