The trading week kicked off with news that Ireland had sought rescue by its European neighbors as pressure on its stricken banks had continue to increase.
The Reuters Jefferies CRB index ended the week down 1.6 percent with the year to date gain standing at 5.5 percent. Performances among the different commodities were mixed as they tried to recover from the recent corrections that hit across the board.
WTI Crude oil fell through 84.50 early last week as the dollar recovered and stock markets ran into profit taking. Speculation about additional Chinese rate hikes in order to keep inflation under control together with the Irish situation was the trigger for this recent correction. The low from October held with the market settling back into the 80 to 85 dollar range.
WTI Crude oil fell through 84.50 early last week as the dollar recovered and stock markets ran into profit taking. Speculation about additional Chinese rate hikes in order to keep inflation under control together with the Irish situation was the trigger for this recent correction. The low from October held with the market settling back into the 80 to 85 dollar range.
Natural gas which has been range bound for the past few weeks rallied strongly last week as short covering brought about as much colder weather were forecast for the coming couple of weeks. Whether this cold front will continue and ultimately push the price of front month gas out of its 3.75 to 4.25 range remains to be seen.
Gold has recovered gently after the recent 6.7 percent correction while silver has been racing back towards the highs after its 14.7 percent correction. Commentators and analysts are all still very much in favor of the precious metals sector, as a hedge against economic uncertainties. Short term traders and investors will continue to look out for additional dollar strength which could erode some of the support as we move towards year end.
The speculative long positions of both gold and silver were reduced quite significantly as of last Tuesday indicating that much of the buying ahead of QE2 has now been removed. This leaves both metals in a better positioned to move higher as we have seen these past few days.
