Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[marketmaven]

Stainless steel spiking toward $8.17 high

2/1 - (Weekend Update) According to their website, CAW Local 598 advises they were locked out last night at midnight after Falconbridge rejected their final counter proposal. No matter who made the first move, the union is now picketing Falconbridge operations. The site also reports Falconbridge was bussing in retired personnel and non-union workers to the smelter in anticipation of a strike. When CAW went on strike 3 years ago, Falconbridge was only able to maintain production at approximately 20% of normal capacity, using non-union personnel. Monday could be an "interesting" trading day at the London Metal Exchange. Not only will this strike send some minor shock waves through the market (prices already up in anticipation of a strike potential) but Far East Market re-open after a two week holiday. With China being the largest consumer of nickel in the world, the two happening the same date could make the question not "will nickel go up?" but "how high will nickel go up?".
2/2 - In early morning trading, nickel jumped to above $16M/tonne before calming down a little to trade at $7.03/lb.