By: Ira EpsteinNew head of ECB sends message to spend on infrastructure. Gold in a market that wants to move lower. Weekly Bollinger band support is narrowing, support in the $1,440 area. Read More
Hearts and MindsSplit LaborWarring TribesDallas and ThanksgivingThose who experienced the 1930s as adults are mostly gone now, but they left notes. We have a pretty good record of what that period was like. It wasn't fun to begin with then it got worse.This year, I've written several times about the 1930s parallels that Ray Dalio and others see with our situation today. The similarities are inde...Read More
Diplomats at the World Trade Organisation's goods council have attacked the European Union over its plans to integrate titanium dioxide and cobalt into its health and safety laws, claiming this could impose unnecessary restrictions on exporting certain stainless steels to the EU.The European Parliament is considering regulating these steel inputs under its classification, labeling and packaging of...Read More
Steelmaking in electric arc furnaces (EAF) is already a good example of a waste-free circular economy since more than half of global steel output is being recycled, even if higher-quality materials are still produced from virgin materials and fossil-fueled processes, the president of the European Steel Technology Platform (ESTEP) said at a workshop in Bergamo, northern Italy last week. Carl de Mar...Read More
Tata Steel has outlined proposals to build a stronger and more sustainable business in Europe, which include cutting up to 3,000 jobs, the company said on Monday November 18.The programme is needed to "ensure the business can thrive despite severe market headwinds which have led to a sharp decline in profitability", the company said.In the first six months of its current financial year, which comm...Read More
Steel billet prices in most markets around the world continued to experience gains in the week ended Friday November 22 because suppliers were unwilling to provide discounts to buyers while the arbitrage window between international and domestic Chinese prices remained open. Scrap prices in Turkey, the world's largest importer of the steelmaking raw material, have strengthened since plunging to a...Read More
The premium for aluminium billet in the US and Italy continued to hit record lows, with poor fundamentals putting sustained downward pressure on the market.US premium hits another record low Aggressive market conditions in Italy persist Brazil billet market quiet Thailand premium steady US premium drops to all-time lowFastmarkets' aluminium 6063 extrusion billet premium, delivered Midwest US, fell...Read More
Gary TanashianGold bugs will remember 2012 as the last year of hope that gold was still in its bull cycle as it managed to hold key support around 1550 into year end. It should not be lost on us that here into year-end 2019 gold's new bull cycle has risen to, and logically halted at, the very same former support that is now important resistance to a new bull market.We anticipated this resistance...Read More
Dave KranzlerI'm sure most of you are inundated with "Black November," "70% off" and "clearance" email promotions from the usual cast of brick/mortar/online chain retailers. It started with my inbox in October. This is because retailers are terrified of what could be one of the worst holiday spending seasons in years.The mainstream financial media, planted with soundbytes from Wall Street...Read More
By: Ira EpsteinNew head of ECB sends message to spend on infrastructure. Gold in a market that wants to move lower. Weekly Bollinger band support is narrowing, support in the $1,440 area. Read More
Hearts and MindsSplit LaborWarring TribesDallas and ThanksgivingThose who experienced the 1930s as adults are mostly gone now, but they left notes. We have a pretty good record of what that period was like. It wasn't fun to begin with then it got worse.This year, I've written several times about the 1930s parallels that Ray Dalio and others see with our situation today. The similarities are inde...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday November 22 that are worth another look.Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market rose in the week to November 22 as Chinese buyers continued to snap up material in the spot market, sources told Fastmarkets.Japanese and Korean copper smelters are likely to follow the contract for 2020 treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs)...Read More
If you are a producer or consumer, or are active in the physical markets, then you had better be aware of a new set of regulations that will make it all the more important for you to choose the right logistics partner from next year.The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has ruled that from January 1, 2020, the marine sector will have to reduce sulfur emissions by more than 80% by switching...Read More
Most major aluminium producers agree that tackling the carbon intensity of the smelting process is one of the biggest challenges facing their industry. What they cannot agree on is how to deal with the situation, as a lively panel hosted by Fastmarkets during LME Week at the end of October showed. Aluminium smelting is an energy-intensive business and the market is starting to differentiate b...Read More
Bearish macroeconomic signals and oversupply have put minor metals and ferro-alloys prices variously under pressure over 2019; the structure and terms of contracts agreed over the coming weeks will show how market participants are accounting for those signals ahead of 2020. A slowing global economy alongside uncertainty over the China-United States trade dispute and Brexit have slowed minor metals...Read More
Copper has attempted to rebound since early September following a marked sell-off in the summer months where macro and fundamental forces have been prevalent.On the macro front, copper has benefited from a slight easing in US-China trade tensions and more monetary policy easing across the globe - including China, where copper consumption is the most exposed - that has shored up investor sentiment....Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday November 22 that are worth another look.Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market rose in the week to November 22 as Chinese buyers continued to snap up material in the spot market, sources told Fastmarkets.Japanese and Korean copper smelters are likely to follow the contract for 2020 treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs)...Read More
The three key US market indices closed at further record highs yesterday - the fourth closing record for the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq in the past seven sessions, Reuters noted.Mergers and acquisitions were making news, from Kirkland Lake's bid for Detour Gold, Newmont Goldcorp selling Red Lake to ASX-listed Evolution Mining and in the luxury space, jewellery company Tiffany & Co agree...Read More
The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based company said it had notified employees the operation would shutter on December 2. CEO Chuck Magro had some terse words for the Canadian Class I railway.Read More
The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.- Mark TwainThe sixth of seven children, he was born into poverty and baptized by the muddy brown waters of the Mississippi River in Missouri.Dropping out of school in the fifth grade, he worked as a typesetter, then as a river boat pilot, then a gold miner, journalist, lecturer, inventor, and publisher,...Read More