Precious Metals Update The future of solar is not paved with silver The solar industry has been the fastest growing source of demand for silver in recent years. While we expect photovoltaic capacity to continue to increase at a fast pace over the next decade, we think... 15th March 2018 · 1 min read
Commodities Update US tariffs unnerve metals markets Commodity prices have rebounded, after slumping in the wake of the global equity sell-off in late January, although they have dipped a bit lately, despite dollar weakness. The agriculture index has... 14th March 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Rising copper stocks point to subdued demand There have been some big jumps in stocks of copper, aluminium and zinc since the start of 2018, but inventories of the other base metals have fallen slightly. Given that we expect demand to soften... 14th March 2018 · 1 min read
Energy Update Growth in LNG demand to come off the boil The liquefied natural gas (LNG) market looks set to remain comfortably supplied this year, particularly as we expect growth in Asian LNG demand to slow. Given that we are also forecasting a fall in... 12th March 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update What do US tariffs mean for steel & aluminium? President Trump’s tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium are likely to be a bigger deal for the price of US steel than aluminium. But US steel prices have already surged, which coupled with higher... 9th March 2018 · 1 min read
Energy Update How could NAFTA talks impact energy commodities? Whilst we do not think that the renegotiation of NAFTA is likely to have a significant impact on demand for most energy commodities, the possibility of more protectionist measures and the subsequent... 8th March 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Lead to remain under pressure Dwindling mine supply and, more recently, strong winter demand for car replacement batteries have given a boost to the price of lead. However, demand is weakening which, coupled with increasing... 8th March 2018 · 1 min read
Commodities Update No need for concern over China’s February imports China’s commodity import volumes fell back sharply in February, but this can probably be explained by the week-long New Year holiday which fell in the middle of the month. The bigger picture is that... 8th March 2018 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Do the NAFTA talks have implications for commodities? If the US were to withdraw from NAFTA, it could lead to downward pressure on US agricultural prices. But the impact on the more industrial commodities, including energy, is likely to be limited. 7th March 2018 · 1 min read
Energy Update How could sanctions on Venezuela impact oil prices? Even if the US imposes sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector we doubt that the impact on oil prices will be substantial. The US has already halved its imports from Caracas with no discernible effect on... 6th March 2018 · 1 min read
Commodities Update What will US tariffs mean for steel prices? President Trump’s announcement of tariffs on steel and aluminium imports was expected. But what is perhaps more surprising is that the tariffs are particularly punitive and threaten to ignite... 2nd March 2018 · 1 min read
Commodities Update China PMIs diverge again China’s unofficial manufacturing PMI edged higher in February, but the official survey reading dropped sharply. The trends in the PMIs are broadly consistent with the recent dip in metals prices. We... 1st March 2018 · 1 min read
Energy Update Oil demand growth to remain strong in 2018 Global oil demand looks set to grow strongly again this year driven by accelerating economic growth in the US, Europe and India. However, a sharp slowdown in China’s economic growth will limit the... 27th February 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Rising supply should boost stocks in 2018 Stocks of copper and aluminium have risen strongly since the start of 2018, but inventories of the other base metals have fallen. Supply was tight in the smaller markets last year, but it is now... 23rd February 2018 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Is the fall in the Baltic Dry Index cause for concern? The recent slump in the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) may mean that demand for bulk commodities has softened, with negative implications for prices. But the relationship is far from straightforward. Indeed... 22nd February 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Investors become less positive on metals There are early signs that investor sentiment in the metals markets is deteriorating, although more so for industrial metals than precious. Some of the technical indicators that we monitor have... 22nd February 2018 · 1 min read
