By: Gary SavageHuman beings have herd mentalities and that is why we have had these bubbles. When sentiment shifts and politicians react without thought of consequences, it gets the ball rolling and..https://blog.smartmoneytrackerpremium.com/Read More

By: Ira EpsteinThinner markets coming up with Easter Holidays, beware. I think there is new buying in metals as governments around the world, with their helicopter money and more, it debases currencies and drives gold bulls:Read More

Marex Spectron has created the new role of head of steel and ferrous derivatives and has hired Sam Mehew to fill the post, the company announced on Tuesday April 7.Mehew will be responsible for driving liquidity in all ferrous markets and aluminium premium products.Marex Spectron is a category I member of the London Metal Exchange, and trades across the various base, precious and ferrous...Read More

Austrian steelmaking group Voestalpine has downgraded its outlook for business year 2019/20 - April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020 - because of the negative effects it expects the coronavirus to have both operationally and in terms of non-recurring effects, the company said on Tuesday April 7.The outbreak of Covid-19 has already hit the heart of the European economy, with widespread closures of car-man...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 7 that are worth another look.The second quarter of 2020 will be one of volume survival due to massive capacity cuts in scrap, billet and long steel products globally amid Easter and Ramadan holiday periods and during efforts to contain the coronavirus, the International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association (Irepas) said o...Read More

Prices for plate and structural scrap and for No1 busheling increased week on week in the Mexican steelmaking regions of Monterrey and Baj?-o, while other scrap grades remained stable because of reduced material generation and expectations about the April scrap trade in the United States.Fastmarkets' assessment of the steel scrap No1 heavy melt, consumer buying price, delivered mill Monterrey ...Read More

A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday April 7.Please click...Read More

Some steel billet producers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) withdrew from the market early this week following a sharp rise in import scrap prices in Turkey.Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices have gone up strongly amid reduced availability of the material, caused by the measures being taken to try to control the Covid-19 pandemic.European Metal Recycling (EMR) shut down part of i...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 7 that are worth another look.The second quarter of 2020 will be one of volume survival due to massive capacity cuts in scrap, billet and long steel products globally amid Easter and Ramadan holiday periods and during efforts to contain the coronavirus, the International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association (Irepas) said o...Read More

The Covid-19 pandemic may have just sealed the fate of already-struggling aluminium smelting capacity. At under $1,500 per tonne, aluminium cash prices on the London Metal Exchange are at levels last seen in 2015 and not far shy of the lows seen during the 2008-09 financial crisis. Estimates are that as much as half the world's smelters are now under water, meaning cuts and/or closures are inevita...Read More

A much vaunted infrastructure bill could be back on the agenda again while the United States moves to shore up its economy and stem job losses amid the Covid-19 pandemic.US President Donald Trump said in a post on social media platform Twitter earlier on Tuesday March 31 that the bill would be the fourth part of the government's stimulus measures to handle the impacts of the virus."With interest r...Read More

The Covid-19 pandemic has opened up financing opportunities for metals and mining-focused investment firms. It's also created a problem. The one-two punch demand and supply shock that the virus has created is putting the mining sector under extreme pressure. With banks even more reluctant than before to provide capital to the mining sector amid the tumultuous global financial backdrop, corporates...Read More

The second tranche of the European Union's steel product import quotas has reached the point where some have become exhausted. Fastmarkets looks at the progress of quota take-up country by country, and reviews the likely dates for exhaustion that were calculated at the end of 2019.BackgroundOn February 2, 2019, the European Commission (EC) imposed definitive safeguard measures on a list of importe...Read More

Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were trading in positive territory at the close on Tuesday April 7, bolstered by reports that daily-reported Covid-19 cases were abating, giving rise to a spate of short-covering. Other market participants attributed today's gains to a risk-off rally induced by China's gradual return to market amid a fresh slew of supply disruptions to ke...Read More

Improved market sentiment due to the containment of Covid-19 across the United States and Europe boosted buying momentum in copper and pushed the three-month copper price higher during morning trading on Tuesday April 7. Copper's outright price was recently at $5,074.50 per tonne, climbing more than 3% from an intra-morning low of $4,937 per tonne, while trading volumes topped 10,000 lots as of 9:...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were up across the board this morning, Tuesday April 7, with gains averaging 1.2% and 1.4% respectively.Broader markets are in a firmer tone following a 7.7% rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday and after this morning's announcement of a record breaking 108 trillion yen ($990 billion) stimulus package by Ja...Read More

The latest forecast from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Aluminium: Downside momentum maintainedThe aluminium price has continued to decline, with LME cash even falling below the $1,500 per tonne mark at the start of this week. Downside pressure and momentum remains in the short term while ex-China demand plummets amid auto production line closures and while smelters resist capacity...Read More

The new issue of Aluminium Market Tracker is now online at metalbulletinresearch.com.In this edition, Fastmarkets' research team delivers key insights and forecasts into aluminium markets around the world.Aluminium price down 2.3% week-on-week amid stock market sell-offGlobal markets remain rattled by the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) across Europe and the United States. Panic-sellin...Read More

Copper has attempted to rebound since early September following a marked sell-off in the summer months where macro and fundamental forces have been prevalent.On the macro front, copper has benefited from a slight easing in US-China trade tensions and more monetary policy easing across the globe - including China, where copper consumption is the most exposed - that has shored up investor sentiment....Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.As oil price stumbles, outlook for welded markets weakensIn February, oil prices, already hit by the economic slowdown in Asia, turned lower on the failure of OPEC+ to reach an agreement on production cuts. This was enough to shake oil markets, but the collapse of global demand due to the pandemic has driven Brent below $30/...Read More