For the past nine months, a U.S. company that is the world's largest producer of lithium - a key ingredient in electric-car batteries - has been locked in battle with the Chilean government over pricing issues, production quotas and environmental compliance. With no resolution in sight, the fight is sending tremors all the way up the electric vehicle supply chain that provides batteries to Tesla I...Read More
For the past nine months, a U.S. company that is the world's largest producer of lithium - a key ingredient in electric-car batteries - has been locked in battle with the Chilean government over pricing issues, production quotas and environmental compliance. With no resolution in sight, the fight is sending tremors all the way up the electric vehicle supply chain that provides batteries to Tesla I...Read More
The two amateur prospectors spied what they had come looking for- an abandoned mine shaft possibly hiding treasure within. But it wasn't gold or silver the two sought in a rural Nevada ...Read full newsRead More
Silver has punched through $15, nearly erasing all losses from the August 15th beat-down. The gold chart isn't too shabby either. Here are the details...Silver has just punched through the $15 price level:This is even before the opening bell.Let's see if silver can get put in a close above this psychologically-important whole number.The last time one ounce of silver cost $15 was on August 15th, 20...Read More
While it's easy to find articles that suggest a Santa Claus rally isn't taking place this year, the Power of the Patterns would disagree!This chart looks at the performance from several assets in the metals sector the past 30-days.Even though all of these metals assets are lower in 2018, each of these is experiencing a nice rally this month!So maybe ole Santa didn't disappoint everyone this year....Read More
The Gold Bugs Index could be sending some good news to this out of favor sector of late!The Gold bugs index has struggled for the past 7-years compared to the S&P 500, as it has created a series of lower highs. This decline reflects that Gold miners have been much weaker than the S&P 500. The weakness in the ratio has been suggesting to be long the S&P and short the Gold bugs index.Of late the rat...Read More
RAPAPORT... US retail sales increased 5.1% this holiday season, buoyedby a rise in online purchasing, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. Revenues across all retail categories climbed to more than $850billion for the period from November 1 to December 24, recording the strongestgrowth in six years, the report said Wednesday. Online purchases jumped 19% forthe same period. "From shopping a...Read More
RAPAPORT... The US saw a sharp increase in imports and exports of polisheddiamonds in October, according to data from the US Census Bureau. Inboundshipments hit a record level for any month other than May,which is boosted by preparations for the annual JCK Las Vegas fair, Rapaport archives show. Rough tradingslowed.US Diamond Trade Data for October 2018 Millions unless stated otherwiseRead More
RAPAPORT... A five-year dispute between diamond manufacturer Pluczenik and broker W. Nagel is set to continue, despite a recent court ruling. Pluczenik has submitted an appeal to the UK Supreme Court, seeking to overturn a directive for its Belgium-based business to pay Nagel $3.3 million over a breached pact made nearly 25 years ago. The sides had different interpretations of the nature of a 1994...Read More
RAPAPORT... Two of the largest suppliers of better-quality, small polished diamonds have combined their operations, signaling further consolidation in the diamond-manufacturing sector. A joint venture between Niru Group and EZ Diamonds will bring EZ's supply of round diamonds below 0.70 carats into Niru's infrastructure, the companies announced this week. Niru will adopt EZ's online portal, a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamond firms Niru Group and EZ Diamonds are combining their polished diamond operations into a joint business. Both manufacturers are specialists in small high-quality diamonds typically used by watch and jewelry makers with thousands of calibrated assortments. EZ Diamonds' round stones of 0.70 carats and below will move into Niru's The companies say they...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers has announced its sales dates for next year, while ALROSA has published its sales results announcements for 2019. De Beers Sales Cycles 2019: Sight 1: January 21-25 Sight 2: February 25 - March 1 Sight 3: April 1-5 Sight 4: May 13-17 Sight 5: June 17-21 Sight 6: July 22-26 Sight 7: August 19-23 Sight 8: September 23-27 Sight 9: November 4-8 Sight 10: December 9-13 &...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange during Asian morning trading on Tuesday December 25 were broadly down led by nickel amid bearishness from a challenging macro-economic environment."The main factor pushing down base metals is the volatile macro-economic environment; last week the US Federal Reserve decided to raise interest rates again and there's still uncertainty over the...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices fell on Tuesday December 25 following plunges in the global financial markets with participants bearish on the macro-economic outlook, although exporters kept offer prices high due to a lack of urgency to sell.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,740-3,760 yuan ($542-545) per tonne, down 50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,650-3,670 yuan per tonne,...Read More
China's ferrous futures dropped in morning trading on Tuesday December 25. Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange May rebar: 3,368 yuan ($488) per tonne, down 51 yuan per tonne May hot rolled coil: 3,354 yuan per tonne, down 38 yuan per tonne Dalian Commodity Exchange May iron ore: 483 yuan...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices dropped on Tuesday December 25 amid weak demand on lower futures. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,740-3,780 yuan ($542-548) per tonne, down 40 yuan per tonne Northern China (Beijing): 3,610-3,650 yuan per tonne, widened down 10 yuan per tonneRebar futures remained lower than Monday's settlement price of 3,465 yuan per tonne throughout Tuesday's tra...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for rebar, wire rod, steel beams and other long steel products. ...Read More
China's ferrous futures dropped in morning trading on Tuesday December 25. Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange May rebar: 3,368 yuan ($488) per tonne, down 51 yuan per tonne May hot rolled coil: 3,354 yuan per tonne, down 38 yuan per tonne Dalian Commodity Exchange May iron ore: 483 yuan...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices dropped on Tuesday December 25 amid weak demand on lower futures. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,740-3,780 yuan ($542-548) per tonne, down 40 yuan per tonne Northern China (Beijing): 3,610-3,650 yuan per tonne, widened down 10 yuan per tonneRebar futures remained lower than Monday's settlement price of 3,465 yuan per tonne throughout Tuesday's tra...Read More
Turkey produced 3.10 million tonnes of crude steel in November 2018, a 2.1% decrease compared with November 2017, according to the Turkish Steel Producers Association (T???oeD).In January-November 2018, crude steel production in the country was 34,429,000 tonnes, a 0.51% year-on-year rise compared with 34,256,000 tonnes produced in January-November 2017, T???oeD said last week.The country produced...Read More