Cleveland-Cliffs and Freeport-McMoRan collapse as Iron Ore slide resumes
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A steel coil.
Tom Mihalek / Getty Images
Cleveland cliffs
,
Freeport-McMoRan
and other mining stocks slumped Monday as iron ore futures fell to $ 100 a tonne as part of China’s continued move to cut steel production.
Cleveland cliffs
(ticker: CLF) fell 9.49% on Monday to $ 19.79, while Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) fell 6.58%.
United States Steel
(X) fell 6.27%.
Futures on iron ore – the key ingredient in steel – were trading at around $ 100 a tonne early Monday. The spot price for the metal was $ 123, a far cry from its record price of $ 233 per tonne in May.
China has pledged to limit steel production as it seeks to reduce carbon emissions. The country is the largest steel producer in the world.
A collapse in Chinese real estate markets – sparked by contagion fears over growing problems at struggling real estate giant
Evergrande Group in China
– also drove the metals markets and the broader indices down.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 506 points, or 1.47%, to 34,078. The S&P 500 fell 1.58% and the Nasdaq fell 2%.
Hong Kong stocks ended Monday with a loss of 3.3%. Markets in China and Japan have been closed for a holiday.
Barron highlighted on Friday how cheap mining stocks are trading as the good times for industrial commodities come to an end.
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