Metals Watch Platinum ETF holdings to increase to record high In stark contrast to recent years, investors have been drawn to platinum so far in 2019. As a result, ETF holdings have risen by more than a sixth in just two months and are rapidly approaching the... 12th March 2019 · 1 min read
Commodities Update High global stocks to weigh on wheat and corn prices Elevated levels of global end-stocks have prompted us to review our price forecasts. We have downgraded our end-2019 corn price forecast but left the price outlook for wheat and soybean unchanged for... 12th March 2019 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly All the signs point to weaker demand After a relatively quiet week, the prices of most commodities took a tumble on Friday afternoon following the release of weak US February employment data. A rise of just 20,000 in non-farm payrolls... 8th March 2019 · 1 min read
Commodities Update China’s trade not all bad news for commodities China’s imports and exports dropped sharply in February. Admittedly, some of the plunge can be explained by the shift in timing of the Lunar New Year holiday, but we expect trade to remain weak in the... 8th March 2019 · 1 min read
Energy Watch The relationship between oil prices, rigs and output Theoretically, there should be a relationship between the price of oil, the number of oil rigs actively drilling and oil production. However, the relationship appears to have broken down in the past... 7th March 2019 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Trade deal will not prevent prices falling Industrial metals prices have risen robustly this year, but we think that the rally is running out of steam. Even if a US - China trade agreement is reached, a slowdown in global growth and an... 7th March 2019 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Inflation to remain low, rates cuts coming Inflation across Emerging Asia has fallen back sharply in recent months and is likely to remain low over the coming quarters. With growth also set to slow, we expect some central banks to start... 7th March 2019 · 1 min read
Energy Data Response US Weekly Petroleum Status Report US crude stocks jumped, largely owing to an increase in net imports. In contrast, product stocks fell, which is partly a seasonal phenomenon but does suggest that US consumer demand is holding up well... 6th March 2019 · 1 min read
Energy Chart Pack Boost to oil from lower supply unlikely to last The price of oil continued to climb in February as the US and China inched towards a trade deal, and Saudi Arabia announced that it would cut output further. However, we still think that prices will... 6th March 2019 · 1 min read
Global Economics Chart Pack Early hard data bode ill for Q1 World GDP growth was little changed at 3.1% annualised in Q4 as the euro-zone posted another modest expansion, US growth slowed from a strong pace and a pick-up in Japanese GDP offset part of Q3’s... 6th March 2019 · 1 min read
Metals Chart Pack Risk appetite likely to fade Increasing signs of a US-China trade deal prompted a return of risk appetite and led to the prices of many industrial metals hitting multi-month highs and a sell-off in gold and silver. However, even... 6th March 2019 · 1 min read
Commodities Update China’s unrealistic pledges to import US commodities There has been a surprisingly muted reaction in commodity markets to the latest reports that China and the US are close to a trade deal. We think this reflects a combination of the fact that much of... 5th March 2019 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Update Oil rebound won’t prevent drop in energy investment The negative outlook for oil prices, together with Canadian oil firms’ high debt levels, regulatory uncertainty and capacity constraints, suggest that energy investment will fall this year. 5th March 2019 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly China stimulus likely to drive prices Next week, commodity markets will be closely watching the annual meeting of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, hoping for additional fiscal stimulus. The government’s Work Report and... 1st March 2019 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update Gold still set to shine Despite having risen by over a tenth in the past six months, we believe that the upswing in the gold price has further to run. Our forecast of falling equity prices this year suggests strong demand... 1st March 2019 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Improvement in China’s PMI unlikely to last The latest pick-up in the unofficial PMI data does not change our expectation of a slowdown in China’s economy, which underpins our forecast of mostly weaker commodity prices, especially industrial... 1st March 2019 · 1 min read