- Stefan GleasonThe War on Cash isn't a conspiracy theory. It's an open agenda. It's being driven by an alignment of interests among bankers, central bankers, politicians, and Silicon Valley moguls who stand to benefit from an all-digital economy.Last week, Facebook - in partnership with major banks, payment processors, and e-commerce companies - launched a digital currency called Libra. Unlik...Read More

A signal that's been extremely bullish for stocks is sounding, tooIt's looking like the S&P 500 Index (SPX) could have the best June in more than 60 years. The rally has propelled the index to an all-time high after pulling back more than 6% from the last all-time high at the end of April. This week, as I often do, I'll relate the current environment to past instances, and see how the market perfo...Read More

Aluminium producer Alcoa announced Wednesday June 26 that it has amended its joint venture with Saudi Arabian producer Ma'aden for Alcoa to divest a 25.1% stake in a rolling mill.The joint venture between Ma'aden and Alcoa was created in 2009 and comprises of the Ma'aden Bauxite and Alumina company, the Ma'aden Aluminium Company, and the Ma'aden Rolling Company. Alcoa will transfer its 25.1%...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe have been largely stable over the past week due to slow demand, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 26.Domestic pricesFastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic HRC in Northern Europe was ?,?485-495 ($552-564) per tonne ex-works on Wednesday June 26, compared with ?,?485-500 per tonne ex-works a week earlier, reflecting transa...Read More

Cobalt metal prices continued to weaken on Wednesday June 26 with the first half of the week seeing consumers postpone all but essential buying, leaving sellers to cut their offers to entice sales. Fastmarkets' assessment of the price for standard-grade cobalt was at $13.75-14.35 per lb, in-warehouse, on Wednesday June 26, down from $13.85-14.50 per lb on June 21. Fastmarkets' assessment of the pr...Read More

Domestic prices for hollow steel sections in Northern and Southern Europe narrowed this week on a lack of imports and higher feedstock costs but this could be short lived when import quotas renew next week, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 26.Fastmarkets' domestic price assessment for commodity-size, grade-S235 square hollow sections made in Northern Europe was ?,?630-640 per tonne ($717...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday June 26 that are worth another look.The Lusaka High Court in Zambia ruled on Wednesday June 26 that the appointed liquidator of Vedanta-owned Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) could not dispose of the assets, which include the country's largest copper smelter Nchanga, according to a court document seen by Fastmarkets. Aluminium...Read More

Gold stocks have become over-extended and overheated in recent days.Expect the rate of change in the new highs-lows to soon slow down.Investors should prepare for a potential XAU pullback in early July.June has seen one of the best single-month performances for the actively traded gold mining shares in years. The PHLX Gold/Silver Index (XAU) has gained 21% so far this month and shows no signs of s...Read More

Arnaud de Weert, former chief executive officer of aluminium producer Aludium, has joined metals conglomerate GFG Alliance as chief executive of upstream activities. GFG, which is the parent company of Liberty House, announced the move on Wednesday June 26. De Weert, Aludium's CEO from 2015 to 2019, will be responsible for Liberty's growing aluminium business, the company said. Prior to leading Al...Read More

A 10-week decline in low-grade manganese ore prices stalled on Friday June 21 and Chinese port ore prices have been rebounding dramatically from 2019 lows reached in early June. Fastmarkets' 37% manganese ore index, cif Tianjin held at $5.26 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) on Friday. Fastmarkets' China port index for 37% manganese ore increased by 2.30 yuan to 47.50 yuan per dmtu (equiv...Read More

Combine a chaotic, easy-money world with silver's relative cheapness and the result is a nice set-up...by John Rubino of Dollar CollapseIt's been a pretty good couple of months for precious metals, but more so for gold than silver. Both are up but gold is up more, and the imbalance that this creates might be one of the major investment themes of the next few years.The gold/silver ratio - that is,...Read More

The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange rallied at the close of trading on Wednesday June 26, climbing by 1.4% to close at its highest level since April amid a continued drawdown in the LME's dwindling supply. The nickel price closed trading at $12,490 per tonne, climbing from an intraday low of $12,235 per tonne while total volumes traded breached 10,000 lots for the first time...Read More

A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday June 26.Please click...Read More

China's rebar prices were unchanged on Wednesday June 26 amid softer spot demand and a slight rise in the futures market. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,900-3,950 yuan ($567-574) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,770-3,800 yuan per tonne, unchangedRebar futures edged up during the day but failed to push up spot prices.Continual rain in eastern China this week dampened end-user...Read More

The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange rallied at the close of trading on Wednesday June 26, climbing by 1.4% to close at its highest level since April amid a continued drawdown in the LME's dwindling supply. The nickel price closed trading at $12,490 per tonne, climbing from an intraday low of $12,235 per tonne while total volumes traded breached 10,000 lots for the first time...Read More

The price of mesh-quality wire rod in Europe fell by ?,?5 per tonne week on week following the drop in ferrous scrap prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 26.Fastmarkets' weekly domestic price assessment for mesh-quality wire rod in Northern Europe was ?,?500-510 ($569-581) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, down from ?,?505-515 per tonne delivered on June 19.Fastmarkets' daily Turkish...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday June 26 that are worth another look.The Lusaka High Court in Zambia ruled on Wednesday June 26 that the appointed liquidator of Vedanta-owned Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) could not dispose of the assets, which include the country's largest copper smelter Nchanga, according to a court document seen by Fastmarkets. Aluminium...Read More

The Wheeler River camp where Denison is advancing the mine toward production as early as 2022. (Image: Denison Mines)SASKATCHEWAN - Toronto-based Denison Mines Corp. is testing in situ recovery at the Wheeler River uranium project this summer. The ISR tests will help determine the viability of using it for commercial production at Wheeler River, which would be the first uranium mine in Canada to...Read More

Shares of Energy Fuels (TSX: EFR) and Ur-Energy (TSX: URE) moved higher on a report from Bloomberg that the U.S. Department of Commerce is recommending that Washington take measures to protect domestic uranium production.The June 20 article, quoting three anonymous sources briefed on the matter, said the commerce department believes that the U.S. reliance on uranium imports poses a national se...Read More

NEVADA - Blackrock Gold announced that, together with its namesake U.S. subsidiary, it has entered into a purchase agreement for 20 mining claims directly adjacent to its Silver Cloud project in Elko County.Silver Cloud is a 4,537-hectare claim block located near the confluence of the Carlin Trend and the Northern Nevada Rift within the north-central part of the Silver State.In a press release,...Read More