A few days after the Covid pandemic was officially announced last year on 1/23/20, I prepared a chart projecting the course of the pandemic.Continue...Read More
I will address the May crisis that seems to be Continue...Read More
What reason is there for people in any country to have confidence in their government and public health authorities?Continue...Read More
With the worst of the Texas power crisis now behind us, the blame and fingerpointing begins, and while the jury is still outContinue...Read More
An email saying you have gold is not the same as having gold. You might as well have crypto.Money is just data that allows us to avoid the inconvenience of barter.Continue...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday February 19 that are worth another look.Mexican integrated steelmaker Altos Hornos de M?(C)xico (Ahmsa) said it was able to partially resume operations on February 19 after being forced to stop output at its steel unit...Read More
Mexican integrated steelmaker Altos Hornos de M?(C)xico (Ahmsa) said it was able to partially resume operations on Friday February 19 after being forced to stop output at its steel unit and its coal and iron ore mines due to a shortage of fuel and energy. Ahmsa secured most of the energy supply needed by its mining and steel units and was able to re-establish gas supply at 50% of the normal p...Read More
Italian steel distributors' association Assofermet has sent a letter to the European Commission highlighting distortion in the European Union carbon and stainless flat steel market caused by anti-dumping and safeguard measures. The association has specifically asked not to prolong existing safeguard measures into steel imports beyond their expiration on June 30 this year, it said on Wednesday Febr...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday February 19 that are worth another look.Mexican integrated steelmaker Altos Hornos de M?(C)xico (Ahmsa) said it was able to partially resume operations on February 19 after being forced to stop output at its steel unit...Read More
There has been quite a bit of chatter related to precious metals lately. The rally in Cryptos, particularly Bitcoin, and various other stocks have raised expectations that Gold and Silver have been overlooked as a true hedging instrument. As these rallies continue in various other stocks and sectors, Gold and Silver have continued to trade sideways over the past 6+ months – when and ho...Read More
Peter Krauth, editor of Gold Resource Investor, delves into the movement among some companies to hold Bitcoin and gold rather than cash.Imagine your favorite company getting sued for holding too much cash.I know, that's a big statement. But hear me out.Corporations, pension funds and insurance companies—anyone responsible to stakeholders—could one day face class action lawsuits if they...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday February 19 that are worth another look.Mexican integrated steelmaker Altos Hornos de M?(C)xico (Ahmsa) said it was able to partially resume operations on February 19 after being forced to stop output at its steel unit...Read More
A key topic reverberating around the Asian steel market over the past month has been the possibility of China reducing steel export rebates to 9% from the current 13%, or possibly axing them altogether.Market chatter on this topic has grown increasingly louder, with industry sources in China hearing more and more details about these plans from late January onward."This is likely in line with China...Read More
A shortage of containers to ship commodities around the world and the consequent soaring in associated freight rates have led to a revival of interest in breakbulk cargoes. Producers and physical traders of metals, agricultural, chemical and timber products have been starting to book shipments in breakbulk vessels, which cost far less and doesn't require vast amounts of equipment in port. On the m...Read More
The Biden administration's focus on US manufacturing and domestic supply chains will benefit established and developing minerals and metals sectors, including steel, rare earths, graphite and lithium.US President Joe Biden's executive order on the strengthening of American manufacturing, which he signed during his first week in office, is expected to have a direct effect on demand for US-produced...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.These include an increase in our copper mine disruption estimates, upgrades to our production outlook for Indonesian nickel pig iron (NPI), a smaller refined zinc surplus, and an upgrade to our zinc price forecasts.Aluminium: Big disconnect between price and fundamentalsAluminium has extended its uptrend on the London Metal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. We also review our price forecasting accuracy for the second quarter 2020.Q2 2020 price forecast performance review According to the results of Fastmarkets' Apex for the second quarter of 2020 published this week, Fastmarkets' base metals research team was the second most accurate price forecaster for nickel (99.06%), lead...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US hot-rolled coil prices moved in line with our forecasts in January, with actual prices modestly exceeding our forecasts for the month. Fastmarkets' US HRC index averaged $1,099 per ton in January, slightly above our forecast price of $1,075 per ton for the month. W...Read More