Phantasmix Stock Market Blog

I have a “stink” bid in at $485 for 2 more shares of MKL and it looks like it may get filled. Strangely, it’s the one occasion when I don’t mind seeing a stock I own go down … for a short while

There are some very conflicting reports out there on how much physical metal there is on the exchanges.

Take zinc for example: in one source …

Zinc stocks stand at more than 77,000 tonnes — more than two days of global consumption. Coupled with expectations of oversupply in the next few years prices dived to their lowest in 19 months.

(2 days doesn’t seem like much?!) Yet another source – article published on the same day – says…

“stocks of refined zinc are currently at less than half of their 30-year average.”

Neither article really defines how much zinc supply is a lot or too little. It’s all in the language and in innuendos, for us to assume.

Here’s the actual picture on LME:    Zinc spot price action:

Whatever mechanisms are bringing the price of zinc down, it’s clearly not due to oversupply. There’s an expectation of increased zinc supply next year which looks (to me) like a faulty speculation at this point. A lot of the big mines are reducing production of zinc, instead concentrating on refining other metals that are more lucrative at the moment.

For the time being, I stay invested in Blue Note, Canada’s newest zinc and lead producer. Very curious to see how the zinc story plays out next year, when Blue Note is expected to ramp up its production to full capacity.

Today Questrade announced a new fee structure for Toronto and Toronto Venture stocks that really affects only those who trade “penny stocks”:

“In response to a new fee structure at the TSX, effective November 1, 2007 we are modifying our exchange fee pricing for Toronto (.TO) and the Venture (.VN). There is no longer a distinction between Toronto and the Venture in terms of exchange fees, instead pricing is based on the trade price.

Adding liquidity is now free on all TSX and Venture stocks, and our price schedule for removing liquidity is:

• Stocks priced at $1 or more: $0.0037/share
• Stocks priced less than $1: $0.0010/share

Unfortunately it will take some time before we are able to implement updates to our trading platforms. In the meantime $0.0037/share will be applied to ALL Canadian trades that remove liquidity, and the difference ($0.0027/share) will be rebated for trades on shares under $1.00. We will provide more details concerning the timing of these rebates in the near future.”