Crude Slower than expected growth of the U.S. economy in Q1/2011 as well as a higher than expected Initial claims reading weighed on the price of crude on Thursday. The U.S. Department of Energy said yesterday that the U.S. crude imports dropped by about 20 percent in February. Even though that a seasonal drop in February is common, however even take into account seasonality this year’s decrease looks still unusually. Regarding the Middle East and North Africa news, Reuters said today that a tanker filled with the first major oil shipment from rebel-held east Libya is heading to China after a brief stop in Singapore. Base Metals LME copper has been range-bound between 9300 USD per ton (USD/t) and 9600 USD/t this week. Unlike the precious metals complex, copper erased the most of gains posted after the dovish comments made by Fed’s chairman Bernanke. Meanwhile, aluminium extended previous gains and rallied to a new 32-month high at 2780 USD/t. Regarding the price of the metal in EUR, copper is trading at levels last seen in October 2010. The metal is currently trading approximately 17 percent lower compared to the peak reached in mid February 2011. Let us remind that the LME is closed due to the national holiday today and on Monday. Precious Metals Silver remains far the best performer among precious metals this year. Yesterday, the metal hit a new all-time high at 49.51 USD per troy ounce (USD/toz). Silver gained almost 30 percent in April and on a year-to-date basis is trading about 57 percent higher. Nevertheless, silver would need to reach about 140 USD/toz level in order to hit an all-time high in real terms (see the chart). Meanwhile, gold hit yet another all-time high in sigh of the 1540 USD/toz level.

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