I thought it was about time I do another 'economic special' cranker again, as it has been a while since the last one.
One of my favourite source's of slightly left field economic stories has a wonderful article on Gold (as usual), sadly it is so long and detailed I cannot do it justice with a simple cut and paste for the cranker. It is worth a look for those who have an interest in Gold.
However from the same source, was an interesting Iron Ore snippet, which can be also be found in its entirety here.
http://www.mauldineconomics.com/ttmygh
International banks are increasingly getting involved in the iron ore trade. The purchasing manager at a Hebei-based steel mill said Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), Australia's third-largest iron ore exporter, is now selling iron ore to banks. "The specific model is that banks give financing to FMG, which in turn gives banks long-term agreements for a certain volume at below-market prices," the purchasing manager said. "The volumes given to banks aren't that big. Banks have a lot of steel customers and trader customers. They're able to sell several million tons." Many people familiar with the iron ore trade confirmed that many foreign banks are involved in iron ore trade, mainly by helping companies obtain financing.
edit- it goes on to discuss Iron Ore pricing and Supply Vs Demand concerns, however it finishes with this.
According to Rio Tinto statistics, more than 600 million tons of expansion projects were planned from 2008 to 2010, while only 200 million tons were completed in the fourth quarter of 2010. Of the 800 million tons of expanded capacity the company said it would complete from 2010 to 2014, only 200 million had been completed by the second quarter of this year....
http://www.mauldineconomics.com/ttmygh
Good Morning and Welcome to the XJO Wednesday Thread
News for Today (AEDST)
The XJO came off half of one percent yesterday, with a fairly average spread, and volume (value traded) was pretty much average (a smidge higher than average actually). Which in isolation doesn't look too dangerous. A break of the low of Mondays widespread up bar would not be a good look though, so we wait to see if we get some further follow through suppy, in the coming days.
(20min delay)