Commodities

Blow me down with a feather, from Macquarie: Credit ratings at risk BHP and RIO have both stated a wish to maintain a solid A rated balance sheet.

What’s causing iron ore to fall and where will it bottom asks Dumbfax today: 1.

From AEP: Known to traders as Dr Copper, the metal is tracked as a barometer of health for the world economy but has increasingly become a rogue indicator.

It’s a billion dollar question and Liberum Capital has a nice interactive to help answer it.

The Brent oil price took off last night as Turkey shot down a Russian fighter, from the FT: Vladimir Putin has accused the Turkish government of providing financial and military support to Isis, in a furious response to the downing of a Russian fighter jet near the Syria-Turkey border.

Here are the iron ore charts for November 24, 2015:    Spot smashed with Tianjin benchmark down 1.8% to a ten year low of $43.40.

Big iron ore is being bashed again today with BHP at a new post-GFC low down -1.4%, RIO is down -1% and FMG -4% and still holding hope rather stupidly: Idiocy spreads are tightening for FMG but blowing out for the majors: Dalian is flat at 299 and looking vulnerable.

From UBS: Diversifieds: All else equal, our BHP & RIO earnings estimates for CY 16 would be 70% and 45% lower, respectively, under a spot scenario.

There is one iron law in the commodities business (pun intended).

Here are the iron ore price charts for November 23, 2015: Tianjin benchmark fell 1.8% to $44.20 just 10 cents above a record low.

The Brent oil price had a wild night of technical trading before settling up at $44.91 as I write.

Big iron is on the nose again today with BHP down sharply at -2.3%, RIO as well at -1% and the ever hopeful FMG is up 2.6%: Dalian is open and is immediately under pressure down one point for January but more than 1% for May at 302 or roughly $38.

From Bloomie: Iron ore bear Andy Xie is sticking to his guns.

From Macquarie: …the main topic of the week was undoubtedly the continuing disappointment from the demand side, underlined by the latest batches of macro, industrial output and investment data for October.

Friday saw firming action in stocks, bonds and currencies for the global business cycle but behind the scenes the mining GFC is simmering away.

From the World Steel Association: World crude steel production for the 66 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 134 million tonnes (Mt) in October 2015, a -3.1% decrease compared to October 2014.

Here are the iron ore price charts for November 20, 2015: Tianjin benchmark was down 10 cents to $45.

From the AFR: BHP Billiton chairman Jac Nasser has refused to commit to maintaining the miner’s annual $US6.6 billion ($9.2 billion) annual dividend payout beyond this February, leaving the door open for a change in its policy to maintain or increase the dividend each year.

Courtesy of FTAlphaville comes RBS: 1.