Commodities Focus The impending collapse of copper prices Hopes of a rebound in demand in the second half of the year are keeping copper prices above $8,000 per tonne despite the huge overhang of inventories in China and the continuing economic and financial... 30th April 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Focus What will bring oil prices down? The price of Brent has remained close to $125 per barrel despite verbal intervention from Saudi Arabia and the threat of an early release of official stocks led by the US. We are therefore nudging up... 30th March 2012 · 1 min read
Commodities Focus Is the long bull market in gold finally over? There is now ample scope for some big moves in the price of gold in both directions in the coming years. If the crisis in Europe is indeed past its worst and the US economy improves enough to allow... 20th March 2012 · 1 min read
Commodities Focus How does speculation affect commodity prices? Changes in supply and in the demand from consumers can only explain part of the recent swings in commodity prices, with the rest largely due to speculation. What’s more, speculation can affect prices... 8th July 2011 · 1 min read
Commodities Focus What next for commodity prices? Last week’s rout in commodity prices may have been exaggerated by special factors but the falls were mostly consistent with our view of the economic fundamentals. Rather than being in the early stages... 11th May 2011 · 1 min read
