Good afternoon
the terrible tailings dam accident in Brazil certainly overshadows the mining world today! Vale hit again - and we know, how rare it is for properly designed tailings dams to break! You wonder what will come out of the investigations, and whether the reason for it to burst will ever be found out. One can certainly understand the media asking, why this is happening again in Brazil, and again to Vale! I think the consequences for the Brazilian mining industry could be quite massive in terms of regulatory changes - nobody wants to have something like this happen to a third time!
Gold ETF´s see further inflow on Friday, following a short break to this strong trend. Expected, dovish comments from the FED have been cited for the strong rise of gold on Friday, pushing it through 1400 US$/oz for the first time since June 2018. Metals otherwise are trading a little softer today.
Caterpillar with a lower than expected result, and scales back expectations for this years result as well. Even worse for Nvidia, the chipmaker. Equities weak following these warnings…
Australia Day on the weekend - hence markets were closed today. For Aboriginals, it`s apparently called Invasion Day! In any case, a good day to spend in the pool ( for as long as you don´t feel like a boiling frog! )- 45 degrees in parts of New South Wales are probably no fun! The Australian electricity system is being tested - 200.000 homes without electrity, even though companies like Alcoa have been asked to shut their smelters.
Germany decides exit from coal by 2038…India has record imports of thermal coal in 2018…
Have a nice eveing!
WS