Aluminium on the London Metal Exchange continued its record-breaking rally by the close of trading on Monday April 16, rocketing over 5% to reach a high of more than $2,400 per tonne.The light metal closed a dollar short of the $2,400 pertonne mark, its highest since September 2011.Despite lighter volumes in comparison to last week's 35,871lot average, aluminium's strong sentiment continues to dom...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will allow open positions with Russian aluminium producer Rusal to remain open until June 5 and hedges to be unwound as long as payments are made into segregated accounts, it said in a notice to its members on Monday April 16. Some LME members holding hedging or clearing contracts with UC Rusal have been worried about having to immediately unwind positions since the Unite...Read More
Lack of buying support and falling prices weighed on the Chinese ferro-chrome price assessment on Friday April 13 and market participants predicted subsequent softening to trickle into Japan, where demand is soft; US high-carbon prices fell temporarily in a quiet trading week. Japan and South Korea ferro-chrome prices nudge down Weak demand from stainless steel mills weigh on Chinese ferro-c...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Monday April 16. Aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange rose again during morning trading, soaring to six-year highs amid a strong base metals complex.The light metal's three-month price is back up above the $2,300 per tonne mark to start the week, up 2% from Friday's closing drop to $2,285 per tonne.Here is ho...Read More
Good morning from Metal Bulletin's offices in Shanghai as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Monday April 16.An escalation in geopolitical tensions over the weekend dampened sentiment during Asian morning trading on Monday with the base metals traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange broadly down.Aluminium showed the most resilience during the early session in Asia, with participan...Read More
Liquidity is the ultimate paradox in finance. It's always there when you don't need it and never there when you need it most. The reason is crowd behavior, or what mathematicians call hypersynchronicity (a fancy word for everyone doing the same thing at the same time).When markets are calm, no one wants liquidity because investors are happy to hold stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities and other...Read More
All financial crises are the same and different at the same time.They are the same when it comes to the dynamics of contagion, illiquidity, bank failures and the high-panic state in which everyone in the world wants his money back at the same time.Yet each crisis is different in its specific causes.The 1994 Tequila Crisis was caused by Mexico's inability to roll over short-term unsecured debts. Th...Read More
You say you're tired of punching that clock each day, the pinhead boss, the stale coffee, and the office politics?Enough is enough.You've been planning to breakout on your own for a long time. You have your business plan.You have customers lined up.Now you're ready to pull the plug and enjoy the freedom that comes with self-employment.Well, I worked as an employee for a bunch of years and for the...Read More
It’s no surprise that I’m a fan of investing in today’s retail sector.As I talked about on Saturday, it’s like someone forgot to tell the group that the market is in “correction mode!”Both American Eagle (AEO) and Lululemon Athletica (LULU) are now sitting at 52-week highs after fantastic performances last week. Even department stores Macy’s (M) and Dillar...Read More
Aluminium on the London Metal Exchange continued its record-breaking rally by the close of trading on Monday April 16, rocketing over 5% to reach a high of more than $2,400 per tonne.The light metal closed a dollar short of the $2,400 pertonne mark, its highest since September 2011.Despite lighter volumes in comparison to last week's 35,871lot average, aluminium's strong sentiment continues to dom...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will allow open positions with Russian aluminium producer Rusal to remain open until June 5 and hedges to be unwound as long as payments are made into segregated accounts, it said in a notice to its members on Monday April 16. Some LME members holding hedging or clearing contracts with UC Rusal have been worried about having to immediately unwind positions since the Unite...Read More
Comex copper prices recovered further in the US morning on Monday April 16 amid a brief pause in geopolitical tensions. Copper for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 3.60 cents or 1.2% to $3.1070 per lb. "We expect volatility to remain high this week as the geopolitical situation with Russia remains...Read More
Peter KrauthThe stock market has been especially volatile this year, and that's proving to be a boon for the price of gold…The CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX) more than tripled its January average on Feb. 5, when the Dow Jones sank more than 1,000 points. The VIX is still nearly double its Jan. 1 level.Since the start of 2018, there have been some 100 trading days with a daily movement of...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued their deep-sea scrap purchases for May on Monday April 16 but the prices have gone down slightly following the latest bookings, Metal Bulletin has heard.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a European cargo, comprising 12,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (75:25) at $342 per tonne and 12,000 tonnes of bonus at $362 per tonne cfr, late on April 13.Another steel mill in...Read More
Chinese domestic ferro-silicon prices stabilized last week, with production cuts and a sudden jump in ferro-silicon futures on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange supporting the free market. China garners production, futures support Europe awaits tenders results US ends six-week losing streak Metal Bulletin assessed Chinese domestic spot ferro-silicon (basis 75% silicon) prices uncha...Read More
China's newly implemented restrictions on imported copper scrap have caused some drastic changes in global flows that may prompt the country to revert its policy within the next two years, consultant and scrap specialist Michael Lion said during the annual CESCO Week copper conference held in Santiago, Chile, last week. "People are adopting extreme caution," Lion, who serves as president of Lion C...Read More
Vale's copper output in the first quarter of 2018 was 13.2% lower on an annual comparison, reflecting the company's decision to place some mines on care and maintenance and lower ore grades obtained at Salobo mine in Brazil. Vale's copper output in the first quarter of 2018 was 13.2% lower on an annual comparison, reflecting the company's decision to place some mines on care and maintenance and lo...Read More
Vale's nickel production fell 17.9% year on year in the first-quarter 2018, following the company's decision to place non-competitive mines in Canada on care and maintenance, among other steps taken to optimize margins.Finished nickel output came to 58,600 tonnes in the three months ended in March 31, against 71,400 tonnes in the corresponding months of 2017, the Brazilian diversified miner and wo...Read More
Minera Lumina Copper Chile (MLCC) has reached a deal for a new labor contract with union workers at its Caserones mine, the company said late on Friday April 13. The agreement includes a gross bonus of 14 million Chilean pesos ($23,473.90) per worker, as well as a soft loan of 3 million pesos and an average pay rise of 2.5%. The offer was approved by 88% of the unionized workers, the miner said. T...Read More
Comex copper prices recovered further in the US morning on Monday April 16 amid a brief pause in geopolitical tensions. Copper for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 3.60 cents or 1.2% to $3.1070 per lb. "We expect volatility to remain high this week as the geopolitical situation with Russia remains...Read More