Archives for November, 2015

LME Stocks do not Reflect Physical Supply/Demand

There is a common belief that London Metal Exchange (“LME”) stocks of metal reflect the underlying,  physical supply/demand balance for that metal. For example, at the beginning of 2015 LME stocks of zinc plunged from 700,000 tons to 440,000 tons over a five month period. This was taken as a…

Specialty Metals and Minerals – Lithium

Lithium is currently one of the most popular members of the periodic table, due to enthusiasm about the growing demand for lithium ion batteries for cars and storage. There is excitement about graphite, for similar reasons. Read more on graphite here. Lithium is the third element in the periodic table,…

Dr Copper is in the Infirmary

Copper is one of the most useful of all metals. Its most important modern property is that it is highly conductive. It has many other applications and was first used over 7,000 years ago for containers and for weapons. Its use today in electricity transmission, electronics  and consumer goods makes…

The Baltic Dry Index is at an All-time Low

This is an accompanying post to last week’s article on declining commodity demand. All manner of transport statistics are in decline. I shall here focus only on the Baltic Dry Index (“BDI”), which I have posted about previously. In 2014 I argued that the BDI is not necessarily a leading…

This Chart Shows the Real State of the Global Economy

Actions by various countries and central banks have led to an apparent disconnect between markets and the actual underlying economy. Most would agree that the global economy is in poor shape and that monetary measures (QE, ZIRP, NIRP and so on) have mainly impacted risk. Too much “free” money chasing…