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Hong Kong Exchange & Clearing has paid £1.4 billion for the London Metal Exchange, a company which makes £11.2 million operating profit—a multiple of more than 124 times. Even Facebook only managed a multiple of 76 times when it floated, and look what's happened to that. Clearly HKEx is desperate to buy LME, which is very good at what it does, and has basically agreed to pay any price necessary. Why? On a mundane level, of no concern to you or me, it can now ramp up the fees it charges investment banks and the like to become members of...

05.30.2012 16:08 Hot Copper Shorts Burning Commodity Firms As prices soar, Jiangxi and others say they've been forced to cover short positions by exporting (Beijing)–China has long been the world's largest consumer and a net importer of copper, which makes exporting large quantities of the metal seem counterintuitive. Yet Jiangxi Copper International Trading Co. Ltd. announced in May that it would join hands with other domestic traders and smelters and begin exporting refined copper, shipping it to transaction warehouses designated by the London Metal Exchange (LME). The firm, a subsidiary of China's largest copper producer Jiangxi Copper Corp., said it...

Nickel prices took a severe beating in late trade at the London Metal Exchange on Monday, falling over $1,000 from Friday's kerb close. Three-months futures ended Monday's kerb at $27,600 per tonne, down $1,100, or 3.8 percent. Once selling began, the metal slipped into free-fall, traders said. "It was around $28,500, then on the next trade -- which was half an hour later -- it had gone down $300, then another $300." Volumes were tiny and support practically non-existent."It was trading one lot, then two lots, then one. There was a void underneath it," the trader said. Sellers may have...