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 Daily
Nickel/Stainless Steel Wrap-up
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Baltic Dry Index - plus 94 to 2,835.
(chart)
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Dollar graph in lower right corner of this page -
(chart of dollar index)
(live
java chart)
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Headlines & leaders - (Bloomberg) China Doesn't Face Inflation Risk This
Year, Former PBOC Advisor Fan Says // Yuan Rises Most in Two Weeks on Reference
Rate Reflecting Dollar Declines // China's Property Market in `Very Big Bubble,'
StarRock's Jiang Hui Say // Asian Stocks Rise to Two-Week High on U.S.
Manufacturing; Ping An Climbs // ECB Keeps Key Interest Rate at 1%, May Maintain
Crisis Mode Into Next Year // U.K. House Prices Decline Most in Six Months,
Nationwide Says // European Exports, Investments Spur Economy's Recovery
// EU May Limit Naked Shorts of Stocks, Government Debt // European Stocks
Decline; Pernod Ricard, Yara International Fall // Hurricane Earl Strengthens,
Bears Down on North Carolina Coast // Economy Avoids Recession Relapse as
Data Can't Get Much Worse // Pending Sales of Existing Homes Unexpectedly
Increase in July // Bernanke Says Federal Reserve, Regulators Could Have
Tackled Risks Better // Most Stocks Gain, Treasuries, Dollar Drop
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The Euro continues to trade 1/10 of 1% higher against the US Dollar. NYMEX
crude oil is up over 4/10 of 1% and trading at $74.23/barrel. Gold is up
over 1/2 of 1% and silver is higher by more than 1.1%. Base metals ended
the second trading day of September higher, on speculation the economy is
doing better than many reports show. Indicator charts show nickel opened
higher and spent the session in a gradual climb. Dow Jones reports three
month nickel ended the day at $9.81/lb
 . Stockpiles of nickel
stored in LME approved warehouses rose again overnight, and now sit just
over the 120,510 tonne level. Sucden's day old chart show nickel trading
thru yesterday
(chart here). The SStoch reading showed nickel in overbought
territory this morning, while the RSI number showed traders still had technical
room to rise. Nickel got an additional boost from a Reuters report that China
is cracking down on heavy energy users and polluters, including pig nickel
producers. The Baltic Dry Index continues to climb, up another 94 points.
We posted a link to AK Steel's October surcharge's this morning, and have
added North American Stainless and Universal Stainless this afternoon. Allegheny
has yet to post.
Reports
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Commodities Daily - pdf
here
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Reuters Metals Insider -
pdf here
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North American October Stainless Steel surcharge -
here
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Universal Stainless October Stainless Steel surcharge -
pdf here
Morning
Briefing (8:00 AM CST
is 1PM in London)
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Indicators at 7:15 am CST show 3 month nickel trading around $.17/lb
higher, with other
London traded base metals also trading higher, albeit more reserved. The
Euro is trading nearly 1/10 of 1% higher against the US Dollar. NYMEX crude
oil is lower by nearly 9/10 of 1% and at $73.26/barrel. Gold is trading nearly
1/2 of 1% higher, while silver is up more than 7/10 of 1%. In overnight trading,
Asian markets ended higher, with China up 1.3%. European markets are slightly
lower at the moment, and US futures show Wall Street has yet to decide a
direction. Nickel inventories rose again overnight. According to the AK Steel
October 2010 stainless steel surcharge form, linked to below, the average
price of nickel rose from $8.853/lb in July to $9.7194/lb in August, molybdenum
from $14.075/lb to $15.44/lb, and chrome fell from $1.235/lb to $1.2058/lb.
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Bloomberg morning base metal news -
more
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LME Morning - Metals extend advances, copper and zinc hit four-month highs
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more
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Reuters - Copper firm, but Friday's jobs number worries -
more
Reports
Commodity/Economic Comments
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Edward Meir of MF Global Morning Comments - Metal prices soared on Wednesday,
teeing off a strong ISM manufacturing figure out of the US that followed
the relatively strong Chinese purchasing managers’ release from earlier
in the day. The dual reports sparked the broader CRB index to its best
single-session gain (+1.6%) in more than a month, while the US stock market
staged its biggest one-day rally in eight weeks. Moreover, with participants
showing a willingness to hold riskier assets, the dollar had its worst daily
showing in a month, while US treasury yields pushed markedly higher. ....
As of this writing, we are higher once again in a number of metal complexes,
with the weaker dollar (now at $1.2830 against the Euro) the likely factor
behind today’s push. However, energy markets are off slightly after
a good run yesterday, while US equities are called to open flat, so metals
are somewhat on their own at this stage. Despite yesterday’s sharp move
and the current bounce higher, we remain cautious about the short-term outlook.
Technically, many metals have pushed near the top or outside of their trading
ranges, arguing for caution going forward. Moreover, the positive ISM number
that sparked yesterday’s move reminds us of the better-than-expected
industrial production figure released a few weeks ago that similarly triggered
a sizable rally in a number of markets only for the gains to fizzle out in
the weeks ahead on a lack of follow-through. Therefore, a lot will ride on
what happens with the US macro numbers rolled out over the balance of the
week, with Friday's key nonfarm payroll figures being especially critical.
Early indications are that the number could disappoint given that the private
sector ADP payroll report (out yesterday as well) came in on the negative
side, showing 10,000 jobs being lost versus the 13,000 gain expected. ....
In other news, trading volumes on the London Metal Exchange's steel
futures contract hit a record high in August for the sixth month in a row,
exceeding 1.6 million tons for the first time ever, the exchange said on
Wednesday. August was the first full month that the exchange merged its two
regional steel futures contracts. The August figures bring the total volume
generated on steel since the start of 2010 to just over 100,000 lots equivalent
to about 1.1% of the global billet market. ..... We are at $21,460 on nickel,
up $410, and fairly quiet within the trading range. (read Ed Meir's
complete morning base metals report
here)
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(Reuters) Reuters reports that output of nickel pig iron is set to
drop in China as the government steps up efforts to cut energy consumption.
NPI plants consume quite a bit of energy as they use low-grade laterite ores.
Apparently, some 11-12 tons of laterite ores are smelted to produce one ton
of NPI with 12-14% nickel content.
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(MB) Nickel pig iron (NPI) smelters in China's Shanxi province have been
ordered to close for at least a month to save energy and meet Beijing's emission
targets
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Manufacturing figures ease fears of slowdown -
more
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(MF) Shaanxi Head-Moly Industry Co., Ltd. has stopped production for more
than 10 days. We don’t know the concrete reason, but we think that it
is related to current weak market on moly.
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(MB) NSSC raises 300-series price on higher nickel, stronger yen
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(Yieh) Although the global economy is slack recovery, Taiwan's fastener export
volume still grew to about 655,000 tons in the first seven months of 2010,
sharply increasing by 64 percent from a year ago.
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Euro Zone Expands One Percent in the Second Quarter
- more
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Is major crash in offing for Dow Jones? -
more
 Strategy Of
FeCr Price For 4th Quarter 2010 Has Already Moved = South African Producers
Intend To Rise The Price, Wall Is Cooled Down Market In Europe - Since major
producers in South Africa intend to rise price of charge chrome for shipments
in the fourth quarter (October - December) of 2010, they have already moved
to underpin spot price of high carbon ferro-chrome (charge chrome). -
more
Mining companies
discount as steel output falls - The price of steelmaking commodities iron
ore and coking coal will drop next quarter by 12 per cent and 7 per cent
respectively as reduced steel production prompts mining companies Vale, Rio
Tinto and BHP Billiton to offer discounts. -
more
 AK Steel Announces
October 2010 Surcharges for Electrical and Stainless Steels - AK Steel has
advised its customers that a $350 per ton surcharge will be added to invoices
for electrical steel products shipped in October 2010. October 2010 surcharges
for the broad range of stainless steel products that AK Steel produces can
be found on the company's web site at www.aksteel.com. -
more (AK Steel October surcharge -
pdf here)
 Mine opponents
have the right to protest - In the past few years, an area on state land
about 20 miles away from Marquette has caught the eye of a mining company
called Kennecott. The area is called Eagle Rock in the Yellow Dog Plains,
and is expected to yield 250 to 300 million pounds of nickel and about 200
million pounds of copper, as well as several other minerals. -
more
 Putin opposes
Deripaska's Norilsk dividend plan - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
said shareholders of Norilsk Nickel had moved forward to resolve a dispute
and called for nickel and copper export duties to be linked to global prices.
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more
 Morning Nickel
Inventory and Price Statistics & Figures
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London Metal Exchange inventory figures/changes - (for today's
figures see MF Global report above)
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Today's almost official prices
here / Yesterday's actual
LME official prices
here
or
here
(chart)
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Shanghai Jinchuan nickel price - available
here
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Please let us know if any of these links stop working, stop carrying
info, or become available to subscriber's only. We encourage our readers
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