http://agmetalminer.com/2008/04/09/stainless-loses-its-shine/ Sourcing & Trading Intelligence for Global Metals Markets Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:39:20 +0100 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://agmetalminer.com/2008/04/09/stainless-loses-its-shine/comment-page-1/#comment-29751 Here Come The Speculators – Not Again! (Part 2) | MetalMiner Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:31:19 +0000 http://agmetalminer.com/2008/04/09/stainless-loses-its-shine/#comment-29751 [...] The Baltic Dry Index which tracks the costs of chartering a ship for commodities such as iron ore and coal – we wrote about this earlier in the year – has risen by over 60% according to this Financial Times article. This should come as no surprise as steel input costs have been rising rapidly. The cost of freight has also increased from $80,000 when MetalMiner first wrote about the index in late January to more than $160,000 today. So let’s tally it up. We have the current freight index (the Baltic Dry Index) rising rapidly since the end of January and a new futures index in which speculators, I mean investors can participate. Gee I wonder where the price of steel is headed. On a tangential note the article also mentions the increases are due to greater than expected stainless steel prices. That is interesting considering some of the indicators are headed in the exact opposite direction! [...] [...] The Baltic Dry Index which tracks the costs of chartering a ship for commodities such as iron ore and coal – we wrote about this earlier in the year – has risen by over 60% according to this Financial Times article. This should come as no surprise as steel input costs have been rising rapidly. The cost of freight has also increased from $80,000 when MetalMiner first wrote about the index in late January to more than $160,000 today. So let’s tally it up. We have the current freight index (the Baltic Dry Index) rising rapidly since the end of January and a new futures index in which speculators, I mean investors can participate. Gee I wonder where the price of steel is headed. On a tangential note the article also mentions the increases are due to greater than expected stainless steel prices. That is interesting considering some of the indicators are headed in the exact opposite direction! [...]

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