Oil tries again to accentuate the positives

Brent crude was unchanged at $37.84 a barrel, in the first day of trading in the contract with August as the front month. WTI crude futures for July delivery were at $35.53 a barrel, up 4 cents, or 0.1%, by 0629 GMT. OPEC+ is set to discuss a short extension of its current output cuts, …

Copper Rallies After Trump Remarks, China Data

Copper in Shanghai headed for its best close since March in a relief rally after U.S.-China tensions eased and manufacturing data from the Asian nation pointed to a continuing slow recovery.   President Donald Trump’s threatened new measures against China proved weaker than expected, easing a major source of market jitters over the past week. That left …

Soybeans Climb as Dollar Drops and Trump Keeps Trade Deal Intact

Soybean futures in Chicago advanced as the dollar extended declines and President Donald Trump stopped short of spelling out tough new sanctions against China over Hong Kong and kept the phase one trade deal with Beijing intact. Corn increased, while wheat snapped two days of gains.   The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index tumbled to the weakest in …

Iron Ore Seen Gripping On to Surge Before Eventual Descent

Iron ore’s surge, with its latest jump to three-digits, is set to persist in the short term powered by supply concerns, before a market surplus in the second half spells a decline for the steelmaking material. Physical spot ore surged to $101.05 a ton on Friday, the highest since August, according to Mysteel Global. Elevated steel …

China’s speedy recovery boosts PMIs in May

When China sneeze, the world catches cold, as the saying goes. However, if China economy recovers, how will the global market react? Once again, there were signs of recovery for the country’s economic after it was heavily embattled by the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year. In May, both the official and private Purchasing Manufacturing Index …

DCE rallies on good construction demand

Chinese futures rallied toward the end of the trading close, on higher construction steel demand and tighter inventory. The most-actively traded iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), for September delivery, jumped by 6.44% day-on-day to RMB 752 per tonne on Friday. Following the rally, the steel rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures …

Capesize rates drag by long tonnage list

Sluggish Pacific and Atlantic had dragged down Capesize rates and reversed much of the gains that occurred in previous week. By Thursday, the Capesize 5 time charter average went down further by $558 to $3,228, despite more buyers entry at the afternoon session in trying to lift the market. Given the volatile Capesize rates and …

Capesize – a brief history of volatility

We know for certain Trump is ‘not happy’, as he announced this to the world this week, when referencing Beijing’s move to impose national security legislation on Hong Kong.     Trump has announced he will announce new U.S. policies on China today; this is making global markets jittery, something the world does not need …

Ship Shape: The End of the Road

One thing that has confusingly held true up to now was that, against all the trends of many other commodities and market, iron ore kept on rising. It has been the black sheep of the markets, standing there, teeth gritted, weathering the storm that had swept away many other markets. However, just as other markets …

Iron ore futures surge as inventories dive

Iron ore futures advanced again on Thursday amid ongoing supply concerns from Brazil.   Brazilian miner Vale is the subject of an anti-corruption lawsuit; with the company alleged to have hindered inspections at the site of a dam that was collapsed early last year.   Furthermore, it was reported that there had been a sudden …