Commodities Update Investor sentiment towards commodities tanks Broad-based weakness saw industrial commodity price indices slip between mid-June and mid-July. The S&P GSCI agriculture index bucked the trend, although it too has eased back recently. What’s more... 22nd July 2015 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update Gold to recover when higher US interest rates priced in We think that sentiment towards gold is now excessively negative. Nonetheless, given the difficulty in valuing an asset that pays no income and the importance of safe-haven demand, which is also... 20th July 2015 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly Commodities struggle as dollar dominates Losers again outweighed winners this week. Oil dropped in anticipation of the easing of sanctions on Iran, although the near-term prospects for prices may depend more on sentiment towards China and... 17th July 2015 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update China’s gold accumulation has further to go Today’s confirmation that China has added to its official holdings of gold since 2009 is not necessarily bullish for prices. This is buying that has already taken place and the increase was (arguably)... 17th July 2015 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Limited scope for further falls in prices Over the past month, precious metal (PM) prices have slumped as the correction in equity prices in China damaged confidence in global commodity markets while investors shrugged off the threat that... 16th July 2015 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response World Gold Official Reserves (May) Global central banks continued to buy gold for diversification purposes in May. Buying was mostly concentrated among emerging markets’ central banks, with Russia once again particularly active. 13th July 2015 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly Ouch! Commodity investors could be forgiven for a huge sigh of relief that this week is over. The combination of the crisis in Greece and – especially – worries about the fallout from the slump in China’s... 10th July 2015 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response US silver imports (Apr.) US silver imports rose sharply in April, suggesting strong appetite from the second biggest consumer. Indeed, the US Mint ran out of coins last week as investors bought on falling prices. However, a... 10th July 2015 · 1 min read
Metals Data Response South Africa’s Mine Production (May) After a strong start to the year, South Africa’s platinum group metals (PGM) production fell substantially in May. This underpins our view that continued power disruptions, coupled with an increased... 9th July 2015 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update What next for silver? The price of silver has been a notable casualty of the sell-off in commodity markets in the last few days. This is in line with the traditional pattern of under-performance by silver when the prices... 8th July 2015 · 1 min read
Precious Metals Update New (lower) forecasts for precious metals prices The prices of precious metals have not responded as we had anticipated to the growing risks of a Greek exit (“Grexit”) from the euro. We are therefore revising our end-year forecasts for gold, silver... 6th July 2015 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Greek "no" leads us to revise our forecasts for oil and gold Commodity markets have largely responded in the ways we had anticipated to the growing risks of “Grexit”. Oil prices in particular have fallen, undermined also by the prospects of a deal with Iran and... 6th July 2015 · 1 min read
Metals Chart Pack Prices struggle as investors stay away A lack of safe-haven flows, despite the crisis in Greece, has left the gold pricevulnerable to the prospect of US interest rate hikes later in the year. Silver hasunderperformed, as is usual when... 3rd July 2015 · 1 min read
Commodities Chart Pack Grains aside, commodities remain in the doldrums The prices of US grains and soybeans jumped in June on weather-related supply fears, but most other commodities are still becalmed – at best. Industrial metals continued to struggle, despite... 1st July 2015 · 1 min read
Metals Watch Weakness in PGM prices should prove temporary Expectations of a strong increase in mine supply,coupled with abundant above-ground stocks,have prompted many analysts to revise down theirforecasts for platinum and palladium prices thisyear and... 29th June 2015 · 1 min read
Commodities Weekly Adverse weather boosts agriculturals The prices of many agricultural commodities rose this week as adverse weather, notably in the US but also in Europe, clouded prospects for forthcoming harvests. Meanwhile, the prices of industrial... 26th June 2015 · 1 min read