Precious Metals Update Palladium’s blue sky rally to cloud over The price of palladium has surged amid higher demand for the metal from the Chinese auto sector, due to the ‘Blue Sky Protection Plan’, and investor buying. But our in-house demand proxy suggests the... 19th July 2019 · 3 mins read
Commodities Update China’s commodity imports slide further China’s trade data for June painted a fairly downbeat picture of its demand for commodities. Given that we expect the Chinese economy to slow further over the coming months, a pick-up in China’s... 12th July 2019 · 2 mins read
Industrial Metals Update Little to galvanise investors to buy zinc We expect refined zinc output to grow at its fastest pace for nine years in 2019 and this, combined with ailing demand, suggests zinc prices should continue to fall to our end-2019 forecast of $2,300... 12th July 2019 · 3 mins read
Energy Update OPEC+ will not succeed in lowering crude stocks We think that the OPEC+ production cuts will fail to reduce global crude stocks. Instead, we expect soft demand growth and rising global supply, particularly from the US, to push stocks higher in the... 12th July 2019 · 4 mins read
Industrial Metals Update Low exchange stocks not a problem, for now … As demand fears have taken centre stage, persistently low exchange stocks have stayed under the radar. We think this is unlikely to change this year. But in 2020, looser monetary conditions and rising... 11th July 2019 · 4 mins read
Industrial Metals Update The ABC of aluminium restarts We believe that the restarts at Alunorte, Becancour and in China will provide additional downward pressure on the price of aluminium. This, coupled with a weak demand backdrop, means that we expect... 8th July 2019 · 3 mins read
Precious Metals Update Why gold prices have risen too far, too fast In the last month, a slew of events sparked gold’s strongest rally in nearly three years. We have not changed our long-held view that lacklustre global growth and a tumble in equity markets will keep... 5th July 2019 · 3 mins read
Commodities Update Trade truce optimism to prove short-lived In theory, last weekend’s trade truce between the US and China is a positive for commodity prices. But the muted market reaction suggests some scepticism. We tend to agree. In fact, we suspect that... 1st July 2019 · 2 mins read
Commodities Update China PMIs do not bode well for commodity prices Another month of weak PMI readings confirms a renewed slowdown in China’s economy. While optimism surrounding the US-China trade truce is currently buoying commodity prices, we think slower growth in... 1st July 2019 · 2 mins read
Industrial Metals Update Copper not to come a cropper Despite rising trade tensions and soft demand growth, we think that the price of copper will be resilient in the coming months and rally thereafter due to supply constraints. 28th June 2019 · 3 mins read
Precious Metals Update China and India Gold Imports (May) Gold imports in India and China diverged in May, as temporary factors propped up consumer buying in the former, while demand in the latter remained sluggish. But we expect import demand for gold in... 25th June 2019 · 2 mins read
Commodities Update Assessing the risk to oil supply of US-Iran tensions Concerns about a shortfall in global oil supply have resurfaced as a result of the escalation in geopolitical tensions surrounding Iran. But we think there are four key reasons why the risk to supply... 25th June 2019 · 3 mins read
Industrial Metals Update The writing is on the wall for Chinese steel Chinese steel rebar prices have been bolstered recently by surprisingly resilient construction activity, but we expect demand to falter in the coming months and prices to fall sharply. 20th June 2019 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Iron ore over $100 per tonne will prove temporary Iron ore prices have soared on the back of disruptions to supply and strong growth in demand from China’s steel sector. We think that neither will last. Consequently, we expect the price of iron ore... 14th June 2019 · 1 min read
Commodities Update A poor harvest unlikely to boost corn prices further At first glance, the USDA’s latest set of projections appear bullish for the price of corn. However, we think that much of this is already priced in and as such we are not changing our corn price... 12th June 2019 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update US-China trade war prompts cuts to our forecasts We have now factored into our forecasts a ratcheting-up of trade tensions between the US and China over the next year. Given this, we have shaved our projections for the prices of some metals. However... 11th June 2019 · 1 min read
