The Bloomberg Commodity Index was little changed in early trading this morning as retreating oil prices were offset by mostly firmer industrial and precious metal prices. In New York, NYMEX WTI crude oil futures were down nearly 4% to around $27 per barrel this morning despite media reports that Russia and Saudi Arabia are “very, very close” to a deal on production cuts.
In London, LME 3-mo. copper was trading higher around $4,880/mt this morning, in-line with COMEX copper’s rise to around $2.21 per pound. Gold futures advanced more than 1% early this morning to around $1,665 per troy ounce. In equities trading, stocks advanced at the major European bourses today, with the Stoxx 600 up nearly 3 percent while U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open (markets in mainland China are closed today for the Qingming holiday). In foreign exchange trading, the dollar was little changed in early trading with the euro recently buying $1.08 while the British pound was trading around $1.23.
