Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday July 21.Key drivers The ferro-titanium price range widened higher in the week to July 21 on new deals against renewed demand from buyers ahead of new export duties from Russia which begin on August 31. The major consumers in the steel sector, however, have yet to emerge for longer term contracted deliveries and one steelmaker said t...Read More

As I have stated before, the escape clause for BigTech is that the First Amendment only applies to the government, not them. Continue...Read More

Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe remained flat on Wednesday July 21 following a summer slowdown in the market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?1,400-1,430 ($1,656-1,691) per tonne on July 21, unchanged week on week."Prices are stable, the market is slowing down now for three to four weeks," a d...Read More

Inflation surged in May, and some worry that it has already reached its peak. Has it indeed? This issue is key for the Fed and the gold market.Inflation has soared recently. The CPI annual rate surged 5% in May, which was the fastest jump since the Great Recession. However, the Fed officials still maintain that inflation will only be temporary. Some of the analysts even claim that inflation has al...Read More

The CPI surged 5.4% in June, but Powell still sees inflation as transitory. For now, gold has risen under the dovish Fed’s wing amid higher inflation.Did you think that 5% was high inflation? Or that inflation has already peaked? Wrong! Inflation rose even further in June, although it was already elevated in May. Indeed, the consumer price index surged 0.9% in the last month, following a 0.6...Read More

For the past two years at this juncture, the Precious Metals Sector has risen sharply in a month-long up cycle for Silver and with the high inflation expectations going forward a similar ramp up for the Precious Metals Sector is a real possibility. Inflation ExpectationsAccording to the New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations:the under-40 crowd expects inflation to hit 3.8% a year fro...Read More

The ECB adopts a new inflation target. Is the European Central Bank mimicking the Fed or doing its own thing? The revolution in central banking is spreading. Following the Fed, the European Central Bank has also modified its target. Last week, after an 18-months review of its monetary policy framework, the ECB published a statement on its monetary policy strategy, deciding to change its goal from...Read More

Smartinvestors are preparing to profit from a supply squeeze in an $18-billionmarket.So,what’s a supply squeeze?Simple:When the supply of something goes DOWN at the same time demand for it goesUP... Asupply squeeze triggers.Whenthat happens, you can potentially make more in a short time than you wouldnormally make over a lifetime.Forexample, it just happened with lumber.Thecoronavirus shut d...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday July 21 that are worth another look.Flat steel sales from Brazilian distributors increased by 3.3% year on year in June; volumes began to stabilize after strong growth in the first half of 2021, flat steel distributors...Read More

Major commodity shortages all over the globe arewreaking havoc in the markets...and driving up prices of goods for consumers. Most recently, a widespread shortage in the lumbermarket has generated a great deal of attention due to the impact this shortageis having on the price of home renovations and new home construction. A global shortage of microchips is having a dramaticimpact on the electronic...Read More

Gold’s days in a glamorous apartmentat the top of the PMs’ building are numbered. We’d better prepare for a rapidelevator ride to the first floor.TheGold Miners With the gold miners essentially runninglaps on the treadmill, the HUIIndex, the GDX ETF, and the GDXJ ETF are working extremely hard but makinglittle progress. And with the gambit resulting in ‘one step forward,&nb...Read More

The Northern European market for steel wire rod was quiet in the week to Wednesday July 21, with prices being broadly flat, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh-quality), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?890-915 ($1,049-1,078) per tonne on Wednesday, the same as last week.The assessment was based on deals, offers and market participants'...Read More

Domestic prices for heavy steel plate in Italy declined slightly in the week to Wednesday July 21 due to lower slab costs and mills' needs to book more orders, sources told Fastmarkets.Competitive import offers have also contributed to the softening of domestic prices.Southern EuropeOfficial offers for plate from Italian re-rollers have been heard at ?,?980-1,000 ($1,155-1,178) per tonne ex-works....Read More

The U.S. Dollar recently corrected upward but now appears ready to continue its move downward and this should light a fire under the price of Silver and see it undergo a 30-day run to around $38 per troy ounce as illustrated in the chart below.  ConclusionThere is a regular cycle for Silver to rise that starts now and extends until August 11th. The last time that Silver entered that cycle was...Read More

The latest FOMC minutes were… mixed. The discussion between hawks and doves continues giving gold no comfort. Who will gain the upper hand?Yesterday, the FOMC published the minutes from its last meeting in June. Investors who counted on some clear clues are probably disappointed, as the minutes can please both hawks and doves. Indeed, the report showed that the Fed officials are divided on...Read More

With the FED increasingly hawkish andthe USDX rising from the ashes, don’t be fooled by the recent upswing in gold.The bears are getting ready.With the reflation trade getting cut offat the knees, the only asset class not feeling the pain is U.S. equities.However, while shorts capitulate and send the U.S. 10-Year Treasury higher (andthe yield lower), the flattening of the U.S. yield curve sc...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were broadly stable on Wednesday July 21, with minimal reaction to China's announcement to sell more state reserve metal during the day. The three-month zinc price closed 1.1% lower than the previous day at $2,929 per tonne, while the three-month aluminium price was down 0.5% to close at $2,453.5 per tonne from a day ago,...Read More

Peter Krauth of Silver Stock Investor delves into the silver market and discusses why it "looks primed to rally strongly on the back of multiple drivers."Transitory. That's something we've been hearing a lot lately.At its latest FOMC meeting the Fed naturally decided to keep the fed funds rate target at 0.25%. It also decided not to mess with the $120 billion monthly bond buying program...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday July 21 that are worth another look.Flat steel sales from Brazilian distributors increased by 3.3% year on year in June; volumes began to stabilize after strong growth in the first half of 2021, flat steel distributors...Read More

S&P 500 closed Friday on a strong note, and as theholiday-shortened week is usually accompanied by positive seasonality, it wouldbe reasonable to expect extension of gains. Is therre any show stopper at themoment? Credit markets are strong and in a risk-on mode – but what about theodd strength in long-dated Treasuries? Are the stock traders getting it right –or the bond ones? Remem...Read More