Diversifed miners Q3-22 reported results review

The basket prices of the iron ore majors suffered in Q3 as a precipitous drop in iron ore prices overwhelmed other price moves. Benchmark iron ore has continued its trajectory so far in Q4, breaking below $80/t in late October. Weakness in China's economy, particularly in the real estate sector, is driving pessimism about the outlook for steel and iron ore. The outlook for many mined commodities is weakened by the lack of large-scale stimulus and the continuation of the zero-Covid policy. The good news is miners appear to have hit an inflection point in cost inflation. While companies reported higher year-on-year costs, cost guidance remained unchanged for most. And operational issues, rather than unit cost inflation, was the driver for most adjustments.