Most of the major commodity indexes were little changed this morning as firmer energy prices were being offset by softer precious and base metal prices. In New York, NYMEX crude oil futures were trading above $26.50/barrel (+1.3%) and oil prices have been trending higher over the last 2 weeks.
Copper prices advanced last week but started this week on the backfoot, with COMEX futures easing to around $2.37/lb. while in London LME 3-mo. copper slipped to $5,260/mt. On the metals front, Reuters reports today that “China's environment ministry on Monday called on China Minmetals Corp to improve implementation of environmental protection measures and oversight of subsidiaries in a less than glowing report on the state-run metals producer's compliance.” In forex trading, the US Dollar Index was up around 1% this morning with the euro softer at $1.082 while the greenback was buying 107.4 Japanese yen. On Wall Street, stock futures were pointing lower this morning following losses at the major European exchanges.
