UK alloy steel scrap price ranges increased and also widened in the past week amid volatile nickel prices and weakness of sterling versus the dollar, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday July 26.After increasing sharply since the start of July, this week nickel prices were volatile but ended lower week on week. Sources said, however, that the lack of a steady trend meant that many had thought that v...Read More

Prices for steel slab from Brazil remained stable in the week ended Friday July 26 because few deals were reported and buyers continued to push for lower costs.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab export, fob main port Brazil, was $420-430 per tonne on Friday, unchanged from the previous week.Cost pressures remained strong this week, and limited producers' ability to reduce prices f...Read More

The Fed cited low inflation as justification for a rate cut.The cost of living is rising.Inflation measures - an art rather than a science look at gold in all currencies.DBC - commodity prices are low.Other commodity ETFs agree - the Fed and other central banks could go too far.In the world of economics, inflation is a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money. Economist...Read More

The London Metal Exchange's proposed reform of its queue-based rent capping (QBRC) rule could provide support for European aluminium premiums. A consultation process was launched by the LME on July 25 proposing significant reform to its warehousing system. The consultation is open until September 12, 2019. One of the reforms included in the proposal is relaxing QBRC to 80 days, from the current 50...Read More

Gold futures for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched up 0.1% to $1,415.25 a troy ounce by 1:13 AM ET (5:13 GMT).The yellow metal was under some pressure earlier in the day after data showed new orders for durable goods in the U.S. rose by more than double the forecasts for June.Core capital goods orders also beat expectations by much more than expected,...Read More

Aluminium's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was lower at the close of trading on Friday July 26, falling by around 1.3% against a flurry of fresh inflows into LME-registered Asian warehouses. Despite just under 70,000 tonnes of material delivered into LME-registered warehouses in Port Klang this week, aluminium's futures price held above the $1,800-per-tonne support level at the clo...Read More

Ajist S Mauskar of Bank Muscat led the base metals leaderboard in the Apex second-quarter 2019 contest, with an accuracy rating of 98.2%, while INTL FCStone's Edward Meir was top of the precious metals table with 98.9% accuracy.For steel raw materials, Daniel Hynes and Soni Kumari of ANZ were at the top of the leaderboard with 96.36% accuracy.Click on the image below to download the full report.Se...Read More

SD Friday Wrap: The fog is clearing, and now we can see what silver's been up to, and more importantly, preparing for...This week had a little bit of it all when it came to the negative outlook for silver.Let's review.The anti-gold propaganda came as expected:Here's a Bloomberg anti-gold headline for the HFT algos:You see, if the debt-based fiat currency Japanese yen is more attractive than gold,...Read More

"These are not pleasant times for anyone who refuses to jump on the bullish bandwagon..."by Przemyslaw Radomski via Sunshine ProfitsIt's not true that yesterday's session in precious metals was uneventful. While gold and mining stocks didn't do much, silver moved a bit above its previous high, closing at a fresh 2019 high. Sounds pretty remarkable, doesn't it? In today's analysis, we'll put silver...Read More

Over the past few years, there's been rampant speculation as to whether the silver market is manipulated, but we can now remove all doubt...by Chris Marcus via Arcadia EconomicsSilver Manipulation Confirmed: 2008 Price Plunge From $21 to $9 ExplainedOver the past few years there's been rampant speculation as to whether the silver market is manipulated. Finally, I believe it's safe to say that we c...Read More

Iron ore prices continued to rebound on Friday July 26 amid rumors that China could be less strict with its steelmaking restrictions next winter.Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $118.31 per tonne, up by $1.31 per tonne.Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines, cfr Qingdao: $118.23 per tonne, up by $1.31 per tonne.Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe lo...Read More

Flat-rolled steel prices were under pressure during the week ended Friday July 26 in South America, on discounted deals reported on the Pacific coast and amid lower offers from China.Fastmarkets assessed the price of steel hot-rolled coil, import, cfr main ports South America, at $520-540 per tonne on Friday, down from $540-550 per tonne a week before.At least two deals for August-September delive...Read More

A former employee is suing Gerald Metals, Gerald Holdings and the chief executive officer of both units for alleged fraud, negligent supervision and infliction of emotional distress related to their cobalt activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to court documents filed in the United States.Plaintiff Alain Vignon, who was employed at Gerald from April 2011 until June 2016 a...Read More

Aluminium's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was lower at the close of trading on Friday July 26, falling by around 1.3% against a flurry of fresh inflows into LME-registered Asian warehouses. Despite just under 70,000 tonnes of material delivered into LME-registered warehouses in Port Klang this week, aluminium's futures price held above the $1,800-per-tonne support level at the clo...Read More

Spot copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) continued to fall this week with tenders for nearby cargoes reaching new lows amid concerns over delivery delays from Peru's southern copper belt. At $51.2 per tonne / 5.12 cents per lb on Friday July 26, Fastmarkets' copper concentrates TC/RC index, cif Asia Pacific is slightly down against last Friday's $51.6 / 5.16 cents. The...Read More

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More

Ajist S Mauskar of Bank Muscat led the base metals leaderboard in the Apex second-quarter 2019 contest, with an accuracy rating of 98.2%, while INTL FCStone's Edward Meir was top of the precious metals table with 98.9% accuracy.For steel raw materials, Daniel Hynes and Soni Kumari of ANZ were at the top of the leaderboard with 96.36% accuracy.Click on the image below to download the full report.Se...Read More

The following Fastmarkets non-ferrous European free market scrap prices changed on Friday July 26:Aluminium scrapFloated frag, delivered consumer Europe, ?,?/tonne: ?,?970-1,000 per tonne...Read More

Chinese scrap buyers are readying to apply for additional import quotas for the fourth quarter from early August, Fastmarkets has learned. China implemented a quota system in July this year to restrict inflow of metal scrap, including scrap copper, aluminium, ferrous and paper. This will be the third round of scrap import quotas issued, with the earlier two rounds totaling 365,429 tonnes of copper...Read More

Russian aluminium producer Rusal reported a more than 20% increase in sales in the second quarter of 2019 compared with the previous quarter on Friday July 26.The company reported sales of more than 1 million tonnes of aluminium in the second quarter, driven by its partial sell-off of its surplus primary aluminium inventory that had accumulated after Rusal was sanctioned by the United States' gove...Read More