Diamond News Archives
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Finland’s next government, encompassing five parties from the left and center of the political spectrum, will increase spending by about 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion), Iltalehti reported, citing a draft of the government program agreed on Friday.
The incoming cabinet, led by Prime Minister-designate Antti Rinne of the Social Democrats, is due to unveil its program and composition, including ministerial portfolios, on Monday. Here are some highlights of the planned measures.
Spending Increases:
Permanent spending will rise by 1.23 billion euros by 2023 compared with the plan announced in spring. It will boost spending on areas including education, improving income equality, and combating climate change. The government plans to spend as much as 3 billion euros on one-off measures and socially relevant experiments. Measures include rail and road infrastructure works. One-time measures will be funded by selling state-owned assets to ensure government debt won’t grow.
Tax Increases:
Planned tax revenue increase amounts to 730 million euros....
- Dividends: The government plans to study whether a 5% tax can be levied on dividends paid to foreign funds and other tax-exempt entities.
- Real Estate: The government plans to investigate by 2022 the possibility of levying a “reasonable” tax on capital gains accrued to foreign funds and other tax-exempt entities from real-estate investments.
- Fossil Fuels: 250 million euros to be raised from higher taxes on fossil fuels.
- Mining: Government intends to look into establishing a mining tax and analyzing the possibility of taxing capital gains from the sale of mining rights, including those held by foreign companies. 30 million euros to be raised from higher taxes on mines’ electricity consumption.
- Tobacco and Alcohol: Gradual tax increases of about 200 million euros on tobacco and
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The announcement from Trump that the US will place a 5% tariff (to climb steadily to 25%) on all Mexican imports if Mexico doesn’t take action to “reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens” crossing into the US roiled markets last night. Global equities sold off with the NIKKEI down 1.6%, the SCI was off 0.2% (hurt also by weaker Chinese PMI), European markets fell from 1.2% to 1.6%, and S&P futures tumbled 1.2%. Investors flocked to the safe havens, with the yen rallying to a 4-month high (109.62 – 108.71), and global bond yields – which were already plumbing near many month lows in recent sessions - fell further (Japan’s 10-year from -0.07% to -0.099% - near 3-year low, Germany’s 10 year from -0.176% to -0.213% - record low, UK’s 10-year from 0.904% to 0.854% - near 3-year low, and the US 10-year from 2.217% to 2.149% - fresh 20-month low). Gold spiked higher as it touched off buy stops over $1289 (double top - 5/17 and 5/30 highs), $1295 (down trendline from 2/20 $1347 high) and $1297 (100-day moving average) to reach $1299 where resistance there from the 5/16 high and ahead of $1300 (psychological and options level) capped the advance. Gold was also aided from a decline in the US dollar (DX from 98.17 – 97.95), which was hurt by the yen strength along with a bounce in the euro ($1.1126 - $1.1157, shrugs off weaker Italian GDP and German Retail Sales).
At 8:30 AM, stronger than expected readings on US Personal Income (0.5% vs. exp. 0.3%) and Personal Spending (0.3% vs. exp. 0.2%) lifted S&P futures (-27 to 2762) and took the US 10-year bond yield up to 2.178%. The DX had a modest bounce to 98.06, and gold pulled back to...
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Jim Grant: Who's Buying All The Sub-Zero Debt? | Zero Hedge Skip to main content [1]References
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"The Simple Path to Wealth" blog
Rates for home loans fell again, taking the benchmark product below a key threshold, as global economic concerns rocked markets.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.99% in the May 30 week, down from 4.06%, Freddie Mac said Thursday.[1] That marked a 16-month low for the popular product, which has eked out a weekly rise only six times so far in 2019.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.46%, down from 3.51%. The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.60%, down 8 basis points.
Rates have tumbled for the past few weeks, in line with the broader bond market, on concerns about a U.S.-China trade war and overall slowing global growth. When investors grow worried about future growth, fixed-income assets like bonds look more attractive, and when bond prices rise, yields fall. Fixed-rate mortgages follow the 10-year U.S. Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, -2.24%[2] .
See: Sell your home with a Realtor or an algorithm? Maybe both.[3]
But Americans aren’t taking advantage of the rate lull the way they may have been expected to[4]. Mortgage applications for both purchases and refinances fell in the most recent week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.
“It is possible that the trade dispute[5] is causing potential homeowners to hold off on buying, with the fear that further escalation – or the lack of resolution – may have adverse impacts on the economy and housing market,” the...
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Production has officially ceased production at the first and only diamond mine in the Canadian province of Ontario– the Victor mine owned by De Beers Canada. The news comes 10 years and 10 months after the mine was officially opened in July 2008.
Mining ceased on March 5, and the recovery plant treated stockpiled material since that time. The last economic ore was processed on May 25, 2019, followed by several days of treating low grade ore and limestone to purge the plant of any remaining diamonds. The mineral processing plant will be completely shut down by the end of June.
De Beers said it has spent $2.6 billion to build and operate the mine, of which $820 million has gone to Indigenous and local businesses in northern Ontario. In addition, it paid $110 million in royalties to the government of Ontario and another $100 million in corporate social investment and payments to communities.
During its operation, the Victor mine yielded roughly 8.1 million carats of diamonds.
The Victor mine won its share of awards – 2009 International Mine of the Year from Mining Magazine, 2010 Ontario Chamber of Commerce Large Mine of the Year and four straight John T. Ryan Awards for mine safety (nationally in 2015 and 2016, regionally in 2017 and 2018).
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
The post De Beers’ Victor mine ends production appeared first on MINING.com....