Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT

Lithium carbonate, used to make battery cathodes for electric vehicles (EVs), will be increasingly scarce (see related story in this issue), according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, and will not be able to meet market demand next year. Prices already have risen, not only for lithium carbonate, which has doubled in price year on year; the...

Investors expect lithium, a key metal in batteries for portable devices, to play an even bigger role in a world with more and more electric vehicles (EVs) and connectivity. The price of lithium carbonate, the form of lithium most common in EV batteries, has doubled over the past 12 months, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence reported. Share...

Since the beginning of this year, the price of benchmark Australian thermal coal—one of the dirtiest energy sources—has zoomed up 80 percent to $146 a ton, its highest mark in more than 10 years, according to the Financial Times. That makes Australian coal the world’s best investment so far this year, beating the 44-percent gain...

The European Central Bank (ECB) will keep interest rates at record-low negative levels until inflation settles at the bank’s 2-percent target “well ahead of the end of [our] projection horizon and durably,” ECB president Christine Lagarde told a 22 July news conference. The Eurozone’s inflation rate jumped to 2 percent in May from 1.6 percent...

The dollar’s value has risen this month and remains close to its high point this year (see related story in this issue), threatening the economic recovery and debt stability of emerging markets, the Financial Times reported.  Investors increasingly believe the U.S. and Chinese economic recoveries are losing momentum, and a new round of a virulent...

After setting a new price record above $34,000 (“Tin Prices Set New Record”, Trends Journal, 20 July 2021), tin prices closed last week still in record territory as fears of impending shortages persisted. Tin’s price has shot up 70 percent this year and 9 percent in this month alone. Tin is essential in everything from...

After a sluggish vaccination campaign and slow start to a recovery, Europe’s economy should rebound sharply in the next few months and begin to catch up with the U.S. and China, according to IHS Markit surveys of purchasing managers. (See “Investors Glum on Global Growth But Bright on Europe,” Trends Journal, 20 July, 2021.) At...

Foreign investors grew their stakes in China by more than 40 percent over the past 12 months, a record rate of growth, and now hold more than $800 billion in Chinese assets, the Financial Times reported. Investors have snatched up $35.3 billion in Chinese equities this year as of 15 July, a 49-percent jump from...

China’s economy grew 12.7 percent during the first half of this year, including a 7.9-percent spurt during the second quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said, producing value worth 53.2 trillion yuan, or about $8.2 trillion. “The growth shows that China’s economy has walked out of the impact of coronavirus and has already returned to...

The price of tin closed above $34,000 a ton last week, surpassing the old record price of $33,600 set in 2011 as recovery from the Great Recession was under way. Tin is a basic industrial metal used to make magnets, car parts, and electronics, among other things. It coats steel cans to retard corrosion and...