Natural Gas Daily Fundamental Analysis
Natural gas prices rebounded to the upside on Friday, as hot weather conditions in Ease Coast cities in the United States boosted speculations of rising demand for power-plant fuel to meet rising cooling demand.
Expectations of milder weather conditions early next week should put negative pressure on natural gas prices on Monday, since it will lead to speculations of lower demand for power-plant fuel.
Crude Oil Daily Fundamental Analysis
Crude oil prices dropped back on Friday, as pessimism resurfaced in markets despite an agreement to help Greece with its debt problems, while U.S. lawmakers are yet to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, which casted doubts among traders and pushed crude oil prices lower. Moreover, data from China on Thursday suggested demand is easing, which also contributed to the drop in prices on Friday.
Traders will be focused on the latest developments in the United States regarding the debt ceiling deal, since the economic calendar lacks any major fundamentals from the United States, however, if nothing new is released, we should expect crude oil prices to trade within a limited range and possibly with a downside bias on Monday.
Gold Daily Fundamental Analysis
Gold prices rose on Friday, as despite a European agreement to help Greece with its swelling debt problem, yet investors were still concerned that the European debt crisis will continue to spread across the region, as traders fear more prominent nations in the Euro Zone area will face similar difficulties including Italy and Spain, the Euro Zone’s third and fourth largest economies respectively.
Earlier on Friday optimism was the dominant theme among traders, however, doubts started to resurface again over the outlook of the European debt crisis, while news that U.S. lawmakers are close to agreeing a deal to raise the debt ceiling did little to calm traders, as they continued to target lower yielding and safe assets, which boosted demand on gold, and pushed prices above $1600 an ounce.
Economic fundamentals will be absent from markets on Monday, and accordingly, we shouldn’t expect strong movements, and that means that gold prices will trade within a limited range, albeit with an upside bias, especially if U.S. lawmakers fail to reach an agreement over the weekend, however, an agreement to raise the debt ceiling could send gold prices lower, since demand for safe assets including gold will drop, and that will push gold prices lower.
