South Africa’s rand strengthened on Monday, as gold hit a fresh high and optimism grew over the prospect of an agreement between the two biggest government partners on the budget.
At 0728 GMT, the rand traded at 18.2375 against the dollar, about 1.1% stronger than its previous close.
Gold prices touched an all-time high on Monday as investors stressing over a global trade war and economic slowdown from the world’s biggest economy turned towards the safe-haven asset. South Africa is a major producer of the precious metal.
Source – Reuters
Kiyosaki said, “Trump tariffs begin: gold, silver, Bitcoin may crash.” He indicated his plan to purchase more Bitcoin if prices plummet, seeing it as an opportunity to grow his wealth. However, he also pointed out the U.S. national debt as a major problem that Bitcoin might not be able to address.
Source – Benzinga
Fluor president of mining & metals Harish Jammula said: “We are excited to support BHP on their growth plans to increase production of refined copper cathode in south Australia.
“Accelerated expansion of the downstream processing sector is increasingly important to secure local supply of mined materials, become independent of overseas supply and drive sustainable production technologies.”
Source – Global Data
Non-tariff barriers are meant to limit the amount of imports/exports and protect domestic industries. In some relief to consumers globally, the Trump administration has kept some essential items exempt from the purview of these tariffs.
Items exempt from the tariffs levied by Trump include copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber articles, certain critical minerals, as well as energy and energy products.
Source – GoldSilver Reports
Long list of all exempt items when you go to the website. Hope that helps! – V.
Glencore has suspended production and declared force majeure on copper shipments from its Altonorte smelter in Chile due to an issue affecting the plant’s furnace, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, in a setback that comes just as traders and producers race to ship more metal to the U.S. ahead of tariffs.
Much of the copper produced in Chile is shipped to the U.S., where Comex prices have surged to record highs on worries about shortages due to tariffs; the most active Comex copper contract (HG1:COM) for May delivery hit $5.374/lb, or $11,847/metric ton on Wednesday.
Source – Seeking Alpha
“Everything else that could function as money has been saddled with taxes and disincentives,” Jp Cortez explained, emphasizing how the current monetary system traps people in the Federal Reserve’s fiat currency.
“Ten years ago, only a handful of states were considering sound money policies. Last year, more than 27 states introduced over 65 bills related to sound money.”
Source – Money Metals
Sound money – refers to a reliable and stable medium of exchange that maintains its value over time.
Major stock indexes rallied, the dollar gained against the euro and other currencies while safe-haven gold dropped on Wednesday as investors grew optimistic about a possible de-escalation in the trade war between the U.S. and China.
“There seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel here in terms of the trade war,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
The euro was last down 0.36% against the dollar at $1.1379. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.49% to 142.28.
U.S. Treasury yields declined after the U.S. administration’s signal of a potential respite in the U.S.-China trade war and Trump’s softening stance on Powell.
Source – Reuters