Because gold closed above the average price, the trend momentum was bullish as we came into this week.It also tells us that if gold closes below $1,520, it would negate this bullish trend momentum, and a second close below $1,520 would activate the levels below.Gold did close below $1,520, and we came down to the levels that we saw on the 20th into that low $1,500 level.Gold did not quite come dow...Read More

The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price lost gains made over the course of the trading day to close at $15,665 per tonne on Friday August 23, down 1.3% from the intraday high of $15,860 per tonne, despite a healthy 11,294-lot turnover, the highest since August 8. A significant 22,620 lots were traded on August 8 when a short-covering rally driven by Chinese investment buyers pushed the...Read More

Barring zinc and nickel, base metal stocks at Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses were lower week on week on Friday August 23, with the biggest fall in deliverable lead stocks, which slumped by 9.6% or 3,544 tonnes to 33,065 tonnes. According to the SHFE's latest inventory report, the Zhejiang Tianchuan warehouse in Zhejiang recorded the most lead stock withdrawals this week with 3,401 t...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices were flat on Friday August 23, leaving segments of the market wondering if they have bottomed out.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $153.67 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $166.12 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $138.76 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $153 per tonne, unchangedLow-vol PC...Read More

China's month-on-month new electric vehicles (NEV) sales rebounded in August after month-on-month declines in June and July. The drop in sales between May and June was the first drop since September 2016, but Fastmarkets MB had expected Chinese NEV sales to dip temporarily after the June subsidy changes came into effect because consumers and NEV manufacturers would have to adjust to the new subsid...Read More

The increasing consumption of scrap and a potential shift toward the electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking route from the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) route in China are medium- to long-term threats to demand for steelmaking raw materials, while in the near team coking coal import volumes will continue to be affected by iron ore procurement strategies.This was the basis of Fastmarkets research team...Read More

Iron ore prices fell sharply in the second half of November after climbing through October, with prices for higher-grade material pioneering the decline.Fastmarkets MB daily benchmark for 65% Fe fines dropped by 22% by Monday November 26 after peaking on October 29. The 62% Fe iron ore index declined by 16% over the period, as some Chinese steelmakers started to seek larger volumes of cheaper ores...Read More

The steel scrap sector in the United States still depends on exports to Turkey, a member of the Fastmarkets research team said during the ferrous session at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in London.This dependence persists despite the changes in the international markets created by the US' imposition of its Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel products, metals analyst Le...Read More

David reminds us of how ridiculously undervalued silver is along with silver's tiny share of global financial wealth...by Patrick V. via SBTV with David MorganReturning SBTV guest, David Morgan of The Morgan Report, reminds us of how ridiculously undervalued silver is today. Also covered in this interview was the power pyramid of the financial elite of which governments are at the lowest rung!Disc...Read More

Preliminary signs are emerging...by Rob Keyens via Gold Silver Pros with Chris MarcusAre we nearing a break point in the silver market?It might be a bit early to say for sure, but there certainly are preliminary signs emerging.As I discussed in this interview with Robert Kientz of goldsilverpros.com...Read More

The DOJ knows the guilty traders get their on-the-job training from the bank's more senior traders. Will the DOJ go after the root criminality now?by Ted Butler of Butler Research via Silver SeekTuesday's announcement by the Justice Department of a guilty plea by a long term former trader from JPMorgan for spoofing COMEX precious metal futures was the second such guilty plea since October. Both tr...Read More

Is silver about to finally play catch-up to gold?by Craig Hemke via Sprott MoneyWhile we've been on the record since January in predicting that 2019 would see the best annualized gains for the precious metals since 2010, we've also been concerned that COMEX gold might pull away from COMEX silver in the short term. Now? Maybe not so much.Two posts from earlier this year that you should review befor...Read More

Harvey says we may be about to see a short squeeze in silver. Here's why...by Harvey Organ of Harvey Organ BlogAUGUST 21/BANKERS ARE DESPERATE TO KEEP BOTH GOLD AND SILVER IN CHECK: GOLD DOWN 30 CENTS TO $1505.60//SILVER UP ONE CENT TO $17.17//COMEX OPTIONS EXPIRY ON FRIDAY AND A HUGE NUMBER OF IN THE CALLS FOR SILVER..MAYBE A SHORT SQUEEZE COMING//IRAN CONTINUES TO MAKE WAVES TO THE WEST TO NOT B...Read More

Gold futures posted their lowest settlement in nearly two weeks on Thursday, pressured by strength in bond yields as the Fed's symposium of central bankers got under way in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. While minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's July meeting released Wednesday afternoon "didn't say anything new about the FOMC's plans, both bonds and the gold market have moved too far, too fa...Read More

An overview of the noble alloys markets and their latest price moves.Read More

Indian domestic prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) remained stable in August with import volumes of this key upstream commodity coming to a halt, Fastmarkets heard on Friday August 23."We have been able to maintain domestic HRC prices for the current month because there is no threat of low-priced HRC imports entering the [Indian domestic] market for some [foreseeable] time," an official from an Indi...Read More

The government of Canada has announced measures to prevent the transshipment of aluminium into the United States, building on commitments made when the US removed its Section 232 import tariffs in May.As of September 1, aluminium products will form part of Canada's Import Control List (ICL) under the Export & Import Permits Act.As a result, importers from next month will be required to cite the ap...Read More

The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price lost gains made over the course of the trading day to close at $15,665 per tonne on Friday August 23, down 1.3% from the intraday high of $15,860 per tonne, despite a healthy 11,294-lot turnover, the highest since August 8. A significant 22,620 lots were traded on August 8 when a short-covering rally driven by Chinese investment buyers pushed the...Read More

Treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for spot copper concentrates rose marginally in mid-August following five consecutive weeks of declines, with few smelters in the market buying tonnages at stable terms.Fastmarkets' copper concentrate TC/RC index basis cif Asia Pacific rebounded to $50.20 per tonne/ 5.02 cents per lb on August 23, up from $49.60 per tonne/ 4.96 cents per lb a week ago - whic...Read More

China's state council announced on Friday August 23 it would apply an additional 5% and 10% tariff on $75 billion of United States imports, including copper scrap and aluminium scrap. The move came as a retaliation to the United States' announcement on August 13 that it would impose additional 10% tariffs on approximately $300 billion of Chinese imports. Starting December 15, 2019, China will...Read More