The Golden Era versus the Golden Cream Puff

A month has now passed since the questionable events on the London Metal Exchange (LME). The LME nickel market was reopened after the temporary closure, and after some initial stutters, prices were also agreed again in Exchange trading. Since the 28th March 2022 there have been regular daily fixings which serve as a price reference for the industrial value chain. Since then, the nickel price has been quite stable, moving in a range between…

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Quantamental – the best of both worlds

In the early hours of the morning of the 7th March 2022 while the Asian trading session was underway, there was a serious “accident” in the nickel market of the London Metal Exchange (LME), for which, at first glance, the exchange was not sufficiently prepared. A disproportionately large short position on the exchange directly, but also over the counter (OTC), built up by a market participant with the help of brokers and banks caused…

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Green Energy = green dilemma

Full order books, little scrap, political unrest in Kazakhstan, one of the main chrome producing countries, and the completion of a company acquisition whereby a large European producer takes one of the three big stainless steel scrap recyclers on board. This is how the situation on the stainless steel market can be characterised at the start of the year. The nickel price has been, however, more driven by…

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No! – Yes! – Ohh!

In a publication, the investment bank, JP Morgan mentions that it finds the industrial metals complex somewhat uninspiring at the moment, now that the quieter part of the year is approaching. We cannot entirely share this opinion, as otherwise we could stop writing this report here and now. The London nickel price has been fluctuating over the last few days in a narrow band between…

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Winter sun to order

The prices for nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) continue to be well supported and if it was just a matter of the parameters of the nickel market, a continuation into the new year would be everything else but excluded. Nickel demand, including in the (still) dominant stainless steel and alloy area and also the segment of…

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