Comment & analysis

EXPERT VIEW FROM ERNST & YOUNG: Horror week favours the brave
May 23, 2012 - 10:15 GMT
Seven days is a long time in the investment world, but last week must have felt longer than most.
COMMENT: When super-cycle poster child BHP Billiton trims its plans...
May 18, 2012 - 12:01 GMT
BHP Billiton is one of the poster children for the commodities super-cycle: a mining company whose immense upstream assets in copper and iron ore have fed the industrialisation of China since the early years of the 21st century and enabled it to return $52 billion to shareholders between 2001 and 2011.
LORD COPPER: There is nothing to fear after JP Morgan loss ...
May 17, 2012 - 02:00 GMT
So, here we go again. Another bank, another huge trade gone bad. This one doesn’t even appear to have been a case of rogue trading; a whole desk seems to have been operating with the full knowledge of the management and/or risk committee.
COMMENT: Keep calm and carry on?
May 11, 2012 - 11:11 GMT
The decision of the Indonesian government last week to uphold the ore export ban and taxes from May 6 has failed to calm the nervous market. So far, both producers and buyers have displayed an impressive tolerance level to the export uncertainty. But how long will their patience last?
TREVOR TARRING: The baby and the bathwater
May 11, 2012 - 04:30 GMT
“Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater” is a well-known adage.

Comment

May 23, 2012 10:15 EXPERT VIEW FROM ERNST & YOUNG: Horror week favours the brave
May 18, 2012 12:01 COMMENT: When super-cycle poster child BHP Billiton trims its plans...
May 17, 2012 02:00 LORD COPPER: There is nothing to fear after JP Morgan loss ...
May 11, 2012 11:11 COMMENT: Keep calm and carry on?
May 11, 2012 04:30 TREVOR TARRING: The baby and the bathwater
May 10, 2012 14:07 MAN OF STEEL: The only way is down
May 8, 2012 12:00 LORD COPPER: Are banks losing their influence in metals?
May 4, 2012 11:49 COMMENT: 'Certain parties' and the future of the LME
May 4, 2012 04:00 LORD COPPER: Fast-forward to the end of the copper backwardation
Apr 30, 2012 12:02 COMMENT: Asian day, Asian Week: it’s Asia's time
Apr 9, 2012 07:06 COMMENT: Polysilicon production comes out from under a cloud
Mar 29, 2012 08:22 COMMENT – ASIA MINING CONGRESS: Is Australia losing its edge as a mining destination?
Mar 23, 2012 00:00 LORD COPPER: When hedge funds revise, you should revise your opinion
Mar 19, 2012 00:00 LORD COPPER: I told you so about the Norilsk-Rusal row
Mar 16, 2012 00:00 COMMENT: Resource nationalism gains new traction as states look for prosperity
Mar 9, 2012 00:00 COMMENT: Outlook for alumina - short term bad, long term good?
Mar 8, 2012 00:00 Why buy for stock? A stockist responds to Man of Steel
Mar 6, 2012 00:00 COMMENT: How will Lehman ruling, MFG bankruptcy affect LME brokerages?
Mar 6, 2012 00:00 LORD COPPER: Young Merchant should use imbalances to trade
Mar 1, 2012 00:00 A YOUNG MERCHANT WRITES: I work in metals for a tier one bank
Feb 29, 2012 00:00 COMMENT: Indonesia's miners came, listened and asked for clarity
Feb 24, 2012 00:00 PREVIEW: The further adventures of iron ore
Feb 21, 2012 13:06 LORD COPPER: Warehouse wars are back - and so is the waste
Feb 20, 2012 09:52 TREVOR TARRING: Are the LME bids self-inflicted?
Feb 17, 2012 11:49 MAN OF STEEL: Why buy for stock?
Feb 13, 2012 13:14 COMMENT: Asia is ‘not the LME’s night desk anymore’
Feb 6, 2012 14:00 LORD COPPER: Glencore-Xstrata will be a merger of more-than-equals
Feb 3, 2012 13:30 COMMENT: Glenstrata still has to break the mould
Jan 30, 2012 05:30 APEX FULL YEAR 2011: Base metal forecasts: astounding accuracy
Jan 24, 2012 13:54 Raising fees could imperil LME date structure: a broker writes
Jan 23, 2012 11:07 COMMENT: An exciting start to the year, especially for Glencore's Blumgart
Jan 13, 2012 13:59 COMMENT: A robust week at the London Metal Exchange
Jan 13, 2012 10:33 COMMENT: What Klaus Kleinfeld didn't say about China
Jan 12, 2012 17:10 LORD COPPER: Surely LME must sort out sale before raising fees
Jan 5, 2012 10:54 SPOTLIGHT: China rings in changes with 2012 rare earth export quotas
Dec 21, 2011 12:50 REVIEW OF 2011 - LORD COPPER: Chronicle of a broker's death foretold
Dec 16, 2011 16:23 COMMENT: Gécamines’ anger and the audit that will ensue
Dec 12, 2011 12:30 COMMENT: Where will the next story or contact come from?
Dec 9, 2011 14:22 LORD COPPER: Have you taken Jon Corzine's position?
Dec 5, 2011 11:30 METAL THEFT: New level of crime necessitates new level of enforcement
Dec 1, 2011 15:33 MAN OF STEEL: The myth of the orderly price decline
Nov 30, 2011 15:55 COMMENT: Indonesia’s tin syndicate recognises the painful truth
Nov 28, 2011 16:16 MEIR ON METALS: Markets rally on hopes for European action
Nov 25, 2011 09:18 COMMENT: Production cuts and strikes – can European steelmaking recover?

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HOTLINE: Love thy neighbour, or at least his land

As if buying a house wasn’t fraught with enough difficulties, it seems that for UK landowners they may now need to pay a lot more attention to the land beneath their house.

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Poll of the week

To what extent has the handling of the MF Global bankruptcy, UBS’ rogue trading scandal and now JP Morgan’s harpooning of the London Whale damaged your confidence in the City as a global financial hub?

Not at all – these events could have happened anywhere
Slightly – large losses and the slow recovery of client cash suggest the regulatory framework could be stronger
Moderately – These events show global banks are using London to take risks they couldn’t take anywhere else
Drastically – I’ll be in Singapore by the end of the week