On Thursday, two tankers carrying petrochemicals, one of which was a Japanese-owned ship, came under suspected attack in the Gulf of Oman. The incidents compounded the already simmering hostilities in what’s possibly the world’s most pivotal maritime corridor and spurred a significant 4% spike in the oil price, the Washington Post reported. Need buying strategies […]
Stuart Burns
Brexit Looms Large as Autos Lead the U.K.’s GPD Slowdown
Every set of data in the U.K. prompts a surge of reports from two groups. On the one hard, there are those inclined to stay in the E.U. who assert the very prospect of Brexit is damaging the economy. On the other, there are those inclined to leave, stating it is the delay that is […]
Gold is Outperforming the Wider Commodities Sector
Some commentators were all over the gold price this week, with Kitco News writing gold “took off like a rocket this week. “The last three days in the metals have been strong, with both gold and silver exploding higher,” the Kitco News report said. Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of […]
The Oil Price is Down for Now, but Where is it Off to Next?
Oil prices are on track for their largest monthly decline in six months, the online trade journal oilprice.com writes. The Trump administration exacerbated the selloff with another threat of tariffs, this time against its southern neighbor Mexico if it does not stem the flow of immigrants across the border. President Donald Trump threatened to apply […]
Baowu Steel Moves Relentlessly Toward Distinction of World’s Largest Steelmaker
The planned merger of Chinese behemoth Baowu Steel Group with a smaller rival is painted in rather dramatic terms, as if it is to be something that is feared. Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook In practice, we should see this as a positive move. The Financial Times […]
Will China’s Next Trade War Tactic be to Leverage Rare Earths Dominance?
Cast your mind back nearly 10 years — for those of you in the metal business at that time, the market was briefly all about rare earths. For the first time in decades, all anyone could talk about was the West’s vulnerability to the supply of this misnamed group of highly important strategic metals and […]
Why Narendra Modi’s Landslide Victory is Good for the Economy but Bad for India
It almost sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it: how can an event be good for the economy but bad for the country? Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook As former President Bill Clinton’s campaign strategist James Carville quipped, “it’s the economy, stupid,” meaning if the country is doing […]
Alunorte’s Restart Does Not Bode Well for Aluminum Prices
According to the Financial Times, Norsk Hydro’s giant Alunorte refinery in Brazil has been given approval to restart production by the Brazilian authorities. The announcement caught the market by surprise, coming some months earlier than had been expected. Buying Aluminum in 2019? Download MetalMiner’s free annual price outlook The restart is a boost for Hydro, […]
What’s Next for British Steel, Britain’s Second-Largest Steelmaker, After Liquidation?
The British government did not find common ground with private equity owners Greybull Capital and Britain’s second-biggest steelmaker, British Steel, went into insolvency this week. Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook As we wrote earlier this week, Greybull has blamed Brexit uncertainty for the double whammy of falling […]
U.S. Puts the Squeeze on Iranian Metals Industry
Not content with putting the squeeze on Iran’s oil industry, President Donald Trump signed a new executive order last week extending existing sanctions to include Iran’s metal industry. Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook According to the Financial Times, much of Iran’s non-oil income comes from metal exports, […]
