We tend to hear the pronouncements of the Federal Reserve and take them as the all-knowing position of the Fed chairman with the unanimous support of his or her colleagues. Yet in actual fact, even arriving at a rate setting decision, let alone scoping the media announcement afterwards, requires extensive debate and the balancing of […]
Category: Macroeconomics
This Morning in Metals: January Finished Steel Import Market Share Hits 26%
This morning in metals news, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported finished steel imports accounted for 26% of the U.S. market, analysts expect the index that measures market volatility to come back down and General Motors reported strong 2017 earnings. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook Steel […]
Equities Rout Hits Commodities
Metals have suffered considerable volatility this month with prices sliding, then recovering, then sliding again at the end of last week. Metals markets are not alone in this — equities have been on a slide and many are beginning to ask if this is the end of the bull market that has stretched back nearly […]
China Set to Wage Long-Term War on Smog
If you thought China’s environmental crackdown on polluting industries during this winter heating period was a one-off effort, think again. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook Liu Youbin, a spokesman at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, is quoted by Reuters as saying that Beijing intends to extend its policy […]
Is the Predicted Stock Markets Fall a Correction or End of the Bull Run?
News that Goldman Sachs is advising investors that Wall Street is set for a sharp correction should come as little surprise following five years of almost uninterrupted growth in equity markets. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook The investment bank’s prediction that a correction was a “high probability” is […]
How Close to Reality Are China’s National Bureau of Statistics Growth Figures?
We have long since stopped believing official China growth data. If that’s the case, what is the “real” growth rate in China and should we care that the numbers appear to be manipulated? Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook Officially, China grew by 6.8% in the final quarter of […]
The Conundrum of Growth in India
India is often touted as the next China — a similarly sized population is expected to offer vast potential, particularly coming from a low per capita usage of metals, energy and just about everything else. India just needs to be freed from bureaucracy and the shackles of its earlier obsession with socialism and it will […]
Fitch Offers Warning of Faster than Expected Rate Rises
Some would argue the credit rating agencies do not have the best record in making predictions on the future direction of financial markets. Need buying strategies for steel in 2018? MetalMiner’s Annual Outlook has what you need However, they do have considerable resources at their disposal, so when they issue particularly dire warnings, common sense […]
What Will 2018 Hold? Possibly a Trade War, Political Turmoil and Much More
Everyone loves a forecast, a prediction, even a few ideas on what the future holds, and we become particularly obsessed with such ideas at the start of a new year. So, we thought it would be fun to review a few sources’ suggestions on what 2018 may hold, some as specific predictions like those in […]
