Gold and silver investors have been watching the Department ofJustice investigation of criminal price rigging at JPMorgan Chase andother bullion banks carefully. Several crooked traders have pled guilty to“spoofing” the markets and more have been indicted. The DOJ has even suggested the banks have been engagedin racketeering. Prosecutors may use RICO laws designed f...Read More

Adjustments to EU safeguard measures will "stabilize trade flows by containing import concentrations from certain exporting countries," the European steel association Eurofer said on Tuesday October 1.Although the changes will result in improvements, "the result is still not sufficient for a large part of the sector, especially given that it is facing depressed domestic steel demand," Eurofer said...Read More

Home Depot stock has been a long-term outperformer Shares of home improvement name Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) have been climbing the charts this year. Currently, the stock is testing support at its +10% year-over-year mark and $250 billion market cap. With a 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) reading of 50, another layer of support is now being added, making it the perfect time to jump onto HD's u...Read More

Following the attacks on key crude oil production facilities in Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump announced the authorization of the release of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to keep the market well supplied. This move changes nothing in the way the SPR is governed. The market, not the President, should determine the release of the massive SPR. Government stockpiles are not...Read More

Some major Chinese scrap importers have stopped buying from overseas over fears of not receiving quotas for the fourth quarter of 2019, leading them to postpone deliveries until March next year after Lunar New Year, Fastmarkets has learned. Many buyers in Ningbo province, a major destination for No2 copper scrap imports to China, have already used up their quotas assigned earlier and some of them...Read More

Most analysts have remained bullish on VMWVMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW) is trading up 2.4% at $155.56, thanks to bullish analyst attention. Wells Fargo this morning upgraded its opinion on the software name to "outperform" and boosted its price target by $40 to $180. This price level served as a ceiling for the shares from June through early August, and represents 20% upside to last night's close of $15...Read More

On September 14th, drones targeted Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil refinery and Khurais oil field. The strikes reportedly knocked out more than half of Saudi Arabia's total output. That amounts to a whopping 6-7% of the global daily oil supply. Not surprisingly, before the dust had settled, the press sounded an alarm and spread fear. Then, President Trump jumped in, claiming the attack “won't affe...Read More

Checking in on the equity ETF in the midst of a historically rare moving average streakThe following is a reprint of the market commentary from the October 2019 edition of The Option Advisor, published on September 27. For more information, or to subscribe to The Option Advisor -- featuring 10 new option trades each month -- visit our online store.Regular followers of our analysis will be aware of...Read More

Turkey exported 381,915 tonnes of flat steel products in August 2019, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), up by 7.11% year on year from the 356,568 tonnes exported in August 2018. Despite negative sentiment in the flat steel market in Europe in July, when orders for August shipping were placed, there was still a moderate increase in...Read More

The interplay between gold and silver is a critical component to understanding what is out ahead; to understanding whether long-term Treasury yields will rise and if they rise, whether it will be due to inflationary pressures. It is a critical component to understanding whether cyclical commodities and other aspects of a greater inflation/reflation trade will finally break existing downtrends. See...Read More

Geron's blood cancer drug, imetelstat, was just granted fast track status by the FDAGeron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) stock is soaring this morning, following an announcement that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted fast track status to the biotech's experimental therapy, imetelstat, used to treat patients with myelofibrosis (MF) -- a type of blood cancer. The firm plans to meet with the...Read More

A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday October 1.Please click...Read More

Most analysts remain upbeat toward CLF stockB. Riley FBR cut its Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE:CLF) price target to $13 from $16, with the analyst in coverage citing an "evolving macro and price environment" for the mining company, pointing specifically to a sharp decline in Atlantic pellet premium. Nevertheless, the firm maintained its "buy" rating on CLF, with the analyst saying the stock is attrac...Read More

ADT is poised to conquer a key trendline todayOne of the better stocks on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) this morning is ADT Inc (NYSE:ADT), up 3.8% to trade at $6.51. This is after the home security specialist said it's selling its Canadian operations to telecom operator Telus Corp for $527.55 million. The deal is expected to be closed in the fourth quarter. Today's breakout has ADT stock o...Read More

Investors will be monitoring a number of economic reports todayU.S. stock market futures are trading above fair value this morning, pointing toward a strong start to the fourth quarter for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI). Today's session features a number of economic reports, including the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) manufacturing index, as well as several Fed speeches. Still, m...Read More

Despite evidence of a slowing economy, shipments of rawmaterials are gliding across Chinese docks at a torrid pace, especially metals,which form the backbone of China’s industrial supply chain. In fact a recent report shows that, while Chinese importsare down 5% compared to last year, and the trade war is hitting China’smanufacturing sector, imports of raw materials and ores “con...Read More

Poor demand and mounting competition from imports will continue to challenge the European hot-rolled coil (HRC) market, supporting a negative trend in the fourth quarter of 2019, market sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HRC, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?450-460 ($491-502) per tonne on September 25, down by ?,?5-10 per tonne week on week and down...Read More

This week, Nancy Pelosi announced that the House wouldlaunch a formal impeachment inquiry. Is it a well-grounded argument, publicitystunt or reflection of the growing polarization inside the Democratic party?Storm in a tea cup or not, should Trump be worried? And gold? What’s This All About?On Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker, announcedthat “the House of Representatives is moving f...Read More

Is Gold now back in a bull market? Most goldbugs think so and are quick to proclaim that.But, could Gold remain in a secular bearmarket? It hasn’t made a new all time high in 8 years and the perma-bull,financial asset loving crowd certainly believes so.This is semantics because what really mattersis making money and nothing else. With that said, Gold is not in a real bullmarket yet. We can...Read More

Ferro-alloys prices will continue to trade lower going into 2020 amid slowing economic and steel production growth, Fastmarkets analyst, Amy Bennett, told delegates at the North-American Ferro-alloys conference in Chicago last week."Although ferro-alloy prices will almost certainly trend lower in 2020, given the weakening economic fundamentals, we do not expect to see prices retreat to 2015/2016 l...Read More