If global financial markets had been operating under a pervading sense of uncertainty due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), they now appear to be veering on panic.Oil prices have suffered their biggest one-day collapse since the 1991 Gulf War following Saudi Arabia's declaration of a price war on Russia through a shock move to hike oil production. S&P Dow Jones Indices was forced...Read More

The ambitious expansion of copper and zinc smelters in China is boosting not only the production of metal but output of the sulfuric acid by-product, and this is now in oversupply due to the knock-on effects of the outbreak of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus."It is a rainy night and smelters have leaky roofs," Du Fei and Lily Li said in a jointly published report. Both are analysts with Jinrui Futures,...Read More

The London Metal Exchange may switch from open outcry to electronic price discovery if the 2019-nCoV coronavirus makes it impossible for ring-trading to continue safely, it has said.At the moment, the ring is continuing to operate from London, and the exchange has adopted various precautionary measures intended to halt the spread of the virus, including the creation of a split-team arrangement for...Read More

Three-month prices of base metals trading on the London Metal Exchange rebounded at the close on Tuesday March 10 due to suggestions that the worst of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China may be over. "Although the start of the new trading week was all out bearish, bargain-hunting activity prevails today and LME base metals look to be paring losses," Fastmarkets research analyst Andy Farida...Read More

We have only begun to see the DEVASTATION of this Global Contagion. Steve St. Angelo explains...by Steve St Angelo of SRSrocco ReportBlack Monday hit Wall Street in a BIG BLOODY WAY today. With oil being the main driver of the economy, U.S shale stocks lost nearly half of their value... IN ONE SINGLE DAY. That's correct, the average decline from eight of the top U.S. shale companies saw their...Read More

A falling aluminium price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange below production costs has weakened sentiment for China's alumina market, sources told Fastmarkets this week. Market participants had been bullish about the Chinese alumina price due to reduced production during the height of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in the country early this year. Smelters had removed almost 6 milli...Read More

Yesterday alone, over 75% of annual global silver production traded on the COMEX. Harvey explains...by Harvey Organ of Harvey Organ BlogMARAH 9/DUAL BLACK SWAN EVENTS: 1) THE CORONAVIRUS AND 2/ RUSSIA REFUSES TO CUT PRODUCTION: GOLD UP $1.50//SILVER DOWN 23 CENTS//WAR IN THE OIL PATCH//GOLD CLOSES UP $1.50//SILVER DOWN 23 CENTS//CORONAVIRUS UPDATE//SWAMP STORIES//GOLD:$1675.00 UP $ 1.50 (COM...Read More

Prices for flat steel in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow started to move up this week after the rouble lost value against the US dollar, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday, March 10. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled sheet, domestic, cpt Moscow, Russia, was 42,000-43,000 roubles per tonne on March 10, including 20% VAT, up from 41,000-42,000 roubles per ton...Read More

Sherritt International Corp is to exit the Ambatovy joint venture in Madagascar, but its decision will not affect nickel or cobalt production at the mine, the Canadian company confirmed to Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10. The Canadian miner announced on February 26 that it would not fund its 12% stake in the Ambatovy JV, with Japan's Sumitomo Corp and South Korea's Korea Resources Corp (Kores...Read More

Three-month prices of base metals trading on the London Metal Exchange rebounded at the close on Tuesday March 10 due to suggestions that the worst of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China may be over. "Although the start of the new trading week was all out bearish, bargain-hunting activity prevails today and LME base metals look to be paring losses," Fastmarkets research analyst Andy Farida...Read More

A falling aluminium price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange below production costs has weakened sentiment for China's alumina market, sources told Fastmarkets this week. Market participants had been bullish about the Chinese alumina price due to reduced production during the height of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in the country early this year. Smelters had removed almost 6 milli...Read More

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has signed a new contract with Vietnamese state-owned company Vinacomin for the supply of alumina to the United Arab Emirates until 2023. The agreement means EGA will continue to buy up to 300,000 tonnes per year of alumina from Vinacomin. This deal extends an agreement that EGA and Vinacomin signed in late 2017 which was due to expire at the end of this year. https...Read More

The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange improved during morning trading on Tuesday March 10, recouping losses made in Monday's decline in a 3% rally, while the rest of the complex followed higher. Nickel's outright price on the LME was recently at $12,920 per tonne, climbing from a morning low of $12,570 per tonne.Turnover in nickel was high this morning, with more than 5,000 lot...Read More

Prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States have rebounded following a steep drop at the beginning of the week, but prices remain closer to the $29-per-hundredweight ($580-per-short-ton) level than the $30-per-cwt level that characterized the spot market just a week ago.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US, was calculated at $28.89 per hundredweight ($577.80 per ton) on...Read More

The recent extension of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus quarantine area to all of Italy has resulted in trading activity falling to nearly zero and has caused some minor disruptions to deliveries, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10.But production has not been affected by the tougher measures, market participants said.On March 9, Italian authorities ordered a lockdown of whole country in an att...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.Visit the store to purchase these latest reports: Coronavirus to further depress global LNG marketsRise in Covid-19 leads to fall in China's refinery runsCoronavirus pushes China’s copper demand into negative growthThe impa...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.On Friday 15th February 2019, Vale announced there was a fire affecting a conveyor belt system at its distribution centre in Malaysia. Vale anticipate this will result in a 10 to 15 day halt in operations and note that a planned 10 da...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have dropped day on day following a decline in import offers and the risks related to the 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak in Italy, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?481.07 ($549.54) per tonne on Tuesday, down by ?,?3.55 per tonne day on day fr...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.What does tight oil have in common with Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet's Google stocks (known as FAANG stocks)? Answer: tight oil is arguably the upstream equivalent of these tech sector leaders. It's the hot investment...Read More

Customers in some of the major outlet markets for CIS-origin steel slab have reduced their bids significantly in the past week due to the drop in demand and uncertainty in the global market caused by the spread of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus.No indications of fresh offers were heard from CIS producers on Tuesday March 10 because mills were said to be assessing the market.A source in Italy expected n...Read More