Turkish steel mills resumed their deep-sea scrap purchases at the end of this week, paying slightly higher prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday October 25.A steel producer in the Marmara region booked a US cargo, comprising 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (90:10) and 20,000 tonnes of shredded at an average price of $256 per tonne cfr. The price of shredded...Read More
A group of metals and mining companies including Glencore and Anglo American have joined forces with the World Economic Forum to explore the use of blockchain technology to accelerate responsible sourcing of raw materials. The Mining and Metals Blockchain Initiative will explore the building of a blockchain platform to address transparency, the track and tracing of materials, the reporting of carb...Read More
Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market declined slightly during the week to Friday October 25 despite a recovery in ferrous scrap prices amid an ample supply of Indian and Japanese billets.Scrap prices in the bellwether Turkish market, the world's largest import of steel scrap, have recovered since hitting a year to date trough of $218.98 per tonne on October 1.During the week to Friday, t...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices were largely flat on Friday October 25, while billet and futures both moved up.Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,580-3,610 yuan ($507-511) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,550-3,600 yuan per tonne, widened upward by 10 yuan per tonneRebar futures rose after a data release on Thursday showed a sharp drop in inventories, sources said. Prices in the spot market...Read More
Gold COT Report - Futures Large SpeculatorsCommercialTotal LongShortSpreadingLongShortLongShort 322,91763,78567,189171,329466,686561,435597,660 Change from Prior Reporting Period 3,547-2,5589,9353,62910,71117,11118,088 Traders 19681815552278189 Small Speculators LongShortOpen Interest 64,09327,868625,528 1,0305318,141 non reportable...Read More
Gold has stalled out, drifting sideways to lower for nearly a couple months now. Traders are becoming more frustrated its preceding powerful rally has failed to resume. That is inexorably eroding this past summer's bullish psychology. Corrective phases to rebalance sentiment are normal and healthy after strong uplegs. Gold had grown too overbought, exhausting traders' near-term buying...Read More
Hubert MoolmanSince 2016, the US Monetary Base has declined by about 23.68%. This is the deepest and longest decline since the Federal Reserve was formed. This should not be ignored.The last time there was a decline close to this magnitude, there was a sharp deflationary recession. That was the one that occurred from 1920 to 1921.Below, is a long-term chart of the Monetary base that goes back to...Read More
- Dave KranzlerI'm not sure why Trump continues incessantly to harangue the Fed about cutting the Fed Funds rate. The Fed is printing money and sending it to the stock market via the banks. It's a much more effective policy tool to accomplish Trump's number one policy agenda, which is to drive the stock market inexorably higher.I put "repo" in quotes because the term is a thin veil for what is...Read More
- Avi GilburtSince I wrote my last bond article, we have seen many events which market participants assume have an effect upon the bond market.We have recently seen the Fed lower its rate, in addition to coming to the table with its "not really QE 4" of $60 billion - and rising. Yet, rates have been heading higher. Does that make you scratch your head?Well, I have said many times in the past t...Read More
By: Ira EpsteinGold's action is sideways action, I can't get super excited yet, but not as negative as I was the day prior. Read More
Persistently weak demand and sliding manganese ore prices have combined to drag down Indian silico-manganese prices to a level last seen on October 16, while the Europe market was also lower for similar reasons, according to European and Indian industry sources on Friday October 25.The Indian market showed a drop in export prices for the eighth consecutive week, with more losses expected, given th...Read More
Gold appears to be sitting around $1,500, testing the floor of the past few weeks of $1,490.The Fed appears to be doing potentially more than what they did in 2008 in terms of adding liquidity to the market.We could be at $1,550 gold very soon.We are in the middle of a breakout, putting $1,515 in the picture as a weekly target.The markets appear to have entered a state of limbo, in particular, the...Read More
The price of stainless steel in Europe was unchanged this week and alloy surcharges for November also appeared likely to remain largely unchanged, Fastmarkets heard on Friday October 25.Finland-based stainless steel mill Outokumpu announced this week that its alloy surcharge for grade-304 flat products in November will be ?,?1,703 ($1,894) per tonne, an increase of ?,?3 per tonne from October.Luxe...Read More
In recent articles, I have suggested that the low historical returns of gold and its high variability make it a poor long-term investment despite its negative correlation with stocks.Gold has seen periods of episodic strength, especially in risk-off environments. If Gold is to be used tactically, how should investors think about its relative valuation?This article discusses the merits of the &qu...Read More
Gold futures gave up most of their gains for the day by the settlement on Friday, but held ground above the key $1,500 price to score a second weekly climb in a row. Downbeat economic data, with a reading on U.S. consumer sentiment revised down to 95.5 in October from an initial 96, along with expectations for more easing from global central banks that could add further support for bullion, provid...Read More
Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, is widely seen as an island of sanity in a sea of monetary crazy, which makes it influential.Since the source of the Summer action had nothing to do with Asian jewelry demand, there's no reason to expect Asia's typical January buying to depart from past patterns.Taken together, rising central bank gold buying and typically-strong Asian demand cou...Read More
A group of metals and mining companies including Glencore and Anglo American have joined forces with the World Economic Forum to explore the use of blockchain technology to accelerate responsible sourcing of raw materials. The Mining and Metals Blockchain Initiative will explore the building of a blockchain platform to address transparency, the track and tracing of materials, the reporting of carb...Read More
A declining rebar market in China coupled with elevated prices for scrap have put a squeeze to the profit margins of electric-arc furnace operators in the country since September.Amid a pessimistic outlook for demand and prices, market participants are expecting these EAF operators - which account for close to a third of the supply of the long steel product in China - to cut their output soon.EAF...Read More
Vale saw its adjusted earnings grow by 6.4% year on year in the third quarter amid higher prices and lower expenses related to the Brumadinho tailings dam disaster early this year.The Brazilian miner's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for the July-September period totaled $4.60 billion, which compares with $4.33 billion a year earlier.Vale's reported...Read More
One of the reasons trading the gold and silver markets can be so tricky is because there are physical markets and paper markets...by Chris Marcus with James Anderson via Arcadia EconomicsOne of the reasons trading the gold and silver markets can be so tricky is because there is what happens with physical gold and silver, and then there's the paper world derivative market.Which creates a fascinatin...Read More