Nickel and Tungsten Rollercoaster

The last month has shown a significant ride for Nickel Alloys and Tungsten Carbide. Nickel has dipped 15% from 8.40/lb to 7.25/lb and settled end of week June 8th LME at 7.64 Cash price. Tungsten Ore (APT) has done the same thing taking a 16% drop and appreciating Tungsten Carbide with in 5% of its original price before the Ore drop. Chinese talk about the slow demand for APT and pure Tungsten for short term forecast. Molybdenum has also been showing some weakness in Chinese trading, due to that fact the prices have fallen significantly from 13.80 to about 13.25. This drop will definitely affect tool steel M-series high speed steel such as; m-42 and m-1 the most since both of them contain nearly 10% molybdenum. The summer looks to be quiet for stainless orders and the commodities continue to follow the mood of traders reacting in fear of European debt and also the Dow Jones Industrial Average.