Commodities down in the dumps

Despite a swathe of news that should have been positive, commodity prices struggled to make gains this week as concerns about global growth continue to weigh on sentiment. Even the strong US employment data on Friday failed to lift the mood, although it did prompt a sharp drop in precious metals prices. While we think that slower global growth will indeed depress oil consumption this year, the decision by OPEC+ to extend its 1.2m bpd output cut for another nine months should at least act as a floor under the oil price.