Thomson Reuters Metals Insider went live today at with a community of approximately 6,700 professionals. Metals Insider is aimed at equipping the global base metals marketplace with the tools to gather in-depth information and collaborate with industry peers.

The launch of the base metals community follows Thomson Reuters acquisition in July 2008 of the business of Metals Insider, a free daily news and analysis service headed up by Andy Home, a highly respected commentator on the metals markets for 20 years. The Thomson Reuters community combines Metals Insider's informed market perspective and audience with comprehensive Reuters news and technology to provide a true community platform for the traders, fund managers, producers, fabricators and market analysts in the base metals market.

The Thomson Reuters Metals Insider community has free access to a base metals news archive as well as research, market reports, prices and data. Members can also sign up to a free email newsletter, providing a comprehensive daily update on developments in the base metals markets.

Metals Insider uses Web 2.0 technologies and features professional interaction and networking capabilities. Intuitive networking tools enable members to create a personal profile and link up with clients, suppliers, contacts and colleagues in the metals industry. Members can also tap into the community to ask questions, provide comments, post reports or up-load research, creating a unique interactive resource for metals professionals.

Mitchel Ingham-Barrow, Global Head of Metals and Minerals, Thomson Reuters, commented: "Thomson Reuters Metals Insider demonstrates our commitment to maximise the potential of professionals in the broader base metals community. It harnesses our world renowned news and data with technological innovation to give the base metals marketplace a competitive edge."

Features to be added to the Metals Insider platform include industry jobs, conferences and events. The exi existing set of free data from the London Metal Exchange is also set to be enhanced and complemented by prices from NYMEX and the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

Separately, Thomson Reuters today announced the expansion of its Swiss news service by incorporating news and information on all the listed Swiss companies in German and French from the leading Swiss financial news provider, AWP.

The alliance between Thomson Reuters and AWP enriches the in-depth, insightful service provided to Thomson Reuters clients in Switzerland and around the world, and allows Reuters journalists to focus on adding depth, breadth and value to the overall news file with additional exclusives, interviews and analysis.

From today, Thomson Reuters subscribers will receive AWP's markets reports, company news and earnings coverage, increased coverage of small and mid cap Swiss companies, and economic indicators and financial analysis for the Swiss market as part of their existing Reuters Swiss news service.

The newly expanded service also features additional Reuters reporting on Swiss Mergers and Acquisitions news, hot stocks, market-moving scoops and interviews, and in-depth analysis, alongside all Reuters existing breaking news and continuing full coverage of SMI blue-chip companies, high-profile mid-caps, M&A targets, SNB monetary policy and macro-economic data.

Knut Engelmann, Reuters Editor for Germany, Switzerland and Austria, said: "Reuters is delighted to announce this new collaboration with AWP. The addition of AWP's Swiss news coverage will significantly expand and deepen the Reuters news offering. It will allow Reuters journalists to focus on providing the story faster and more comprehensively, with even greater insight, more analysis and more exclusivity, thereby providing Thomson Reuters customers with the most comprehensive coverage of the Swiss markets."

Christoph Gaberthüel, AWP Managing Director, said: "AWP is very pleased to strengthen the relationship with Reuters as its distribution partner. This enhanced offering gives Reuters clients both the volume and the depth of coverage they need for real insight into the Swiss market. As the leading domestic financial news agency with more than 25 journalists and a 50 year history of reporting in Switzerland, AWP strengthens the overall Reuters offering to its clients."