Mar 8, 2022 - Economy
Nickel trading suspended in London after price rockets
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The price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange closed on Monday up 44%, at nearly $43,000 per metric ton.
- Early Tuesday, the price spiked to more than $100,000, before the London Metal Exchange stepped in to halt trading.
The big picture: Nickel is a key ingredient in the stainless steel and batteries that end up in electric vehicles.
- Russia commodities giant Norilsk Nickel is the single largest producer. The surge in prices for the metal highlights how the Russia shock will keep the pressure on a global manufacturing system that was already struggling to recover from the pandemic.
What we're watching: Price spikes like this typically suggest a trading firm is incredibly desperate to get its hand on the metal to close out a "short" trade that's gone horribly wrong. Bloomberg reports that it could be a major Chinese stainless steel producer.
