Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have fallen by around $10-20 per tonne over the past week, with the market very slow because of concerns about the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 31.Only one booking for hot-rolled coil was heard, with buyers saying that nobody wanted to place new orders because of the restrictive meas...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday March 31 that are worth another look.The Spanish steel industry has demanded clarification from the government following a March 29 decree to shut down all non-essential production as part of the battle to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, Fastmarkets heard on March 31.The closure of borders and reduced port operations across African...Read More

The prices for steel rebar and billet in the United Arab Emirates have decreased sharply over the past week, with demand very weak amid concerns about the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, market sources said on Tuesday March 31.Local rebar producers announced new domestic prices last week.Emirates Steel is now offering rebar at 1,690 dirhams ($460) per tonne ex-works, down from 1,853 dirhams per t...Read More

ArcelorMittal will temporarily stop production at its Romanian facility to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday March 31.ArcelorMittal Hunedoara will stop production from April 1 until April 12 inclusive, a company spokesman said."Production will be stopped, for sure," the spokesman said. "We don't know yet if we are going...Read More

Ferrous scrap prices in the Mexican steelmaking regions of Monterrey and Bajio rose during the week ended Friday March 27 - bucking the trend in global markets - due to a strong devaluation of the peso.Most scrap buyers were forced to increase prices by 150-250 pesos ($4-10) last week.Some contractual volumes of ferrous scrap are quoted in dollars in Mexico, and a considerable amount of scrap come...Read More

The Turkish steel mills have gone quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets after the recent sharp fall in prices, with more mills shutting down their operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, sources said on Tuesday March 31.Two steel mills booked Baltic Sea cargoes late last week at around $206-207 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20), which sent the daily scrap indices down by $23.42 per tonne at the beg...Read More

The seaborne iron ore market stabilized on Tuesday March 31 after the prior day's loss of more than $3 per tonne, attributed to a rebound in China's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) and a slight boost in trading volumes. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $83.32 per tonne, up $0.34 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $84.08 per tonne, up $0....Read More

The prices for steel rebar and billet in the United Arab Emirates have decreased sharply over the past week, with demand very weak amid concerns about the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, market sources said on Tuesday March 31.Local rebar producers announced new domestic prices last week.Emirates Steel is now offering rebar at 1,690 dirhams ($460) per tonne ex-works, down from 1,853 dirhams per t...Read More

Dave Kranzler, Investement Research Dynamic's Mining Stock JournalI truly thought I had seen all that was possible in the creation of paper gold when the Comex rolled out its "pledged gold" category which enabled technically insolvent banks like HSBC and JP Morgan - the only two Comex banks to have taken advantage of this new gold derivative product - to use paper gold to satisfy the performance...Read More

Gary TanashianThe simple answer is that is what they are doing, inflating.The slightly less simple answer is that they inflated in 2001 and it worked (for gold, silver, commodities and eventually stocks, roughly in that order). It also worked in 2008-2009 (for gold, silver, commodities and eventually stocks, roughly in that order).The more complicated answer is that we are down a rabbit hole of...Read More

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, as they say, and the past number of days have been nothing if not total confirmation of that adage. As of Monday morning, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. stood at more than 143,000, with New York City appearing to have become the new global epicenter of the pandemic. Hospitals in the hardest-hit areas of the countr...Read More

Jordan Roy-Byrne CMT, MFTAThe historic action of the precious metals sector over the past few weeks has continued.The strong recovery in GDX, GDXJ, and Silver has potentially invalidated the technical breakdown that occurred during the crash. It appears to be a failed breakdown.Furthermore, Gold was looking vulnerable on the weekly, and monthly chart yet was able to slingshot back to $1700/oz. I...Read More

Gary Savage Perma-bears are going to wrong. This is why:Read More

Ira EpsteinGold still has a bullish pattern in the short-term. Support around $1595..Read More

Range bound trade in gold and silver will be broken by tomorrow and a new range will be formed. A new month and a new quarter high on economic optimism but low on confidence. Uncertainty on global economy and inability to prevent coronavirus spread has resulted in gold remaining firm and crude oil and industrial metals trading with a softer bias. Spot gold should have broken past $1700. By the s...Read More

Steel slab export prices from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region fell sharply in the week ended Monday March 30 due to the lack of demand in almost all markets as well as increased competition both inside and outside the region.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $330-340 per tonne on March 30, down from $385 per tonne fob a week ea...Read More

Rob Kirby provides some great information as to what is happening and how all this mess ties together.Rob Kirby is a financial commentator and former broker who worked on an institutional trading desk for most of the 1980s and right up until 1996. He also worked for 11 years at Prebon Yamane, an international inter-dealer broker of foreign exchange and interest rate products. He spent an additiona...Read More

It seems like this crisis has been going on forever now. To think that just a few short weeks ago everything was relatively normal. And now, the economy has been stopped dead in its tracks and we're all sitting home wondering when it will be over. But the worst of the economic turmoil hasn't even hit us. The government is busy with helicopter and we're about to see the first installment. What will...Read More

Charles Hugh Smith writes the Of Two Minds blog which covers an eclectic range of timely topics: finance, housing, Asia, energy, long-term trends, social issues, health/diet/fitness and sustainability. From its humble beginnings in May 2005, Of Two Minds now attracts some 200,000 visits a month. Charles also contributes to AOL's Daily Finance site and has written eight books, most recently Money a...Read More

Rick Rule, founder and chairman of Sprott Global Resource Investments Ltd., began his career in the securities business in 1974. He is a leading American retail broker specializing in mining, energy, water utilities, forest products and agriculture. His company has built a national reputation on taking advantage of global opportunities in the oil and gas, mining, alternative energy, agriculture, f...Read More