Prices for cargoes of steel scrap exported from Japan fell for most grades on Wednesday September 16 following a drop in appetite among South Korean steelmakers and a worsening of the market environment, sources have told Fastmarkets.Several producers in South Korea were undertaking maintenance work in September-October, reducing the requirements for scrap in the country and thus also reducing the...Read More
Iron ore prices slumped further on Wednesday September 16, on weaker-than-expected demand for steel, raising concerns that the market could start to move into bearish territory as it did in 2019.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $124.20 per tonne, down $4.32 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $124.40 per tonne, down $4.50 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grad...Read More
The seaborne premium hard coking coal cfr Jingtang index surged on Wednesday September 16 following transactions of premium mid-volatility hard coking coal the previous day, with most market participants positive about the spot market in the short term. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $121.73 per tonne, up $2.19 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $135.14 per...Read More
A continual strengthening of the yuan against the dollar pushed up export prices for Chinese rebar on Wednesday September 16, though domestic prices for the product in China remained flat due to a less active market. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,700-3,720 yuan ($547-550) per tonne, unchangedRain in eastern China, coupled with a weakening of the futures market, continued to hinder trading in...Read More
London Metal Exchange three-month base metals prices were directionless over the morning on Wednesday September 16, while the market awaits clarification on the potential stimulus packages from the United States Federal Open Markets Committee today.Buyers continue to approach the complex with caution despite the stronger China industrial production data out on Tuesday, with many sources waiting fo...Read More
The stronger tones in the base metals that have been seen this week were struggling to push ahead this morning, Wednesday September 16, because the market is waiting for direction, which is expected to come out of this evening's US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. Will the better-than-expected US recovery mean the FOMC does not need to be as dovish, especially if Congress' relief pack...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday September 16.Key drivers Tighter titanium scrap supply in the past few weeks has finally pushed up prices after being unchanged for 10 consecutive weeks, with buyers reporting deals down around the new range. Scrap prices may increase in the near term while tight availability - due to a drop in scrap generation following a slump in...Read More
The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparency into the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies. Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard grade,...Read More
The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparency into the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies. Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt alloy...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday September 16 pricing session in Shanghai.Key drivers Spot cobalt metal prices in China were steady, with liquidity improving in the first half of this week compared with late last week; but speculators and downstream consumers are generally cautious about taking positions or restocking, despite news on September 9 that China's State...Read More
The Cobalt sulfate 20.5% Co basis, exw China, yuan/tonne trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparency into the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies. Fastmarkets assessed...Read More
China will be able to absorb the large volumes of ore and ferro-alloys supply it imported in the first half of this year, but supply concerns loom, Fastmarkets head of research Alistair Ramsay said during a recent Fastmarkets webinar on Covid-19 and what it means for trade flow and demand for key ferro-alloys and ores."It is been an extraordinary period with record levels of ores and ferro-alloys...Read More
Three containers of copper from Turkey heading to a Chinese smelter have been discovered to have been filled with bricks upon arrival in Lianyungang port in China, sources have told Fastmarkets. The containers, that were supposed to be each transporting about 25 tonnes of 99% copper-content blister, were inspected by customs personnel last week, according to photographs seen by Fastmarkets. Two in...Read More
BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP) has told Australian Aboriginal groups to freely speak their mind about the way it manages cultural heritage as the miner readies to appear before a federal inquiry following Rio Tinto's (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO) destruction of two 46,000-year-old sacred shelters.Both companies have been criticized for having gag clauses in land agreements preventing traditional owners from pu...Read More
The market for UG2 chrome ore ticked up in the week to September 15 on strengthening sentiment amid low liquidity, while both the domestic and imported ferro-chrome markets remained stable, sources said.Fastmarkets' chrome ore South Africa UG2 concentrates index basis 42%, cif China edged up by $1 per tonne to $138 per tonne week on week on Tuesday September 15."There has been a little flurry of a...Read More
The second stock market crash is inevitable. Billionaire investor George Soros, in his book Alchemy of Finance, talked about the two concepts of fallibility and reflexivity. He explained that market participants’ view of the world is incomplete and distorted (fallibility), which leads them to take inappropriate actions (reflexivity). These inappropriate actions help informed participants to...Read More
This year will be etched in the record books for multiple reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a massive spike in unemployment rates, a slump in global GDP, and falling interest rates, among other things. The markets responded in kind and slumped over 35% in just over a month earlier this year.However, the V-shaped recovery in the last few months has led experts to believe that the stock mark...Read More
The stock market is moving in stark contrast to the economy. Billionaire investor George Soros calls it the liquidity bubble formed by the free money coming from the fiscal stimulus package. This liquidity bubble is driving the stock valuations to new highs. Hence, billionaire investors like George Soros and Warren Buffett are not participating in this stock market bubble.The state of the economy...Read More
Earlier this summer, I’d discussed why Canadians should get in on stocks that were connected to the electric vehicle market. McKinsey, the top management consulting firm, recently discussed the slump for electric vehicle sales in the first quarter of 2020. Sales dropped 25% in Q1 2020, coming after a slower sales year in 2019. Still, this market is well positioned for attractive growth in th...Read More
Bob Moriarty ArchivesSep 17, 2020I don’t think most investors understand the extent that the well-led resource companies have cashed up in anticipation of far higher prices for gold and a renewed interest in mining by the general public. The actions of the Federal Reserve and all central banks pouring bales of $100 bills onto a bonfire pretty much guarantee the end of fiat currencies, higher...Read More