The Bloomberg Commodity Index was down around 1% this morning as continued price volatility in the energy markets pulled most of the major commodity indexes lower. In New York trading this morning, NYMEX crude oil futures for June delivery were down more than 17 percent to around $14 per barrel, following last week’s unprecedented turbulence that saw the expiring May contract turn sharply negative for the first time in history.
Harry Tchilinguirian, global oil strategist at BNP Paribas in London, told the Reuters Global Oil Forum that “the shift of open interest away from June will have negative consequences for the liquidity of the contract, potentially leading to greater volatility in its price.” In London, base metal prices were mixed this morning as LME 3-mo. tin jumped as high as $15,500 per ton while 3-mo. copper and aluminum were little changed around $5,190/mt (=$2.354/lb.) and $1,510/mt (=68.5 cents/lb.), respectively. In foreign exchange trading the dollar lost ground against most major trading partners this morning, with the euro buying $1.086 while the greenback was trading at just over 107 Japanese yen. In equities markets, most of the major Asian and European exchanges started the week in positive territory and U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open as policymakers look to reopen their economies.
