Base metals prices were pausing and precious metals were mainly on a back footing this morning, Friday January 8, with sentiment generally bullish on the prospects for greater fiscal spending out of the United States when Joe Biden becomes the president in a few weeks’ time.

US-headquartered lithium producer Albemarle Corp will double lithium carbonate output at its brine-sourced production facility, Silver Peak, based in Nevada, it said on Thursday January 7.

Markets remained upbeat on the morning of Thursday January 7 despite the outbreak of violence in Washington, DC, with nickel joining copper and tin in setting fresh new multi-month highs but gold turning lower.

Markets seem to be anticipating a Democratic win in the Georgia Senate run-off this morning, Wednesday January 6, and that could be bullish for commodities because a Democratic-controlled US Congress could push through larger fiscal stimulus packages.

The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange crossed the $21,200-per-tonne mark while copper edged above $7,900 per tonne during morning trading on Tuesday January 5, with a weak dollar continuing to offset worries about new lockdowns in Europe and the Georgia run-off election in the United States.

Strong gains were seen across the base metals on the London Metal Exchange at the start of the week and most of the metals in London and all the metals on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up again this morning, Tuesday January 5.

Delivery and sales from leading US-based electric vehicles (EVs) manufacturer Tesla showed strong growth over the course of 2020 despite the economic setbacks and logistic disruptions triggered by the global spread of Covid-19 and its economic consequences, according to data released by the company on Saturday January 2.

The new year has started with optimism in the air and base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were up by an average of 1.8% and 1.4% respectively this morning, Monday January 14.

Fastmarkets has updated its formula for calculating the daily physical nickel arbitrage in Shanghai, after China announced it would lower the import tax on certain non-alloyed nickel from 2% to 1%, from January 1, 2021.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up across the board this morning, Thursday December 24, while those on the London Metal Exchange were mixed.