Virus to remain the main driver of prices

Having plunged a week earlier, commodity prices stabilised a little towards the end of this week. That said, until we have a clearer steer on the scale and duration of the coronavirus, it is difficult to assess the economic impact or the direction of commodity prices with any confidence. We think that if the virus is brought under control fairly quickly, commodity prices have the potential to rebound strongly. Turning to next week, investors will remain focussed on developments with coronavirus. What’s more, scheduled Chinese economic data releases may be delayed, as was the case with January’s trade data which was due out this morning. Elsewhere, OPEC+ may announce that it is bringing forward its next meeting from March to this month. This would spark hopes of deeper output cuts and could support oil prices.