Commodities Update Is the services sector relevant to commodities? So far, the current global economic downturn has been driven by a marked decline in manufacturing activity, with obvious negative implications for commodities demand and prices. Less intuitively, we... 23rd August 2019 · 2 mins read
Energy Update Brent-WTI price spread to remain low The dramatic narrowing of the spread between the prices of Brent and WTI oil in the last month, reflects a structural change in the market as logistical bottlenecks in the US are being resolved. As... 20th August 2019 · 2 mins read
Commodities Weekly A short-term reprieve, before prices fall further President Trump’s decision to delay the proposed 10% tariff on just over $150bn of Chinese imports gave a lift to most industrial commodity prices this week. That said, any optimism about an improved... 16th August 2019 · 7 mins read
Commodities Weekly Some signs of the dust settling The fall-out from Mr Trump’s threat to levy a 10% tariff on $300bn worth of Chinese imports continued to roil commodity markets this week. The prices of crude oil and most industrial commodities fell... 9th August 2019 · 7 mins read
Energy Watch IMO 2020 demand boost will not spark oil price rally The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set new standards for marine fuel, effective from the start of 2020. The rules have major implications for oil refineries and shipping companies, but... 8th August 2019 · 5 mins read
Commodities Weekly What a difference a day makes … Yesterday’s announcement by President Trump that a 10% tariff is to be levied on $300bn worth of Chinese goods came as a shock after reports of “constructive” trade talks between the US and China... 2nd August 2019 · 7 mins read
Energy Chart Pack More to the weakness in energy prices than trade While President Trump’s latest tariff threat has added yet more fuel to the oil market’s fears about slowing global growth, the continued malaise in the prices of coal and natural gas reflects more... 2nd August 2019 · 6 mins read
Commodities Update Metals in firing line of latest US tariffs Commodity prices plummeted yesterday in a knee-jerk reaction to the news of more US tariffs on Chinese goods. We have argued for some time that the US-China trade war was likely to escalate, and it... 2nd August 2019 · 3 mins read
Commodities Update China’s PMIs still point to weakness ahead China’s official and unofficial PMIs both rose in July, but they remain consistent with a renewed slowdown in economic activity, which will be a key factor weighing on commodity prices later this year... 1st August 2019 · 2 mins read
Commodities Chart Pack Subdued demand to remain a headwind With the exception of the precious metals, most commodity prices drifted lower in July on concerns about soft demand. Given our forecast of slower global economic growth in the second half of this... 31st July 2019 · 7 mins read
Metals Outlook Base metals to see better days in 2020 Recent rallies in metals prices, particularly in precious metals and iron ore, are likely to falter sooner rather than later. Indeed, we expect almost all metals prices to drop in the remainder of... 29th July 2019 · 18 mins read
Commodities Weekly Next week is all talk (and maybe some price action) Commodity prices have largely been treading water, ahead of some major events next week. The Fed will announce its interest rate decision on Wednesday. A 25 basis points rate cut is already priced... 26th July 2019 · 7 mins read
Energy Outlook The big moves are behind us We continue to expect that sluggish growth in global oil consumption will be a factor weighing on oil prices in 2019. Nonetheless, OPEC+ output cuts and the sanctions-related drop in exports from... 26th July 2019 · 18 mins read
Commodities Update Surge in the Baltic Dry Index is an iron ore story The latest rally in the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) has more to do with developments in the iron ore market than trends in world trade. As such, we think that the index will fall back as the iron ore trade... 24th July 2019 · 2 mins read
Commodities Outlook Not out of the woods yet Subdued economic growth will weigh on the prices of most industrial and energy commodities for the remainder of 2019. What’s more, our view that there will be a further escalation in the US-China... 19th July 2019 · 25 mins read
Commodities Weekly Precious metals prices starting to look vulnerable We now expect the Fed to start cutting interest rates at the end of this month. However, we only expect a quarter-point reduction in July and only one further cut this year. While lower US interest... 19th July 2019 · 7 mins read
