Comex copper prices sprang upward in morning trading on Thursday March 21 amid a dovish tone from the Federal Reserve, easing speculation of a near-term rate hike. The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 0.65 cents to $2.9275 per lb. As anticipated by the overall marketplace, the US Fed decided not to lift rates and signaled that they ex...Read More

"You've really seen the limits of monetary and fiscal policy in its ability to extend out a long boom period." - Josh Friedman, Co-Chairman of Canyon Partners (a "deep value," credit-driven hedge fund)The Fed's abrupt policy reversal says it all. No more rate hikes (yes, one is "scheduled" for 2020 but that's fake news) and the balance sheet run-off is being "tapered" but will stop in September. D...Read More

Gold was trading about US$1,319 an ounce on the spot market earlier, $14/oz higher than this time yesterday.Meanwhile the cash zinc price rose to its highest point since July last year on the London Metal Exchange yesterday at $2,896.50 per tonne.Nickel also gained amid signals Chinese developers might be spared from new property tax rules, easing demand concerns in the world's biggest metals cons...Read More

Deliveries of copper concentrate from Mongolia's Erdenet mine were disrupted in early March after several top managers were dismissed in a restructuring program ordered by the country's government, although production continued as normal, Fastmarkets has learned.The Erdenet mine produces 530,000 tonnes per year of ores and is one of Asia's biggest copper and molybdenum mines.Erdenet is known as 't...Read More

Gold prices finished lower on Wednesday, giving back nearly all of their gain from a day earlier, then climbed in electronic trading, finding support as the U.S. dollar weakened in the wake of the Federal Reserve's latest policy statement. The central bank left interest rates unchanged as expected and signaled no more interest-rate increases this year. See Live blog and video of Fed decision an...Read More

Sluggish demand from domestic aluminium smelters in China, along with the VAT cut from 16% to 13% on April 1, led to a further drop in alumina prices this week.Fastmarkets' price assessment for Chinese free market Metallurgical grade alumina, delivered duty paid, was 2,680-2,700 yuan ($400-403) per tonne on Thursday March 21, down from 2,690-2,710 yuan per tonne a week ago. The...Read More

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has lifted a ban on the export of cobalt and copper concentrates imposed in February but maintained the threat of its future enforcement. In a letter to the National Federation of Enterprises (FEC) seen by Fastmarkets and dated March 20, Minister of Mines Henri Yav Mulang said the government will review every six months whether to reimpose the ban. "I would l...Read More

Vancouver, BC - World Class Extractions Inc. ("World Class") (CSE: PUMP) and Quadron Cannatech Corporation (CSE:QCC) (the "Company" or "Quadron") are pleased to announce that they have entered into a binding letter of intent (the "LOI") to proceed with a business combination by way of a statutory plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) pursuant to which World...Read More

* FTSE 100 up 0.9 pct * FTSE 250 down 0.2 pct * Exporter stocks boosted by weak pound * Miners, oil stocks also among top boosts* Next sheds early losses to end up after results * Renishaw, IG Group slip after results (Adds company news items, updates closing prices throughout)By Shashwat Awasthi and Yadarisa ShabongMarch 21 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 jumped to itshighest level in five-and-a-h...Read More

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has lifted a ban on the export of cobalt and copper concentrates imposed in February but maintained the threat of its future enforcement. In a letter to the National Federation of Enterprises (FEC) seen by Fastmarkets and dated March 20, Minister of Mines Henri Yav Mulang said the government will review every six months whether to reimpose the ban. "I would l...Read More

With the UUP ( US Dollar ETF) having a fairly large decline today lets update a few charts to see how they've been progressing. Back in August of last year the UUP began to build out a rising wedge formation with today's price action completing the fourth reversal point when the UUP traded down to the bottom trendline. Sometimes when a stock fails to touch the top rail in a well defined pattern...Read More

By: IRA EPSTEINGold over the 18-DMA on settlement, upper Bollinger band around $1,330 and falling. Momentum is not overbought..Read More

Charles Nenner & Chris Waltzek Ph.D. - March 20th, 2019.** * Mp3 file.HighlightsHailing from sunny Miami Florida, home of the exotic Miami beach,Charles Nenner rejoins the show. Our guest outlines proprietary market model entries / exits including gold that could eventually ascend to $2,500 Adding support for the bullish case for PMs / commodities, the Euro could remain strong relative to...Read More

Stocks whoopee-cushioned on word from the Fed that tightening is unlikely for the remainder of the year. "Interest rate increases could be on hold indefinitely," Powell said. "It may be some time before the outlook for jobs and inflation calls clearly for a change in policy." Although the stock market's obligatory headless-chicken dance ended with the broad averages largely unchanged, it's surpr...Read More

The Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices inched up on Thursday March 21 with news of a fresh deep-sea cargo trade.A steel producer in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $321 per tonne cfr, late on March 20.This compared with the previous Baltic Sea cargo sold on...Read More

Fastmarkets will discontinue the publication of all VDM German base metal scrap prices, which are syndicated through Metalbulletin.com, Fastmarkets MyDesk, Scrap Price Bulletin and AMM.com. The prices will no longer be updated as of Friday March 22, 2019. The affected prices are as follows: Aluminium Alloy DIN 226 ingots Germany ?,? per 1,000kg (VDM) Aluminium Alloy DIN 231 ingots Germany ?,? per...Read More

Collecting float samples from Arctic Star's Timantti Diamond Project in Finland. Source: Arctic Star Exploration Corp.Shares of Arctic Star Exploration Corp. [ADD-TSXV; ASDZF-OTCQB; 82A1-FSE] were active Thursday March 21 after the company announced the status of a previously announced private placement and the granting of stock options to its directors, employees and consultants.Proceeds are earm...Read More

Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed this morning, Thursday March 21, while the market digested the messages from last night's US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.The FOMC proved to be even more dovish than was previously expected, which is a double edge sword as on the one hand it makes for more favorable conditions for businesses, but on the other th...Read More

TORONTO - Ontario's Government for the People is reforming the electricity system to reduce costs, drive efficiencies and lower electricity rates for medium and large employers."Our government is building an electricity system that works for the people, and that starts by cleaning up the mess we inherited," said Rickford. "We are taking a comprehensive, pragmatic approach to building the modern, e...Read More

The price of cobalt metal in the Chinese domestic market continued to fall in the mid-week assessment on Wednesday March 20 amid persistent weakness in the international benchmark price, which more than offset an uptick in spot trading activity.Fastmarkets assessed the price of cobalt metal, min 99.8%, in China's domestic market at 255,000-290,000 yuan ($38,039-43,261) per tonne on March 20, widen...Read More