Although I'm not on complete lockdown, I've come to realize the importance of human connection over the past few weeks.And this is coming from someone who doesn't really have that much face-to-face interaction with people to begin with.Before the pandemic hit, I would typically see my coaches and friends at the gym for an hour or so, usually five days a week.At least one day a week, I'd visit our...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday April 9 that are worth another look.South American flat steel import prices were mostly stable week on week as market liquidity dipped in the continent amid lockdowns and weakened demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.The aerospace industry has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, with companies in the sector forced to take drast...Read More
Real Vision's Daily Briefing is now available on INK Ultra Money Free. Daily episodes are released between the New York close and Asia market open Monday to Friday (except holidays). You will hear from a wide range of Real Vision journalists who provide updates on both the coronavirus situation globally and the current state of markets. The format provides a valuable, down-to-earth assessment of...Read More
South American flat steel import prices were mostly stable week on week as market liquidity dipped in the continent amid lockdowns and weakened demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Market participants were generally in the dark regarding feasible prices, as buyer interest had vanished. As with May-shipment volumes, sources said imports for June shipments could also be at least half the usual orders...Read More
We have taken the next step to build out INK Research to help you make better investment decisions. We have launched INK Research Chat, a community forum for us to exchange investment insights, ideas, questions and answers. Membership in the forum is at the discretion of INK and is by invitation only, intended primarily for paying INK Subscribers and members of the Canadian Insider Research Club....Read More
Flat steel prices continued to decrease in Turkey during the week to Thursday April 9, with market demand very weak, Fastmarkets heard.Trading was scarce because of the falling prices and the general uncertainty in the world amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Turkish sources said.Several automakers in Turkey stopped production during March because of the pandemic.Turkish domestic scrap prices increa...Read More
Brazilian domestic steel prices, including coil and rebar, remained unchanged in April as companies withdrew from price increases because of the Covid-19 crisis.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, domestic, monthly, exw Brazil, remained at 2,636-2,655 Reais ($516-519) per tonne on Thursday April 9, unchanged from the previous month.The corresponding assessment on the same date...Read More
Some Italian steelmakers have started to resume operations with the Covid-19 lockdown in the country expected to end on Monday April 13.European steelmakers have been reducing output and temporarily idling equipment due to the poor demand resulting from lockdown orders and other quarantine measures implemented across the region with the intention of preventing the spread of Covid-19.Italian long s...Read More
Prices for steel rebar in Poland were stable this week, supported by good demand from end-users and a stronger Polish zloty, market sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 9.Demand this week from the construction sector, the key rebar consumer, was strong despite the approaching Easter holiday weekend."There were none of the usual slowdowns ahead of the Easter holiday this year," one trader tol...Read More
Prices for bulk cargoes of deep-sea ferrous scrap imported into Bangladesh increased by $10 per tonne over the week to Thursday April 9, with suppliers in the United States raising their offers in response to lower material availability.Bangladesh import prices were also raised by continued demand for steel scrap in the country, despite the nation's recently-imposed lockdown, with at least one ste...Read More
The price of ferrous scrap imported into India remained broadly stable this week with the country's Covid-19 lockdown continuing to keep trading at a standstill, but buoyed by increases in other global scrap markets, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 9.Fastmarkets calculated the steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, at $245.19 per tonne on Thursday, little changed...Read More
APRIL 2020In a recent essay published at Project Syndicate, Harvard economics professor Kenneth Rogoff sets an ominous tone. Humanity, he says "is facing something akin to alien invasion" - an apt analogy, we thought. "With each passing day," he goes on, "the 2008 global financial crisis increasingly looks like a mere dry run for today's economic catastrophe. The short-term collapse in global ou...Read More
By Daniel R. Amerman, CFACan the U.S. economy actually be turned on and off like a light switch? What are the implications for investors if it can't?The shutdown of much of the American economy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has already created what is by far the single largest increase in unemployment in U.S. history in such a short period of time. We are experiencing two quite distinct b...Read More
By Rob Kirby The plandemic was [conveniently or coincidentally, take your pick?] "dropped" because we are on an exponential, vertical growth curve for money which had to be created - due to the magic of compounding - before we ever had a "virus". I would like to now remind EVERYONE of a piece I penned back in August of 2018 where I did write in a piece titled, Big Money and the Big Lie: "T...Read More
By RambusBack at the 2008 crash low in the HUI there was a reversal pattern, that is pretty rare, which helped confirm that very important low. If you ever wondered what the 2007 - 2008 top looked like and the decline that followed to the 2008 crash low this daily chart for the HUI paints the Chartology I posted at the tent, in real time, as the impulse move to the downside took place.The 2007 -...Read More
The $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package that President Donald Trump signed into law on March 27 is just the beginning. The Treasury Department is now seeking some $250 billion more to replenish small business loans, and there's hope that the president and House Democrats can agree on a "Phase Four" spending deal, one that may target infrastructure. Trump has asked for $2 trillion. And...Read More
The market for pig iron exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States decreased again on new sales to China booked at lower prices during the week to Thursday April 9.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS, was $265-275 per tonne on April 9, down from $277-282 per tonne a week earlier.Several sales of Ukraine-orig...Read More
By David HaggithBy its close yesterday, the market provided exactly the example of the head slamming I said bulls were going to get in the article I was writing all day yesterday because the "Stock Market Bulls are Delusional in Face of Great Depression."Monday's stampede proved how utterly disconnected from reality the market's bulls remain, and that means they're going to get their heads pound...Read More
By: Ira EpsteinGold daily chart shows the massive move from $1450-1740's within a 5 week period, wow!Read More