Commodities Overview: Agricultural commodities struggle
Every week, the commodities overview reviews the latest news from the commodities markets, so you can better understand the variations in the prices of energy, metals and agricultural commodities.
Energy: Oil continued its rebound last week, with a weekly gain of around 3.60%. The sky is clearing for crude prices: lower US inventories, a rebound in fuel demand and hopes of Fed monetary policy easing – a combo that is supporting oil prices. At the same time, the risk premium associated with geopolitical friction is back in the spotlight. These include the growing tensions between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. On the price front, Brent crude is trading higher at around USD 85, while WTI is trading at around USD 81.30.
Metals: In contrast to oil, metals are still under the weather. The compartment cannot count on its main catalyst, Chinese demand, which is moving in fits and starts. The latest Chinese economic data on the country’s manufacturing sector did not provide any additional visibility, as industrial production did rise by 5.6% last month, but this was well below the consensus forecast of +6.2%.A tonne of copper is trading at USD 9858 in London (cash price). In precious metals, the ounce of gold is slowly but surely rising to USD 2330.
Agricultural products: Wheat takes a hard hit, plunging to its annual low on the back of improved crop prospects in the northern hemisphere. A bushel of wheat is trading at around 587 cents (due September 2024), compared with 700 cents at the beginning of the month.
