The Bloomberg Commodity Index was little changed this morning as surging gold and precious metal prices were offset by mostly flat to lower energy and industrial metal prices.
In early trading in New York this morning, COMEX gold futures surged as high as $1,546 per troy ounce while NYMEX crude oil futures were little changed around $54.60 per barrel. Following last week’s report that Saudi Arabia plans to restrict oil exports in September to stabilize markets, Reuters reports today that “Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday as expectations for major producers to further curtail output offset lingering concerns over global demand and rising U.S. production.” In London, LME 3-mo. nickel was trading around $15,750 per ton this morning after having spiked as high as $16,145/mt (=$7.32/lb.) yesterday, while 3-mo. copper and aluminum futures were down slightly around $5,720/mt and $1,764/mt, respectively. In equity markets, the major exchanges in Asia started today in negative territory, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index down more than 2 percent amid continued protests at the Hong Kong International Airport. In foreign exchange trading, the euro was buying $1.1216 while the British pound hovered around $1.208 in early morning trading.
