Base metals held back by worries about industrial demand: Morgan Stanley

Metal Recycling News  |  2012-10-30 10:39:33   |   By Paul Ploumis

Base metals prices lately have remained under pressure amid broader market weakness as soft earnings from the U.S. materials sector suggested to some investors that industrial demand remains poor, said Morgan Stanley in a commodity snippet.

LONDON (Scrap Monster): Base metals prices lately have remained under pressure amid broader market weakness as soft earnings from the U.S. materials sector suggested to some investors that industrial demand remains poor, said Morgan Stanley in a commodity snippet.

According to the firm, prices have essentially retreated back to levels before QE3 (the third round of quantitative easing), with the corrections highest in this year’s perennial underperformers, nickel and aluminum.

“We noted with interest the lack of inspiration in nickel prices this week after discouraging news from Vale over the outlook for the Vale New Caledonia (formally Goro) project. Given the sizable oversupply of both metal and refined capacity, it will clearly take more supply instability to soothe investor concerns in nickel,” Morgan Stanley concluded.

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