John E,

I too noticed that LME inventories had dropped by 204 metric tonnes by the latest numerical tally. I hate to burst your bubble, but if you'd read a little further you would have noticed that LME inventory rose overnight to above 66,000 tonnes. This would indicate at least 1260 additional tonnes have flowed in (and yet to be added) making the -204 tonnes quite insignificant especially in light of the previous day's 800+ tonne increase.

Where all this inventory is coming from, I have no idea, but it keeps on coming. For nickel prices to sustain any kind of recovery, we're going to need to see bigger cuts in production by all, or a drastic improvement in demand.

The LME inventory still appears to be in a very dramatic upward trend, and has shown no signs lately of reversal. If anything the upward trend has accelerated. IMO

S