Commodities Weekly Resilience of industrial commodity prices reassuring Given the negativity in global equity markets, the relative stability of industrial commodity prices (especially metals) over the last few weeks has been reassuring. Even Brent crude, while slipping... 12th February 2016 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update What, if anything, can copper price arbitrage activity tell us? The recent strength in China’s copper imports has been dismissed by many commentators as a response to an import arbitrage opportunity, rather than as a sign of a pick-up in demand. While the... 11th February 2016 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Low stocks are offering some support to prices Exchange stocks of lead and tin are now at very low levels and total stocks of most metals have fallen since the start of the year. Of course, there may well be unreported stocks but, at face value... 9th February 2016 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update China’s steel slowdown to keep iron ore prices under pressure Iron ore prices have now recovered from December’s lows, close to our end-year forecast. We expect demand from China’s steel sector to disappoint this year, so wouldn’t be surprised to see prices dip... 8th February 2016 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Tin to outperform other base metals this year Tin usage should pick up in 2016, led by a recovery in the global electronics sector. Given constrained supply, the price of tin could rally strongly. 5th February 2016 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly Commodity prices rally on dollar weakness A visitor from Mars might have been confused by the responses of commodity markets to US economic data in the past few days. Prices jumped in dollar terms after the publication on Wednesday of a weak... 5th February 2016 · 1 min read
Metals Chart Pack Some respite for prices in late January The prices of industrial metals fell further in early January, unsettled by a renewed collapse in the crude oil price and by uncertainty surrounding exchange rate policy in China. However, sentiment... 4th February 2016 · 1 min read
Commodities Chart Pack Oil drags commodities lower, but gold shines It was a poor start to the year for commodities with the prices of energy, industrial metals and agricultural commodities all falling owing to persistent concerns about Chinese demand and continued... 1st February 2016 · 1 min read
Commodities Outlook Oil to lead a broad-based recovery Despite the rally in the oil market at the end of January, the big picture over the last few months has of course been one of further sharp falls in the prices of most industrial commodities. What's... 1st February 2016 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly Further rally in oil price may need stronger foundations This week’s big story has, of course, been the rebound in oil prices (to nearly $35pb) on unconfirmed reports that Russia and OPEC may finally be willing to agree coordinated cuts in output. We are... 29th January 2016 · 1 min read
Latin America Data Response Chile Retail Sales, Ind. Prod. & Copper Prod. (Dec.) The weaker-than-expected Chilean activity data for December confirm that the economy slowed in Q4. Our GDP Tracker suggests the economy grew by a lacklustre 2.0% y/y over Q4 as a whole. 29th January 2016 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Another bumper month (and year) for China’s REE exports In December, China’s rare earth (REE) exports were up by nearly 50% m/m – much higher than the 10% m/m average growth seen since the start of 2012. We believe the sharp increase was partly seasonal... 29th January 2016 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Solid Chinese metals imports defy negative sentiment December was the fourth consecutive month of strong Chinese metals imports. Although low prices have probably played a role, we think that robust consumption, driven by increased infrastructure... 26th January 2016 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response Global Steel Production (Dec. & 2015) World Steel Association (WSA) data for December show that global steel output fell in all major producing regions last month. Production was down by 2.8% in 2015 as a whole, with the pace of decline... 25th January 2016 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly Oil prices jump on Saudi comments and US blizzard After another poor start, the prices of industrial commodities ended the week on the up. The main positives were hints of additional monetary policy support from the ECB and the absence of any more... 22nd January 2016 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Zinc prices to benefit from resilient demand In recent weeks, the focus of has been on the supply of metals and whether producers will cut to rebalance the markets. But in the case of zinc, lower supply almost seems inevitable. As such, it will... 21st January 2016 · 1 min read
