Commodities Update Malaysia Monthly Palm Oil Data (Jan.) Data released earlier today by Malaysia’s Palm Oil Board show that palm oil inventories fell sharply m/m in January for the second consecutive month. 10th February 2016 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Low stocks are offering some support to prices Exchange stocks of lead and tin are now at very low levels and total stocks of most metals have fallen since the start of the year. Of course, there may well be unreported stocks but, at face value... 9th February 2016 · 1 min read
EM Markets Chart Pack Emerging markets show (some) resilience Notwithstanding some renewed pressure in recent days, financial markets in the emerging world have held up fairly well in the past month. Indeed, while bonds, equities and currencies have all fallen... 9th February 2016 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Tightening world rice market to give prices a lift With El Niño reducing rice production in key producing and exporting countries, a tighter world market should give the price of Thai rice a lift this year, despite headwinds from weakness in the baht... 8th February 2016 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update China’s steel slowdown to keep iron ore prices under pressure Iron ore prices have now recovered from December’s lows, close to our end-year forecast. We expect demand from China’s steel sector to disappoint this year, so wouldn’t be surprised to see prices dip... 8th February 2016 · 1 min read
Energy Watch Where next for oil? Oil prices have slumped dramatically over the last six months, but have rebounded a little over the last week. In this Energy Watch we focus on the main factors likely to drive prices over the next... 5th February 2016 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Tin to outperform other base metals this year Tin usage should pick up in 2016, led by a recovery in the global electronics sector. Given constrained supply, the price of tin could rally strongly. 5th February 2016 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly Commodity prices rally on dollar weakness A visitor from Mars might have been confused by the responses of commodity markets to US economic data in the past few days. Prices jumped in dollar terms after the publication on Wednesday of a weak... 5th February 2016 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response US silver imports and exports (Nov.) US exports of semi-manufactured silver remained subdued in November, consistent with the weakness of global industrial demand at the time. In contrast, investors continued to buy into falling prices... 5th February 2016 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Be wary of currency-driven swings in commodity prices The dollar prices of many commodities have been boosted this week by declines in the value of the US currency. Any recovery may be good news for producers regardless of the underlying cause... 5th February 2016 · 1 min read
Energy Update Focus on Brent hides greater weakness in OPEC’s prices The recent sharp falls and partial recovery in the price of Brent crude oil have grabbed the headlines. But focusing on Brent (or the traditional US benchmark WTI) alone doesn’t tell the whole story... 5th February 2016 · 1 min read
Energy Watch Is US oil production falling? US oil production has been surprisingly resilient since oil prices collapsed in 2014 as companies have slashed costs and jobs and concentrated on only the most productive sweet spots. In this Energy... 4th February 2016 · 1 min read
Metals Chart Pack Some respite for prices in late January The prices of industrial metals fell further in early January, unsettled by a renewed collapse in the crude oil price and by uncertainty surrounding exchange rate policy in China. However, sentiment... 4th February 2016 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Diverging fortunes kick start agriculturals in 2016 The S&P GSCI Agriculture index has started the new year where it left the last: down, falling by close to 1%. However, the beginning of 2016 has seen a divergence in the performance of the prices of... 4th February 2016 · 1 min read
Metals Chart Pack Gold shines on global woes Precious metals’ performances continued to diverge in January. The prices of gold and silver rallied on the back of safe-haven demand following the recent turmoil in global equity markets. In contrast... 3rd February 2016 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update Why isn’t gold doing even better? The further gains in the price of gold today (to a high of $1,140 per ounce) are consistent with the relatively positive view we have had on the precious metal for some time. However, we are in no... 3rd February 2016 · 1 min read
