Commodities Weekly Markets to remain concerned about China’s demand Industrial commodity prices trod water this week as investors struggled to assess the extent of the economic fallout from COVID-19. That said, the lingering sense of uncertainty put wind in the sails... 21st February 2020 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Sense of calm may not last The prices of most industrial commodity prices rose this week on hopes that the coronavirus is near to its peak and that economic activity in Asia will start to pick up soon. The announcement of... 14th February 2020 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Virus to remain the main driver of prices Having plunged a week earlier, commodity prices stabilised a little towards the end of this week. That said, until we have a clearer steer on the scale and duration of the coronavirus, it is difficult... 7th February 2020 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Coronavirus continues to plague commodities Commodity prices lost ground last week, as the rapid spread of the Wuhan coronavirus has dented China’s near-term growth prospects. Indeed, both oil and base metals prices have fallen 10% from their... 31st January 2020 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Coronavirus highlights fragility of price recovery Fears that the outbreak of a new coronavirus in China could dent demand hit industrial commodity prices hard this week, erasing almost all year-to-date gains. We don’t pretend to be experts on public... 24th January 2020 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Wait and see … The lukewarm market reaction to the signing of the Phase One trade deal between the US and China lends weight to our view that an agreement had already been priced by commodities markets. For our part... 17th January 2020 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Devil in the detail of US-China trade deal Oil prices yo-yoed last week, as US-Iran warmongering faded almost as quickly as it started. Similarly, the price of gold spiked, but ended the week unchanged. Meanwhile, the market reaction to the... 10th January 2020 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly US-Iran tensions to take centre stage Oil prices received a shot in the arm following Friday’s assassination of Qassem Soleimani, a top ranking Iranian general. Regardless of geopolitical events, we expect constrained supply growth and a... 3rd January 2020 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Commodities end the year on a high Most commodity prices rose this week, in part owing to the release of strong Chinese activity data. Lingering optimism following the announcement of a US-China “Phase One” trade deal at the end of... 20th December 2019 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Commodities dodge a bullet Most industrial commodity prices rose this week, as the US and China announced that they had reached a phase-one trade deal. The agreement cancels the tariffs scheduled to come into effect this Sunday... 13th December 2019 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly OPEC still has work to do The announcement that OPEC+ will deepen output cuts by 0.5m bpd in the first quarter of 2020 boosted oil prices this week. While the decision means that the market will be a bit tighter next year than... 6th December 2019 · 8 mins read
Commodities Weekly OPEC+ to roll over, but not deepen, output cuts Commodities prices were little changed this week. Prices were initially boosted by President Trump’s comments that the US and China were in the “final throes” of a trade deal. But they pared their... 29th November 2019 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Commodities still on the sidelines The prices of most industrial commodities traded in a narrow range this week in part owing to stronger-than-expected PMI data from the US and elsewhere. However, the bigger picture is that global... 22nd November 2019 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly It’s still all about trade The prices of industrial commodities tumbled this week amid uncertainty about whether a “Phase One” trade deal between the US and China will be signed and further signs of weakness in China’s... 15th November 2019 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Investors still not convinced … Commodity price moves were surprisingly muted this week considering the news that the “Phase One” trade deal between the US and China may involve the lifting of some of the tariffs already in place... 8th November 2019 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Trade talks remain the key to investor sentiment There were few big moves in commodity prices this week despite some encouraging data out of China and the US, and a 25bp cut in the Fed Funds rate. Admittedly, the economic data were not uniformly... 1st November 2019 · 7 mins read
