The Dow is up over 440 pointsThe Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is continuing its surge after a triple-digit open, expanding on Friday's weekly win for indexes. The Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are also in the black, after social distancing measures were extended to April 30 by U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday. Bracing for another volatile week, sentiment was also boos...Read More
Major Japanese steelmaker JFE Steel is facing the prospect of recording zero profit for the year ending March 2020 for the first time in its history due to global economic tensions and rising raw materials prices, it warned on Friday March 27.This has led the company to plan to shut one blast furnace in its East Japan Works and restructure its remaining operations in Japan, it said.In brief JFE St...Read More
Last week's wild surge isn't over yet, it would seem Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are looking at a triple-digit open this morning, right on the heels of one of Wall Street's wildest trading weeks ever. Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures are also higher before the bell. More volatility on Wall Street could be in the cards this week, with investors looki...Read More
Ulta has closed all of its stores until further notice Cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty Inc (NASDAQ:ULTA) is in the spotlight today after announcing the temporary closure of all its stores until further notice. The company said that its employees will continue to receive benefits, and will be paid until mid-April. Ulta added that it will continue to operate online and plans on giving its distributio...Read More
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin, writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, diplomat, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; 1706-1790 "These are the times that try men's souls." Thomas Pa...Read More
The China Association of Metalscrap Utilization (Camu) is urging the Chinese government to reopen the country to ferrous scrap imports to meet rising demand and reduce steelmaking costs.The association last week made two suggestions aimed at keeping low-grade scrap at bay in the event that the government heeds its call.The first proposal is for China to adopt international standards of classificat...Read More
By Avi GilburtOn Thursday, we saw the worst jobless claims number in history (and by far). Yet, the S&P500 futures rallied over 200 points from their overnight lows. So, are we to believe that the "cause" of that rally was the jobless claims?I can assure you that if the market dropped 200 points there would be no question in your mind that the drop was certainly caused by the jobless claim's ann...Read More
Our research team continues to dig into underlying patterns and set up in the global markets to assist skilled technical traders in understanding the current Covid-19 virus event and other key technical data. Recently, we’ve authored a number of detailed research articles that we believe helped prepare traders for the events of the past 30 to 90+ days. If you missed them, please...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 30 that are worth another look.Gerdau has halted price increase attempts in Brazil amid market weakness because of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report by local investment bank Ita?? BBA from Sunday March 29.The Covid-19 pandemic has opened up financing opportunities for metals and mining-focused investment firms. It's...Read More
Johnson & Johnson hopes to have 1 billion doses available by early 2021Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is the top Dow stock this morning, up 5.5% at $129.86, after the company announced that its experimental vaccine for the coronavirus will be ready for human testing by September, while the drug's availability for widespread emergency use will be ready in early 2021. Additionally, the drugmaker said...Read More
The company reported a third-quarter earnings beatCal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM) is up 0.5% this morning to trade at $42.61, after reporting a third quarter earnings beat. The fishing and farming company announced profits of 28 cents per share, higher than Wall Street's estimated 18 cents per share. Cal-Maine Foods' also reported revenue that came in above estimates. The company stated that the...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe were fairly stable last week due to falls in demand and production cuts caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?473.00 ($526.65) per tonne on Friday March 27. This was up by ?,?3 per tonne week on week from ?,?470 per tonne on March 20.The increase did not indic...Read More
Export prices for steel rebar and wire rod from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) fell sharply in the week to Monday March 30 amid the lack of demand in almost all markets due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the recent dramatic drop in scrap costs."Buying interest is limited. There are almost no bids," one market source said."There are not many buyers today," another source said. "...Read More
European domestic prices for hot-rolled coil have been fairly stable over the past week due to slow market activity, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday March 30.The sentiment prevailing in the market has been downward, despite that price stability.But Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?473.13 ($526.79) per tonne on Monday, up from Friday's index a...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 30 that are worth another look.Gerdau has halted price increase attempts in Brazil amid market weakness because of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report by local investment bank Ita?? BBA from Sunday March 29.The Covid-19 pandemic has opened up financing opportunities for metals and mining-focused investment firms. It's...Read More
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin, writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, diplomat, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; 1706-1790 "These are the times that try men's souls." Thomas Pa...Read More
RambusThere are just a handful of events in ones lifetime that are truly history making in their magnitude. For instance the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, the 1929 stock market crash, Pear Harbor, the 1987 stock market crash and 911 to name a few. When all of those historical events took place it felt like the end of the world for those that were living in that time period. How could our world ever...Read More
Dave Kranzler, Mining Stock JournalI found it amusing that Zerohedge tried to take credit for reporting the problem of a physical gold shortage on the LBMA and Comex earlier last week. Several of we "gold bugs" have been discussing and reporting on this issue since before the virus crisis exploded. The Comex has been settling contracts that stand for deliver through EFT and PNT transactions by w...Read More
Strengths? ? The best performing metal this week was palladium, up 37.90 percent, essentially regaining all the losses from the prior two weeks. Platinum and silver also rebounded strongly. Gold headed for its biggest weekly gain since 2008 while platinum and palladium were on track for their biggest weekly increases on record. It was a smashing week for precious metals due to supply...Read More
September 17, 2019 was a significant day in American economic history. On that day, the New York Federal Reserve began emergency cash infusions into the repurchasing (repo) market. This is the market banks use to make short-term loans to each other. The New York Fed acted after interest rates in the repo market rose to almost 10 percent, well above the Fed's target rate.The New York Fed claime...Read More