StrengthsThe best performing metal for the week was palladium, which gained 2.11 percent as the market remains undersupplied with implementation of tougher emission standards in China. A Bloomberg survey of traders and analysts turned bullish for next week's price expectations. Gold recorded its best monthly advance s...Read More

Prices for steel coil products in the Brazilian domestic market remained unchanged this month, with producers encountering difficulty when trying to increase prices amid tough competition and weak steel demand.Fastmarkets' assessment of the price for steel hot-rolled coil (HRC), domestic, monthly, exw Brazil, was 2,517-2,565 Reais ($658-671) per tonne on Friday July 5, stable from a month earlier....Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday July 8 that are worth another look.Major miner Antofagasta has broken away from decades-long tradition to sign copper concentrates supply contracts for the first half of 2020 with China's two biggest copper smelters in June, Fastmarkets understands. A higher tender price for silico-manganese in China for July impro...Read More

Gold's forward progress has slowed and consolidation will continue.Economic and geopolitical fears will continue to support the metal.Expect a slowdown in gold stock rally, but the main trend is still up.The same fear which galvanized investors into buying gold still hangs thick in the air despite the well-received trade-related news on Wall Street. While the U.S. and China have agreed to cont...Read More

Gold has jumped to its highest levels in six years.This jump has been led by investors adding to ETF gold holdings and speculative interest.The latest COT report shows a large rise in speculators, which is a contrarian warning sign.With the latest jobs report and tariff easing, there are plenty of headwinds to gold.The one precious metal that is attractive currently is platinum. Gold has had an ex...Read More

Investing.com - Gold prices were near flat on Monday in Asia as traders remained cautious ahead of a congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell later this week.Gold futures for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were up 0.02% at $1,401.25 a troy ounce by 12:16 AM ET (04:16 GMT).On Friday, the U.S. reported a higher-than-expected rise in...Read More

The London Metal Exchange nickel three-month price was the biggest beneficiary in an otherwise subdued 5pm ring close on Monday July 8, trading up 2% to close at $12,720 per tonne. Buying on the base metals complex was largely quiet after the dollar index rose by 0.13 to 97.38 during the day. Nickel's upward price action may have come on the strength of news of an earthquake on the Indonesian isla...Read More

China's hot-rolled coil prices fell further on Monday July 8, though market participants expect things to improve soon with trading activity picking up domestically.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,860-3,870 yuan ($560-561) per tonne, down 20-30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,830-3,840 yuan per tonne, narrowing downward 10 yuan per tonneSpot prices fell with mills lowering their offe...Read More

Northern China's rebar prices weakened on Monday July 8 while those in the country's eastern region held steady, with market participants still taking a wait-and-see approach after iron ore prices plunged last week.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,970-4,000 yuan ($576-580) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,900-3,940 yuan per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonneMarket participants wer...Read More

"...we could break key support and head much lower, even sub $1000 Gold, before higher. Anything is possible. But if..."by David Brady via Sprott Money NewsThe GOLD:SILVER RATIO or "GSR"When Gold falls, the GSR typically rises as Silver falls even further than Gold. Call it a high beta play on Gold. The same happens in reverse, when Gold rises, the GSR typically falls as Silver outperforms Gold to...Read More

A higher tender price for silico-manganese in China for July improved sentiment and increased prices for low-grade manganese ore in the week ended on Friday July 5. Low-grade ore price increases in ChinaHigh-grade ore in China falls amid low liquidityEuropean alloys softenUS market rolls over for public holiday Low-grade seaborne manganese ore prices rose for the second consecutive week after Chi...Read More

Some Egyptian steel mills have appealed against the decision to suspend the safeguard duties on steel billet and rebar taken by the country's Administrative Court last week, Fastmarkets understands.The appeal was made on Sunday July 7 and follow's July 4 court ruling suspending an earlier decision to impose safeguard duties on imports of rebar...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday July 8 that are worth another look.Major miner Antofagasta has broken away from decades-long tradition to sign copper concentrates supply contracts for the first half of 2020 with China's two biggest copper smelters in June, Fastmarkets understands. A higher tender price for silico-manganese in China for July impro...Read More

The London Metal Exchange announced Jean-S?(C)bastien Jacques, chief executive of Rio Tinto, as the keynote speaker for this year's LME metals seminar in October.The head of the global mining group has more than 25 years of experience in heavy industry and mining and has worked in Europe, South East Asia, India and the United States.He joined Rio Tinto in 2011 and was appointed a director of the c...Read More

More copper units are entering China via the form of concentrates and scrap to match the country's ambitious smelting expansion plans, raising the possibility - albeit distant - that the world's biggest copper importer will eventually stop buying refined copper from overseas.Chinese imports of copper cathodes dropped around a tenth to 1.2 million tonnes over the first five months in 2019 from a ye...Read More

Base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange broadly increased due to a weaker US dollar index, which was down 0.08 to 97.17 during the morning session on Monday July 8.And inventory outflow was recorded for all metals bar tin as of 9am on the same day, with demand for metals across the complex being mostly supporting prices. The zinc price was the exception, with the three-month pric...Read More

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More

Although the softer dollar index has provided a conducive backdrop for risk sentiment, there is still an air of caution amid the simmering geo-political tensions in the Middle East.Over the weekend, Iran warned that it is 'fully prepared to enrich uranium at any level and with any amount', sparking fears that the long-tense relations between Iran and the United States is edging closer to a full mi...Read More

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly up during morning trading on Monday July 8 after the release of better-than-expected US non-farm payroll numbers last week and amid anticipation that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.The non-farm payrolls release last Friday showed that 162,000 jobs were added to the US economy in June after an increase of 75,000 jobs in...Read More

Brazilian imports of flat and long steel decreased in June due to lower coil shipments from China and reduced rebar deliveries from Turkey.Brazil imported 74,541 tonnes of flat steel in June, down by 44.86% from 135,187 tonnes in the same month last year.Imports of cold-rolled coil from China tumbled to 2,438 tonnes in June from 26,360 tonnes a year earlier.Inbound shipments of hot-dipped gal...Read More