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 Daily
Nickel/Stainless Steel Wrap-up
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Sucden's day old nickel chart -
(here).
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Baltic Dry Index - minus 18 to 662.
(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’s Manufacturing Industry
Holds Up Against Global Slowdown: Economy // Hong Kong Homes Face 25% Drop
as Loans Fall in Year of Dragon: Mortgages // China Workers Become Easy Targets
as Growth Sends More Citizens Overseas // Russia Warns Arab Leaders Against
Crossing ‘Red Line’ on Syrian Leadership // Most Asian Stocks Advance
on China Manufacturing; Won Weakens, Oil Climbs // Manufacturing Showing
Growth Worldwide as Slump in Europe Eases: Economy // Steel Demand Slowing
With Europe in Setback to ArcelorMittal: Commodities // European Stocks Rise
to a Six-Month High as Manufacturing Gauges Increase // Chrysler January
U.S. Sales Exceed Estimates on Sales of Jeeps, 200 Sedan // Volcker Exemption
for Sovereign Debt Said to Be Weighed by U.S. Regulators // Manufacturing
Gains in U.S. Bolster Outlook for Global Expansion: Economy // GM, Chrysler,
Nissan January U.S. Auto Sales Beat Estimates as Ford Misses // Stocks Gain
as Dollar, Treasuries Fall on Manufacturing Recovery Outlook
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The Euro is currently up nearly 8/10 of 1% against the US Dollar. NYMEX crude
is up 1/10 of 1% and trading at $98.57/barrel. Gold is up over 1/2 of 1%
and silver is 2% higher. Base metals ended their session mostly higher, with
only tin losing ground. Indicator charts show nickel fell early, recovered,
then fell again, before spiking a the close. Dow Jones reports three
month nickel closed at $9.51/lb
 . Stockpiles of nickel
stored in LME approved warehouses rose sharply on Tuesday and now total just
under 95,600 tonnes. BHP gave the bulls something to cheer about this morning,
when it announced it was cutting production at its Australian Mount Keith
nickel mine. Any hitch in the supply chain, even when many analysts believe
the market is operating in a surplus situation, gets the markets attention.
There is an article below about BHP's operations, and more on this move.
Most markets are higher today as world manufacturing numbers looked positive
for December. We follow four bigger ones on a monthly basis
(here). The Dow has yet to recover all that it lost over
the past four days, but it is getting close.
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We will be traveling on business for the remainder of this week and will
be unable to post updates. Next update will be Monday, Feb 6th. In the mean
time, we recommend you visit Kitco Base Metals
here
Reports
Commodity/Economic Articles and Comments
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Viewpoint: Is Manufacturing Dead in America? -
more
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Determining Why People Stop Working Is Key -
more
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Senators: Get Rid of Dollar Bills -
more
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Economic Projections and Key Numbers From CBO Budget Report -
more
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Why Is Unemployment Duration So Long? -
more
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Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Declines -
more
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CNBC: Best Alternative Financial Blogs -
more
 China Drives Continuing
Growth in Stainless Steel Output - Official figures for global crude stainless
steel production in 2011 are estimated to have reached another all-time high
total of 32.05 million tonnes, 3.1 percent above the previous record, set
one year earlier. -
more
 BHP takes axe
to WA operation as nickel loses its lustre - Barely two months ago, BHP Billiton
boss Marius Kloppers promised to buy investors ''a beer'' if they saw him
announce plans to offload the company's struggling nickel division. -
more
 Repairs hit
miner ENRC's ferrochrome output - Kazakh mining group ENRC reported a drop
in 2011 output from its key ferroalloys and iron ore divisions on Wednesday,
after unscheduled repairs at both units in the fourth-quarter. -
more
Morning
Briefing (8:00 AM CST
is 1PM in London)
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Indicators at 7:00 am CST show 3 month nickel trading around $.01/lb
higher, with other
London traded base metals mixed and quiet. The Euro is trading 3/4 of 1%
higher against the US Dollar at the moment. NYMEX crude is up over 2/3 of
1% and trading at $99.16/barrel. Gold is up 6/10 of 1% while silver is 2.2%
higher. In overnight trading, Asian markets ended lower, with China down
over 1.4%. European markets are trading higher this morning, and US futures
are over 100 points higher at the moment. Nickel stockpiles rose sharply
on Tuesday.
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Reuters morning - Copper rises after euro zone PMI data -
more
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LME Morning - Base metals prices take support from QE3 hopes,
better-than-expected Chinese data -
more
Reports
Ed Meir of INTL
FC Stone Daily Metals Commentary
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Copper fell for a third straight day on Tuesday, hit by Euro weakness and
unimpressive macro data out of the US. However, for the month as a whole,
the complex had a good run, with prices up some 10% over the period, its
biggest gain in three months. For that matter, the broader 19-commodity Thomson
Reuters-Jefferies CRB index was up 2.3% over the course of the month after
declining in both November and December. Precious metals helped the overall
gain in the index, with gold, silver, and platinum, each up by 10%, 20%,
and 13% respectively. .... Base metals are mostly higher right now, except
for zinc, nickel and tin, while energy prices are sporting modest gains.
US stocks are expected to open higher, as key manufacturing data is awaited
out of the US later in the day. .... We remain cautious on the base metals
group over the short-term, as prices have had a good run despite a global
macro backdrop (outside of the US) that seems to be decelerating. In addition,
it is possible that the confirmation of an imminent Greek deal would lead
to something of a “buy-the-rumor, sell the news” type of retracement,
as investors look ahead to the more intractable European problems that still
need to be addressed..... Nickel is at $20,734, down $121. (complete report
here)
Commodity/Economic Comments
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(Yieh) Japan stainless steel flat export down 7% in 2011 according to the
data from Japanese ministry of finance. Yet, the imports upped 14% last year.
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(Dow Jones) Brazilian mining company Vale S.A.said late Tuesday its underground
nickel mines in the Sudbury Basin in Canada have temporarily stopped operation
following a fatal accident on Sunday.
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(Interfax) China accounted for 44.56 percent of global crude steel production
in December, up from 43.19 percent the previous month, according to figures
released by the World Steel Association (WSA) Jan. 23.
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(NAS) North American Stainless will increase the fuel surcharge to 33% for
stainless flat and long products shipping in the month of February 2012.
The surcharge rate is considered a maximum level for February; and will be
reviewed monthly.
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Antam Signs Mandate Letter For The Financial Arrangement Of East Halmahera
Ferronickel Project -
more
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China's PMI rises to 50.5 in January -
more
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La Niña continues with little change -
more
BHP Cuts Nickel
Mining on Lower Prices, Australian Dollar - BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s
fourth-largest nickel producer, will reduce mining operations at its West
Australian operations by 30 percent because of weak metal prices and the
strong Australian dollar. -
more
 Prices up on
surge in nickel price - A hesitant start of 2012 was replaced by steadily
increased market activity during the last part of January. -
more
 Outokumpu CEO
sees regulators approving Inoxum deal - Outokumpu Chief Executive Mika Seitovirta
said he was confident anti-trust regulators would approve the Finnish company's
proposed takeover of ThyssenKrupp's stainless steel unit Inoxum. -
more
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Outokumpu : CEO : Stainless Steel Buy To Boost Competitiveness - Finland's
Outokumpu Oyj said Wednesday that its planned takeover of Inoxum--the stainless
steel business of Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG --will help it better compete
with low-cost producers from Asia. -
more
 Rusal lawsuit on
canceling Norilsk Nickel's buyback to be heard on Feb.28 - The court will
begin hearing on February 28 Rusal Investment Management's lawsuit against
Norilsk Nickel, in which the plaintiff seeks to invalidate a decision approved
by its board during September 13 and September 21 meetings on the buyout
of shares. -
more
 Morning Nickel
Inventory and Price Statistics & Figures
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Today's almost official prices
here / Yesterday's actual
LME official prices
here
or
here
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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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