Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,

die kurzfristige Lage am Aktienmarkt ist Moment sehr schwer abzuschätzen. Seit Dezember hat sich der ab Oktober bestehende Aufwärtstrend im S&P 500 noch verstärkt. Doch seit mehr als zwei Wochen tritt der Leit- index auf der Stelle.

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Tuesday that US steel mills shipped 7.9 million net tons (nt) of steel products in October, a 0.2 percent drop from September shipments but a 19.7 percent surge from the 6.6 million nt shipped in October 2010.

China Knowledge reports according to China new steel industry blueprint for its 12th 5 year Plan estimates it could go as high as 1.13 billion tonnes over the next three years.

1. Last year, China consumed 920 million tonnes of iron ore. The country imported 618 million tonnes of iron ore from 40 countries last year, which accounted for 67% of the total consumption up from 35% ten years ago.

2. In the first ten months, China iron ore imports grew 10.9%YoY and its domestic output of the mineral grew at a fast pace of 26.4%.

Dineo Matomela

Iron ore demand was expected to grow by 40 percent in the medium to long term, propelled by China, according to the chief executive of Anglo American’s Minas Rio project in Brazil, Stephan Weber.

He said the challenge remained finding high quality assets to meet that demand.

Weber was speaking to journalists during a sponsored tour of the Brazilian assets of diversified mining company Anglo last week.

JP Morgan's Ian Henderson says, over the next few years significant weakness in the iron ore market is unlikely but, the state of the global financial world means uncertainties abound