Iron ore prices fell further on Wednesday March 7 after a seaborne cargo changed hands at a lower price. Metal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore Index Today: $75.84 per tonne cfr QingdaoDaily change: down by $0.23 per tonneMonth-to-date average: $77.33 per tonneMetal Bulletin's 58% Fe Premium Index Today: $60.33 per tonne cfr QingdaoDaily change: down by $0.23 per tonneMonth-to-date average: $61.08 per.....Read More

By Stewart Dougherty"Passivity is fatal to us. Our goal is to make the enemy passive. ... Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy." Mao Tse-tung, proclaiming the founding of the People's Republic of China, 1949Circumstantial evidence is mounting high that there is something seriously wrong with the amount of gold reportedly owned by the United States governme...Read More

"If a platform offers trading of digital assets that are securities and operates as an 'exchange,' as defined by the federal securities laws, then the platform must register with the SEC as a national securities exchange or be exempt from registration."Continue...Read More

The Bank for International Settlements reduced its use of gold swaps and other gold-related derivatives during February, according to the bank's statement of account for the month:https://www.bis.org/banking/balsheet/statofacc280218.pdfThis decrease follows a large increase in the bank's gold swaps in January. In recent months the BIS has been actively trading gold derivatives and the amounts di...Read More

Iron ore prices fell further on Wednesday March 7 with a cargo of seaborne materials changing hands below $75 per tonne cfr China.Key driversChina's ferrous futures tumbled across the board during the day, with the benchmark contracts shedding 0.5-2.4% of their values compared with the settlement prices on Tuesday.The country's spot rebar and hot-rolled coil prices also fell 20-50 yuan ($3.20-7.90...Read More

Index futures have plunged Tuesday night on news that Gary Cohn, Trump's top economic adviser, is resigning. The selloff has brought the E-Mini futures down to within an inch of triggering a 'mechanical' buy I'd flagged at 2687.00. Ordinarily I'd say jump on it using the precautions I'd advised to set up a low-risk entry point. After all, who the heck is Gary Cohn, anyway? I could not have a...Read More

Iranian export prices for steel billet and slab continued to rise in the week ended Wednesday March 7 with bookings agreed at higher prices, supported by the upward trend in the global market and reduced availability of the materials.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for Iranian billet exports narrowed upward to $518-520 per tonne fob on March 7, against $510-520 per tonne fob a week earlie...Read More

- Gold no longer fears or pays attention to Fed announcements regarding interest rates- Renewed interest in gold due to inflation fears and concern Fed won't do enough to control it- Higher interest rates on horizon will make debt levels unsustainable- New Fed Chair warns "the US is not on a sustainable fiscal path" and could lead to an "unsustainable" debt load- Higher interest rates are good f...Read More

Trade wars will increase as the Trump administration is considering clamping down on Chinese investments in the USA along with imposing tariffs on a broad range of Chinese imports. Gary Cohn resigning as Trump's top economic advisor will be bearish for the US dollar and bullish for gold. Key US economic data releases begin from today with February US private ADP jobs number. It remains to be s...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices decreased further on Wednesday March 7 amid weakening futures. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,920-3,980 yuan ($619-629) per tonne, narrowed downward by 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 4,000-4,030 yuan per tonne, down 30 yuan per tonneRebar futures started dropping as soon as the morning trading session began, which led to bearish sentiment spreading i...Read More

Japan's Kobe Steel has rolled out a series of measures to prevent incidents such as its recent data-falsification scandal from recurring again.This includes replacing some of its executives and restructuring its management and reporting systems, the steelmaker said on Tuesday March 6.An external director will serve as...Read More

SHANGHAI, Mar 7 (SMM) – China is likely to eliminate its dependency on overseas refined copper and move to develop foreign copper ore supplies by optimising its industry, SMM believes.China will intensify efforts to improve capacity structure and reorganise steel, coal and power enterprises, said deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Nin...Read More

Iron ore exports from Port Hedland in Western Australia dipped to their lowest level in seven months in February 2018, despite showing a year-on-year increase.The port shipped 38.50 million tonnes of the steelmaking raw material last month, up 7.9% from a 13-month low of 35.67 million tonnes in February 2017.But this was down 6.2% from January's 41.06 million tonnes, and the lowest level...Read More

RAPAPORT...The $2 billion fraud allegations against Indian jewelrytycoon Nirav Modi and Gitanjali Gems chief Mehul Choksi have shocked theindustry, as well as raising questions about the wider impact on the trade.One of the first casualties of the fallout was US jewelerFirestar Diamond, which, by virtue of being part of Modi's business empire,found itself thrust into a crisis. Firestar and two of...Read More

Japan's Kobe Steel has rolled out a series of measures to prevent incidents such as its recent data-falsification scandal from recurring again.This includes replacing some of its executives and restructuring its management and reporting systems, the steelmaker said on Tuesday March 6.An external director will serve as...Read More

(IDEX Online) - ALROSA sold $1.032 billion of rough diamonds in the first two months of this year, with sales of almost $533 million in February.   "In February, the core diamond markets were quite strong," said ALROSA Deputy CEO Yury Okoemov. "The diamond cutting sector continues replenishing stocks. Demand for diamond products was also backed up by good jewelry sales in China on the eve of...Read More

CAPE TOWN – South Africa's future is looking "a lot more positive" since President Cyril Ramaphosa succeeded scandal-plagued Jacob Zuma last month, Anglo American's Chief Executive Mark Cutifani said on Wednesday.Mining companies and South Africa's government have been at loggerheads for years over legislation that the industry warns could deter investment by changing t...Read More

RAPAPORT... BSG Resources, diamond tycoon Beny Steinmetz's mining company, has entered administration, meaningcontrol of the group has been given to practitioners responsible for tryingto rescue the business. Malcolm Cohen and William Callewaert of BDO arethe court-appointed joint administrators, the advisory firm said Tuesday. They aretasked with operating in the creditors' best interests, with a...Read More

Coal shipments from Australia's metallurgical coal hub of Queensland fell 4.4% on the year in February. Ports in the Australian state shipped 15.98 million tonnes of coal - including some thermal coal - last month, compared with 16.71 million tonnes a year earlier, according to the latest data...Read More

(IDEX Online) - BSG Resources Ltd, a Guernsey-based holding company of Israeli diamond and mining tycoon Beny Steinmetz's international mining business, has been placed in administration.   Being placed in administration means being taken under the management of a court appointed administrator whose main aim is to leverage the company's assets and business to repay creditors as quickly a...Read More