Iron ore overrun by “cockroaches”

Thursday 6 August 2026

Ferrous remains the outlier in the exaggerated dead cat bounce, popping a little without steel support, probably thanks to the Pilbara strike in two days. It will cost BHP $120m per day, so it won’t last long. Also bullish, Ferrexpo suspended mining in Ukraine, though it is already much smaller than it used to be.

The latest newsflow from China is poor. The RatingDog China Services PMI fell notably to 50.4 in July from 54.1 in June, its lowest reading since September 2024, signaling that service activity continued to expand but at a much slower pace.

The new orders index decreased to 50.9 in July (vs. 53.1 in June), the outstanding business index fell to 50.8 in July (vs. 51.6 in June), and the employment sub-index declined to 50.8 in July (vs. 51.1 in June).

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific's leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.