Gold futures logged their highest finish since 2013 on Wednesday after another round of downbeat economic data, and as the temporary inversion of the main measure of the U.S. Treasury yield curve raised the risk of a recession. "Many theories describe the causal mechanism between yield inversion and recession, but the key point is a lack of confidence in the current interest rate environment-speci...Read More
Chilean state-owned copper producer Codelco began operations at Chuquicamata's subterranean phase on Wednesday August 14, with an aim to increase mine life by 40 years and to improve the division's productivity, the company said.The new venture for the centennial open pit mine has 1.03 million tonnes of copper mineral reserves, at 0.82% content, the miner added. These volumes will result in 320,00...Read More
GoldSeekAugust 15th marks the 48th year anniversary since the end of gold backing the U.S. Dollar for international trade. Here is President Nixon announcing this dramatic monetary and other economic policies on August 15, 1971:Read More
China's alumina market is showing signs of a recovery following the emergence of higher offer prices by domestic producers this week due to a number of production cuts in the country, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday August 14.Several alumina operations in eastern and northern China, including China Hongqiao Group's facility in Shandong province that is said to be suffering from severe...Read More
Concerns over the future availability of material added to the optimistic demand expectations that have allowed sellers to command higher cobalt hydroxide payables in the first half of August, Fastmarkets has learned.Fastmarkets' cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, rose by 5.8% on Thursday August 15 to 62-65% of the low-end of the standard-grade cobalt metal price. This was...Read More
International inquiries for cobalt metal from China picked up quickly over the past week after the premium that the Chinese metal price holds against the European price narrowed sharply on Wednesday August 14.Fastmarkets assessed the price of cobalt 99.8% Co min, exw China at 270,000-280,000 yuan per tonne ($15.39-15.96 per lb, excluding China value-added tax) on Wednesday, down by 2.1% from 276,0...Read More
Turkish steel producers have remained quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets so far this week because of the religious holiday in the country, sources said on Thursday August 15.The Turkish market and those in other Middle Eastern territories were closed until August 15 for the Islamic Eid al-Adha celebrations.As a result...Read More
The Thursday Market Minute Global stock extend declines, Wall Street futures weaken, as China vows to retaliate on trade following last month's move on tariffs from the White House.U.S. futures give back gains, while Europe hits session-lows, following a statement from China's Finance Ministry.U.S. Treasury bond yield curve holds positive slope following last night's inversion, but 10-year note...Read More
Concerns over the future availability of material added to the optimistic demand expectations that have allowed sellers to command higher cobalt hydroxide payables in the first half of August, Fastmarkets has learned.Fastmarkets' cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, rose by 5.8% on Thursday August 15 to 62-65% of the low-end of the standard-grade cobalt metal price. This was...Read More
The world is going to hell!At least that's what it seems like if you spend more than five minutes reading the daily news feeds on your smartphone.Nuclear explosions in Russia...The Arctic literally on fire...Everything you do and say being monitored by tech giants and overzealous government thugs...Trade wars siphoning wealth from the most vulnerable...Crazy people with launch codes to nuclear mis...Read More
International inquiries for cobalt metal from China picked up quickly over the past week after the premium that the Chinese metal price holds against the European price narrowed sharply on Wednesday August 14.Fastmarkets assessed the price of cobalt 99.8% Co min, exw China at 270,000-280,000 yuan per tonne ($15.39-15.96 per lb, excluding China value-added tax) on Wednesday, down by 2.1% from 276,0...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices retreated on Thursday August 15 after trading activity fell for a third day.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,710-3,720 yuan ($528-529) per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,720 yuan per tonne, narrowing downward by 10 yuan per tonneBuying slowed further during the day, with downstream buyers putting up resistance despite mills keeping their...Read More
The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) will impose a quota for hot-rolled flat steel imports to members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) for one year starting from December 1, 2019.The EEU countries are Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The total quota for the EEU bloc will be 1.33 million tonnes, the EEC announced last week.Volumes exceeding the quota will be a subject to a...Read More
The Turkish long steel export markets have been largely quiet over the past seven days, and were closed earlier this week for an Islamic religious holiday, sources said on Thursday August 15.The Turkish market and those in other Middle Eastern territories were closed until August 15 for the Eid al-Adha celebration.Turkish steel mills were heard offering rebar around $450-455 per tonne fob on an ac...Read More
The Turkish domestic long steel markets have been silent over the past week with trading limited by a religious holiday in the country, sources said on Thursday August 15.The Turkish market and those in other Middle Eastern territories were closed until August 15 for the...Read More
Steel billet and rebar prices in Egypt remained stable in the week to Thursday August 15, largely due to the Eid al-Adha holiday.Egypt's working week runs from Sunday to Thursday, with Eid observed on August 11-14 and no market activity was apparent on August 15.Continuing uncertainty over safeguard duties on steel billet and rebar also had an impact, sources said..In Apri...Read More
GoldSeekAugust 15th marks the 48th year anniversary since the end of gold backing the U.S. Dollar for international trade. Here is President Nixon announcing this dramatic monetary and other economic policies on August 15, 1971:Read More
Daniel R. AmermanThe discussion of negative interest rates in the United States has now officially gone mainstream, with the front page of the August 12, 2019 print edition of the Wall Street Journal carrying a prominent discussion of the possibility.Most of the article consists of various institutional investors talking about why this could be a real possibility. However, as will be explored he...Read More
David HaggithLet's take a look at how the average consumer is doing. I'll call this typical consumer "Bubba" because I just read an article that claimed "Bubba's doing better today than at any time since before the Korean War." It disgusted me because I found it to be such a disingenuous set of lies wrapped in half-truths, all contrived to pacify the trickle-down peasants as that philosophy cont...Read More
By: Ira EpsteinGold pushing upper end of the Bollinger bands resistance point. Momentum in gold still positive:Read More