Toyota forecast an 80% drop in profit for the current yearToyota Motor Corp (NYSE:TM) is tumbling today, down 1.3% to trade at $122 after warning that its profit could plunge 80% in 2020 -- its lowest in nine years -- due to the negative effects COVID-19 has had on production. The Japanese automaker's president Akio Toyoda said in a livestreamed media briefing that "the coronavirus has dealt us a...Read More
Brazilian automakers are slowly resuming production after more than a month of idling due to Covid-19 brought the country's car output to near zero in April.General Motors (GM) reopened its engine plant in Joinville, in the southeastern state of Santa Catarina, on May 12, a company spokesperson told Fastmarkets. The other units owned by the company in Brazil have been preparing for the past four w...Read More
The recent volatility inmost markets was really extreme, which means that it was easy to lose focus onthe things that matter the most in case of the gold market. It was relativelyeasy to keep one’s focus as far as the fundamental outlook for gold isconcerned – it’s quite obvious that the economies around the world are in deeptrouble and that the various QEs and money-printing mec...Read More
What it cannot do is cure the virus. What it could do, however, according to a good many analysts, is act as an effective hedge against its economic consequences. Since the beginning of the year through April, the metal was up 11.73% during probably the worst period in economic history since the 1930s Great Depression. Below we chronicle what top experts have to say about gold in the year of...Read More
A summary of German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp's financial results for the first half and second quarter of its 2019/2020 financial year up to March 31, 2020. In brief Thyssenkrupp's performance was significantly affected by the initial effects of the coronavirus pandemic. It cites the weak automotive market as well as price and volume losses in the materials businesses. Its steel Eur...Read More
Troubled oil trader ZenRock owes at least $615 million to banks, suppliers and customers, it said in Singapore court filings seen by Fastmarkets.ZenRock has $116.1 million in secured financing owed to the banks HSBC, Natixis, BCP, Bank of China, Credit Agricole and ING Bank, the company's president, Xie Chun, told Singapore's High Court in an affidavit.The company has $448.9 million in unsecured o...Read More
A summary of German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp's financial results for the first half and second quarter of its 2019/2020 financial year up to March 31, 2020. In brief Thyssenkrupp's performance was significantly affected by the initial effects of the coronavirus pandemic. It cites the weak automotive market as well as price and volume losses in the materials businesses. Its steel Eur...Read More
Japanese steelmaking behemoths JFE and Nippon Steel have both announced losses for the previous financial year in recent days, with the two firms citing a highly challenging operating environment. Both companies will enact further reductions to their steel output in the coming months after a bruising first five months of the year where the effects of Covid-19 have ravaged Japanese steel demand and...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday May 12 that are worth another look.Workers at ArcelorMittal Spain are preparing a series of token strikes in response to the company's decision to apply a new plan for temporary layoffs (known as ERTE), sources told Fastmarkets on May 12.Troubled oil trader ZenRock owes at least $615 million to banks, suppliers and customers, it sa...Read More
By Craig HemkeThe announcement last week that the Bank of Nova Scotia is exiting the precious metals business is just another curious development in the dark, secret world of international bullion banking.Over the past two months, much has been written about the current stresses in the Bullion Bank Fractional Reserve and Digital Derivative Pricing Scheme. Though the decision by Scotiabank to exi...Read More
Graceland Updates By Stewart Thomson 1. It's the soft demand season for gold (April-Sept), and that means upside and downside breakouts can become "wet noodle" affairs. 2. Bulls and bears who aren't prepared for this type of sideways price action may get frustrated. 3. Please click here now. Double-click to enlarge this short-term gold chart.4. My suggestion for invest...Read More
By Dave Kranzler"At the parabolic top of every financial bubble, thrilled investors lose their tether to reality, and as the price of the speculative instrument rallies ever higher, investors' expectations for additional price appreciation inflate ever more. Whether its Cisco Systems at a trillion-dollar market value, Qualcomm at $1000 a share, Oil at $200 a barrel, Bitcoin at a million dollar a...Read More
A Fresno, California waffle restaurant dared to open its doors for business this weekend to the delight of a long line of customers, who waited up to two hours for the "privilege" of willingly spending their money in a business happy to serve them breakfast on Mother's Day. This freedom of voluntary transaction is the core of what we used to call our free society. But in an America paralyzed by...Read More
By Avi GilburtI think there has been more hair torn out in frustration during this rally off the 2200SPX region lows than at almost any other time in market history. The frustration in trying to understand this market is ubiquitous.As the unemployment numbers get worse and worse, the market continues to rally higher and higher. In fact, the futures rallied 70 points off the overnight low struck...Read More
Aluminium premiums in Europe, the United States and Asia were mostly steady week-on-week on Tuesday May 12, with the gradual restart of industries in various parts of the world having little immediate effect.Rotterdam P1020 premiums flat while Italy premium ticks upwardUS Midwest premium unchanged despite automotive industry restartsAsia premiums flat in quiet market.Italy premium ticks upwardThe...Read More
Teck Resources is starting to increase the number of workers active at its Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) project in northern Chile but is still uncertain when it will be able to resume normal activities at the site. Around 1,100 employees are now active at the project, according to Don Lindsay, chief executive officer of the Canada-based company, noting that employment at the site had dropped...Read More
Mining company Rio Tinto is maintaining an eye on the potential for merger and acquisition opportunities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and plans to stay "patient but not complacent," its chief executive officer said. J-S Jacques told the Bank of America 2020 Global Metals, Mining and Steel Conference that metals market outlooks were currently clouded due to changing supply-demand pictures a...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday May 12 that are worth another look.Workers at ArcelorMittal Spain are preparing a series of token strikes in response to the company's decision to apply a new plan for temporary layoffs (known as ERTE), sources told Fastmarkets on May 12.Troubled oil trader ZenRock owes at least $615 million to banks, suppliers and customers, it sa...Read More
If ever there was a masterclass in the need to disaster-proof a supply chain, then the Covid-19 pandemic has provided a harsh reminder to the automotive sector that it's failing. It's a wake-up call for the industry, which, after a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in March 2011, had vowed to end its "just in time" production philosophy and diversify its supply chain in orderto limit a repe...Read More
The sharp decline in emerging market currencies combined with a collapse in oil prices are providing a twin saving grace for many metals and mining companies during the Covid-19 pandemic. For producers of energy-intensive metals like aluminium, and in particular the low-cost ones, the benefit is even greater. It's an emerging trend that is starting to be reflected in the earnings of corporates in...Read More