Despite falls in the prices of most other risky assets, including equities, commodities held up well this week. The prices of equities and commodities tracked each other relatively closely throughout the pandemic, but they have diverged sharply since the start of 2022, with commodities continuing to make gains. However, we expect commodity prices to ease back over the course of the year on the back of slower growth in economic activity and improved supply.
Looking ahead to next week, the main event will be the Fed meeting on Tuesday. We expect the Fed to issue a more hawkish statement, which could well include an explicit hint that the first interest rate hike will come in March. This should weigh on commodity prices, although arguably it is already priced into market expectations. Fed tightening is one of the factors feeding into our forecasts, which we will flesh out in more detail in our forthcoming Commodities Overview, Energy and Metals Outlooks.
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