Sumitomo will temporarily stop operations at its Minera San Cristobal zinc-lead mine in Bolivia due to national restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus.On Thursday March 26, Sumitomo published a statement online, which said that it had decided to suspend operations due to all-day or night curfews being imposed in...Read More
Governments' massive efforts to support economies have provided some relief to markets and sentiment, but with the novel coronavirus (nCoV 2019) pandemic still spreading rapidly throughout Europe, the United States and elsewhere, there is still just too much uncertainty for markets to settle down.In line with this, the countertrend move of recent days is showing signs of running out of steam this...Read More
Australian exploration company Infinity Lithium has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a multi-staged investment and assistance package to secure funding for its San Jose lithium project in Spain.The company signed the MoU with the European Institute of Innovation &Technology (EIT) initiative, Innoenergy, which supports innovation for sustainable energy. The initial part of the package...Read More
The spread of the Covid-19 virus is forcing shutdowns and a reassessment of consumers' cobalt requirements. Prices of cobalt - metal, intermediates and salts - have so far taken a hit amid concerns of a general, global economic slowdown caused by the virus; a slower uptake in electric vehicle usage; and disrupted demand from the aerospace sector. But lockdowns aimed at limiting the spread of the v...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil have been largely unchanged in Europe due to the limited trading activity resulting from the lockdown measures put in place to combat the Covid-19 virus, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday March 26.Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil have been largely unchanged in Europe due to the limited trading activity resulting from the measures put in place to comba...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices fell on Thursday March 26 amid weak demand, while export trading was also thin with sellers exercising caution after many overseas buyers canceled their orders.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,350-3,370 yuan ($472-475) per tonne, down 40 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,280 yuan per tonne, narrowed downward by 20 yuan per tonneTrading activity w...Read More
ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AMNS India) is the latest steelmaker in the country to confirm it is reducing production rates due to the Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown in the country."AMNS operations are running at very low capacity, with minimum staff inside its facilities," a company spokesperson told Fastmarkets on Thursday March 26 without revealing details on which units had been&...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 26 that are worth another look.China's electric-arc furnace mills have gradually raised production rates in the past three weeks following stronger demand for steel products.A major aluminium producer has concluded multiple deals with Japanese consumers for April-June delivery to main Japanese ports (MJP) at a premium on a c...Read More
Prices for imported steel billet in Egypt decreased in the week ended Thursday March 26 with market activity being very weak because of the Covid-19 pandemic, sources told Fastmarkets.The spread of Covid-19 in the country has caused market activity to soften significantly, the sources added.Egyptian natural gas prices were decreased by $1 to $4.50 per MMBtu this week, after electricity prices were...Read More
Domestic rebar and wire rod prices in Turkey have gone down over the past week due to a complete absence of demand resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, sources said on Thursday March 26.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was 2,950-3,030 Turkish lira ($458-471) per tonne on Thursday, down from the 3,100-3,150 lira per tonne of last week.Wi...Read More
The market for pig iron exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was much reduced in the week to Thursday March 26, sources told Fastmarkets, despite a resumption of sales to China."Industrial activity has rebounded rapidly there and pig iron demand has been boosted," one exporter from the CIS said. "The price [in dollars] has reduced, but the devaluation of the Russian rouble has...Read More
The global spread of the Covid-19 virus continues to limit deep-sea scrap trading in Turkey, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday March 26.The finished long steel and billet markets were also seriously down in Turkey because of the outbreak, they added."There has been no export business [for rebar] for the past three weeks - apart from ongoing trades. We are only producing...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has developed procedures to manage the temporary unavailability of one of its approved warehouses or delivery points that might stem from the Covid-19 outbreak.These measures, which are in line with the exchange's Warehouse Agreement, address potential issues around delivery obligations, warranting and rent payments, it said. "These procedures have been discussed wit...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 26 that are worth another look.China's electric-arc furnace mills have gradually raised production rates in the past three weeks following stronger demand for steel products.A major aluminium producer has concluded multiple deals with Japanese consumers for April-June delivery to main Japanese ports (MJP) at a premium on a c...Read More
Prices for imported steel billet in Egypt decreased in the week ended Thursday March 26 with market activity being very weak because of the Covid-19 pandemic, sources told Fastmarkets.The spread of Covid-19 in the country has caused market activity to soften significantly, the sources added.Egyptian natural gas prices were decreased by $1 to $4.50 per MMBtu this week, after electricity prices were...Read More
To Watch Update #57, CLICK HEREPicking up from yesterday's video rebutting the latest media campaign of "It's not going to be that bad" opinion pieces from 'experts', Chris investigates the cost of being wrong in these predictions. This is important because government and health care response policies are being influenced by these experts. If we pick the wrong policies, millions of lives and trill...Read More
"This will lead to a hyper-inflationary depression."Bill Holter is currently a writer for Miles Franklin and Jim Sinclair's Mineset where he posts weekly commentaries on gold and financial markets. Prior to joining Miles Franklin in 2012, Bill Holter Worked as a retail stockbroker for 23 years, including 12 years as a branch manager at A.G. Edwards. Later, he left Wall Street to avoid potential li...Read More
TOPICS IN THIS INTERVIEW:02:05 World is getting shut down over this virus.06:05 Complete destruction to the Trump boom.11:05 The Fed should allow the economy to collapse to truly reset and build a stronger base.15:05 Gold's role in this economic Greater Depression.18:35 Societal breakdown, life on main street...Doug Casey is an American-born libertarian economist and advocate of the free market. H...Read More
If you've been following your financial advisor's advice of "invest for the long term" for the last several years you've been living fat, dumb and happy...until now. The sudden plunge in the stock market and the global spread of the coronavirus is making citizens across the globe more and more anxious as the days go by despite efforts by the Fed to pump in more money. Harry Dent, author of "Zero H...Read More
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