Base Metals and Minerals

Wall Street was up but metals down in a night of mixed data. Dow up 70. (Locked for subscribers until 10:00 AEST.)

A potential recovery in mineral sands demand remains the key for Iluka.

In a turnaround session, Wall Street shunned Shanghai and coveted crude. Dow up 61.

Wall Street recovered from Monday’s drop on building and retail news. Dow up 82.

Wall Street followed drops in Asia yesterday and Europe last night on the back of the big Chinese fall. Dow down 186.

Weekly musings from your editor. Commodities in a bubble? Yes, they are. But this doesn’t mean another Armageddon lies around the corner.

Stocks suffer after weak US consumer sentiment casts doubt on the strength and timing of any US economic recovery.

Barclays Capital suggests the market may be too bearish on a slowdown in Chinese commodity demand in coming months and with other markets picking up it expects the uptrend to continue.

A solid GDP result from the EU sent the greenback tumbling and commodity prices soaring. Dow up 36.

BHP Billiton exceeded market expectations with its profit result, but brokers maintain the shares are fairly valued.