The threat of Section 232 tariffs on aluminium imports from Canada into the United States has, like the great white shark following the Brody family in the universally panned film, 'Jaws: The Revenge,' returned - akin to a truly awful horror movie franchise. And that's how Neil Herrington, senior vice president for the Americas, US Chamber of Commerce, views reports that the US administration is c...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Comfortable consolidationAluminium appears comfortable consolidating for the moment, and this will leave prices in a stronger position to challenge overhanging long-term trend-line resistance from the May 2018 high, which stands at $1,670 per tonne currently.Copper: Consolidation unlikely to lastCopper reached its...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Upside breakout last weekThe price of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange surprised us with a break to the upside in the week ended July 10, when prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange raced to three-and-a-half-year highs. While we think there is more short-term upside potential if technical and liquidity fact...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Capped by oversupplyA lack of a meaningful supply adjustment to the Covid-19 demand hit is keeping the aluminium physical market oversupplied and weighing on prices, limiting the success of more buoyant macro and technical forces on prices. Our premium forecasts are under review in light of threats from the U...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Poised for a technical breakoutFears over a second wave of Covid-19 continue to grow, forcing prices of aluminium and the other base metals to take a pause. Our base-case scenario is that countries will respond more efficiently to contain the virus spread, so economic activity and metal demand should continue to r...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Prices hold, pipe buying stalls Seamless prices remained broadly stable in much of the world this month - with the notable exception of falling Japan fob prices, because oil and gas producers have been less inclined to fight for premium products as they cut their capital expenditure - but this was not the result of a balance...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:Upward momentum in US domestic sheet steel prices came to a halt in the second half of June, wiping out earlier gains. Although the prices of hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) increased on a monthly average basis, the d...Read More

In light of the recent turmoil in the oil market, the Fastmarkets research team has closely examined the correlations between the price of oil and the prices for ferrous scrap and finished steel products, to discover nuanced relationships and their changes over time.It is common for steel market participants to refer to high correlations between oil prices and the prices for scrap and steel. Among...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Price uptrend stumbles, but expected to resumeAs we expected, Chinese export and domestic steel prices moved upward in June, settling within the 2% range of our forecasts. Rebar prices trended downward in the second half of the month while heavy rains and floods in parts of the country meant that some construction sites had...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In previous reports, we noted that upside risks to our forecasts existed. These were based on Chinese steel production, and in turn alloy consumption, outperforming our expectations.Chinese crude steel production is rising each month in a year-on-year comparison, prompting our revised view that Chinese alloy consumption will...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' teamof analysts are ready to view.Chinese crude steel production outperformed our expectations with its recovery since the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Crude steel output was up by 2.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2020 to 503 million tonnes, and we have revised upward what was initially a more bearish forecast for this year. We now estimate that product...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Prolonged flooding in China could limit the use of construction steel and drag down demand for steel rebar in the short term, which in turn could damp the demand for iron ore. So far, it has been reported that steel mills in the affected regions have continued to operate as normal. The floods have, however, caused a few days...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In a webinar we conducted on Asian ferro alloys, our research team discussed the Chinese authorities' announcing some major infrastructure investments that will increase demand for steel and steel raw materials, including iron ore. Our research shows that the recent infrastructure investment announcements are equal to about...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices are relatively stable this month, showing little change since our previous tracker. Such stability masks growing issues for stainless steelmakers, however, who are increasingly unable to pass on rising costs to consumers and are, thus, facing cuts to their margins.In general, this is due to an excess of...Read More

Venezuela's interim president, Juan Guaid??. (Image by Renew Europe, Flickr). A decision regarding Canadian miner Crystallex's request to sell the shares of PDV Holdings, the parent company of refiner Citgo Petroleum Corp., which is owned by Venezuela, was expected by the end of July. Now it is likely to be made sometime in August. This, after US Justice Department lawyers asked District Judge L...Read More

Hydrogen tank for the Toyota Mirai. (Reference image by Mario Roberto Dur??n Ortiz, Wikimedia Commons). Researchers from the Czech Republic and Russia have developed a new material that uses gold, platinum and chromium to generate hydrogen molecules from fresh, salt, and polluted water by exposure to infrared sunlight.The objective behind this development is that the solution becomes another gree...Read More

YESTERDAY in GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM and PALLADIUM25 July 2020 -- SaturdayThe gold price traded quietly and unevenly sideways until around noon China Standard Time on their Friday. It was sold down to its low tick of the day by shortly after 1:30 p.m. CST -- and its subsequent rally was capped just minutes after 9 a.m. in London. From that point it was sold lower until around 11:45 a.m. BST....Read More

Chris MarcheseChief Mining Analyst, GoldSeek & SilverSeek Ticker- TSX; EDV.TO, OTC; EDVMF52-Week Range; CAD $15.68-$36.62, US $11.02-$27.60Shares Out; 163.077m sharesEndeavour Mining is a West African focused gold producer. Following a recent acquisition, it is now the leading West African producer with an excellent stable of assets and run by a very capable management team. The company recen...Read More

The Critical Investor examines Golden Arrow Resources' swap of one South American gold project for another, and discusses the company's prospects for becoming a "multi-bagger." Because Golden Arrow Resources Corp. (GRG:TSX.V; GARWF:OTCQB; G6A:FSE) renegotiated their Indiana gold project in Chile not too long ago [with] very favorable terms, I was surprised to recently read about the company dropp...Read More

European leaders stroke a historic deal that could be a game-changer and provide a support for the euro and gold against the U.S. dollar.Historic deal. Pivotal moment for Europe. On Monday, the EU leaders agreed on a massive economic stimulus plan, after a long and crotchety summit. If passed through the European Parliament and ratified by all EU states, the European Commission could borrow 750 bi...Read More