An article in The New York Times makes a compelling case for why we may be looking at zinc as an exciting technology metal in years to come (rather than its traditional image as the galvanizing metal that stops steel from rusting). Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook […]
Stuart Burns
Federal Reserve Raises Rates Again
Emerging-market finance ministers must have woken up with a groan Thursday morning as news of yesterday’s Fed hike will have blipped up on their news feeds (that is, if they weren’t up late into the night their time listening to the outcome of last Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting). Need buying strategies for steel? Request your […]
Is Oil Heading for $100/Barrel?
Oil prices have been quietly rising for the last six weeks. The Brent crude benchmark has now breached the U.S. $80/barrel level to $81.20 this week, a level not seen since late 2014, the Financial Times reports. In the U.S., ample shale oil supply and constrained infrastructure remains a drag on the West Texas Intermediate price, […]
Productivity Growth (Or Lack Thereof) in the Age of Technology
You can’t open a newspaper, of the online or paper variety, without coming across an article on productivity. Productivity growth has been meager for the last decade. How to achieve productivity levels seen in the latter part of the 20th century and early part of this one has plagued the minds of economists, politicians and […]
Britain’s Brexit Boat Hits the Rocks
Well, that didn’t go very well, did it? Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook After a couple of weeks scurrying around European capitals and intense lobbying directly to E.U. leaders, Britain’s Prime Minster Theresa May received short shrift at an E.U. conference in Salzburg, Austria last week. May […]
When and Where is the Next Recession Coming From?
At a recent forum for business leaders, I was surprised the topic of conversation was not Brexit or Donald Trump’s latest tweet, or even cricket, but when the next recession would hit. That hasn’t been the case for many years now. Since 2009, we have experienced a more or less constant bull market, giving us […]
Aston Martin or Lotus — What’s Bond Going to Drive Next?
I know, it’s not really a metals topic — my editor will no doubt berate me for wandering off the reservation — but it has to be said the current speculation about which car Bond will drive in the next movie has got to be of the topic of the month, hasn’t it? Need buying […]
Norsk Hydro Backs Out of Deal to Buy Rio’s Icelandic Smelter
The aluminum market is facing much more uncertainty now than it was in February 2018 when Norsk Hydro agreed with Rio Tinto to buy the 205,000-ton-per-year capacity ISAL aluminum smelter, located in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland. According to the Financial Times, that deal included the balance 53.3% share in the Aluchemie anode plant in the Netherlands that Hydro […]
ArcelorMittal’s Takeover of Italy’s Ilva Nears Completion
It has been a long, tortuous road, but finally ArcelorMittal’s reported €2 billion purchase of Italy’s Ilva steel plant looks like it is nearing completion. Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook The deal was largely contingent, according to a European Commission Press release, on an agreement between unions […]
Theft of Auto Catalytic Converters on the Rise in the U.K.
There used to be a time when you were wary of parking your car in an unlit street or side road for fear you may come back to find it jacked up on blocks and all four shiny alloy wheels missing. Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook Locking […]
