December 17, 2021 – Commodity and equity markets have reacted positively to announcements by central banks in the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom. Base metals on the LME and SHFE have risen significantly. Zinc jumps more than 4% on supply concerns. And EC competition regulators allow sale of Italian stainless steel producer.
Markets react positively to central bank announcements
After only the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday and yesterday (Thursday) the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) announced measures against the increased inflation, the markets have reacted extremely positively to these stabilizing signals.
LME in uptrend
On the London Metal Exchange (LME), all base metals were already up significantly on Thursday.
LME, December 16, 2021: Nickel +2.66%, aluminum +2.70%, zinc +4.60%, lead +1.05%. Copper +3.35%, Tin +1.92%.
Today, base metals continue to trend in positive territory. Aluminum in particular has picked up and is back above $2,700 per ton. Nickel is up about 1%.
SHFE base metal futures move up
On the Shanghai Future Exchange (SHFE), it looks quite similar in response to yesterday’s announcements from Europe. All base metals are up nicely here as well.
SHFE, Dec 17, 2021, 4:00 pm (GMT+8): Nickel +2.0%, aluminum 2.27%, zinc +3.3% lead +2.25%, copper +1.92%, tin +1.9%.
EU zinc producer closes factory in France
Due to rising energy prices in Europe, the Belgian company Nyrstar had announced that it would close its zinc plant in Auby, France, from January 2022. As a result, not only on the LME but also on the SHFE, zinc prices had jumped by over 4% due to concerns about zinc supply.
AST: EC Competition approves sale
The EC Directorate-General for Competition has approved the sale of Italian stainless steel producer Acciai Speciali Terni by thyssenkrupp to the Arvedi Group. According to DG Competition, the competition authorities had no concerns.
Latest news:
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Disclaimer: Many things here represent our opinion. Others are information from the Internet. We can therefore never claim to be correct or complete. And never base a business decision solely on the news you receive from us.
