Sector expert Michael Ballanger examines the effects of the Federal Reserve Bank interest rate increase and plans for 2019. "Gold is the money of kings. Silver is the money of gentlemen. Barter is the money of peasants. And debt is the money of slaves."Here are a couple of facts one needs to remember when attempting to decipher yesterday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcement and pres...Read More
The dovish FederalReserve lit a fire under gold and its miners’ stocks this week. As universally expected the FOMC hiked ratesfor the 9th time in this cycle. But it alsolowered its 2019 rate-hike outlook bowing to the stock-market selloff. Traders dumped gold initially thinking thatwasn’t dovish enough. But marketreactions to the FOMC form over a couple days, an...Read More
Full Report: The Gold Bulls Just Regained the Upper Hand By: Frank HolmesCommodity traders appear excited about gold again as stocks are on pace for their worst year since 2008, and their worst December since 1931. Bullish bets on the yellow metal outnumbered bearish ones for the week ended December 11, resulting in the first instance of net positive contracts since July, according to Commodity...Read More
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 799 points at the beginning of this month, just one day after a truce between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on their trade dispute following weekend talks in Argentina. And we've seen more turbulence and runoff throughout the month. Do you know why? Because investor optimism over a resolution faded.Trump himself warned he would r...Read More
Portfolio Manager, attorney, finance author, a regular guest on North American media. Danielle Park is the author of the best selling myth-busting book "Juggling Dynamite: An insider's wisdom on money management, markets and wealth that lasts," as well as a popular daily financial blog: www.jugglingdynamite.com. Danielle worked as an attorney until 1997 when she was recruited to work for an intern...Read More
Gold broke above the $1250 supply level on Wednesday ahead of the Fed's interest rate rise this week but was then sold down on the Continue...Read More
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 799 points at the beginning of this month, just one day after a truce between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping Continue...Read More
Two things have me becoming more and more bullish with respect to gold prices. Stock market weakness, or should I say carnage, has left many investors battered and looking for a safe haven in the storm. Like gold. The U.S. dollar has the potential to go lower as interest rates hikes are potentially moderated and as the economy going forward has many downside risks. A lower U.S. dollar is positive...Read More
Aluminium billet premiums in Europe and Thailand moved lower on Friday December 21 on weaker demand and bearishness due to news that the US Treasury Department intends to remove sanctions against UC Rusal in January, while the US and Brazilian premiums were flat amid a seasonal pause in trading. European premiums tick lower on bearish view. Weak demand pressures premium in Thailand. US and Brazil...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly lower at the close of trading on Friday December 21, pressured by a broad sell-off in global stock indices amid fears of a potential US government shutdown. Despite decreasing over 1% this morning, the S&P 500 index is trading 0.50% lower over the afternoon, while a modest recovery in the Dow Jones Industrial Average did little to...Read More
Comex copper prices slipped on Friday morning in the US amid the continued trade war between the US and China and Federal Reserve worries, which are weighing on the equity and commodity markets.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 1.45 cents to $2.6820 per lb.Yesterday, the Federal Reserve lifted interest rates once again and issued...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Rio Tinto has concluded the sale of its entire 40% stake in the Grasberg mine in Indonesia for $3.5 billion, as part of a series of transactions involving state-owned PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (PT Inalum) and Freeport-McMoRan Inc. PT Inalum previously held a 9.35% stake in Grasberg, the world's second largest copper mine. Fastmarkets MB previously reported on the sale of Rio Tinto's stake earl...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Global ferrous scrap prices continued to fall further during the week ending Friday December 21, after transactions were done at lower prices.Prices fell further in most scrap markets worldwide this week, with deals in Turkey and India concluded at lower levels, while Asian scrap prices slumped from limited demand and US prices remained flat for a second week.Turkey importsPrices co...Read More
Prices for light iron scrap in the United Kingdom were steady this week while the market processed a price reduction made last week to 5C and monthly prices due to ongoing market headwinds, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday December 21.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for UK grade-5C ferrous scrap on an inter-merchant basis was ?65-95 ($82-120) per tonne on December 21, flat week on week, bu...Read More
The price of shredded ferrous scrap imported into India fell further this week, with fresh deals bringing the index to a year-to-date low, market participants said on Friday December 21.Fastmarkets MB's weekly index for containerized imports of shredded scrap into India was $331.98 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on December 21, down from $337.50 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on December 14. Continued poor...Read More
Comex copper prices slipped on Friday morning in the US amid the continued trade war between the US and China and Federal Reserve worries, which are weighing on the equity and commodity markets.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 1.45 cents to $2.6820 per lb.Yesterday, the Federal Reserve lifted interest rates once again and issued...Read More
The three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mainly firmer this morning, Friday December 21, the exception being nickel which was down by 0.5%. Copper, aluminium, zinc and tin were up by between 0.2% and 0.3%, with lead little changed. The three-month copper price was up by 0.2% at $6,032 per tonne.Volume across the complex has been below average with 4,508 lots traded as a...Read More