Skip to main content

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 last week also supported prices. We expect investor sentiment in commodities markets to continue to improve next year as recent monetary easing feeds through to a pick-up in global economic growth. This should boost the price of oil and most base metals. In contrast, we think that a downturn in the Chinese construction sector will cause the prices of iron ore and steel to fall sharply. We will elaborate on our Key Calls for 2020 in forthcoming Updates. Meanwhile, we have published our company-wide big calls for 2020 on the “Key Themes” section of our website. The next Commodities Weekly Wrap will be published on Friday 3rd January. We wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Become a client to read more

This is premium content that requires an active Capital Economics subscription to view.

Already have an account?

You may already have access to this premium content as part of a paid subscription.

Sign in to read the content in full or get details of how you can access it

Register for free

Sign up for a free account to gain:

  • Unlock additional content
  • Register for Capital Economics events
  • Receive email updates and economist-curated newsletters
  • Request a free trial of our services


Get access