The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[biocqr]

Electric-Vehicle Bulls Shake Up Metals Markets

Fear of missing out is driving investors into rare metals used in electric vehicles, but some wonder how the rally might end

https://www.wsj.com/articles/electric-vehicle-bulls-shake-up-metals-markets-1512910800

“People are following the money,” said Trent Mell, chief executive of First Cobalt, which hasn’t yet extracted any cobalt and recently began drilling in a group of 50 mines that once produced cobalt and silver. “I’m able to raise a lot of capital I wouldn’t have been able to even a year ago.”

The gains have accompanied a surge in global electric and hybrid vehicle sales, which rose 50% in the first 10 months of 2017 from the same period a year earlier, according to EV-Volumes, a research group that tracks electric-car sales.

And growth is expected to continue. Sales of electric and hybrid vehicles are slated to surge to 31.5 million units in 2035, from 1.2 million units in 2017, according to Jefferies Group.