Commodities fell a second day, heading for the longest weekly losing streak in 11 years, on concern slowdown in China and the U.S., the world’s two biggest economies, will cut demand. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 commodities dropped 2.2 percent by 9:19 a.m. London time, bringing the drop to 0.3 percent this week and the longest weekly losing streak since March 2001. New York oil declined 3 percent and copper in London slumped 2.7 percent. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the Fed will need to assess conditions before deciding if more measures are needed to bolster an economy threatened by Europe’s debt crisis and U.S. fiscal tightening. The Chinese central bank cut its benchmark lending and deposit rates by 25 basis points effective today. The announcement came before China reports inflation, investment and output data this weekend, and may signal the economy is weaker than the government expected. The “markets view the rate cut as a herald of weak macro data over the weekend,� analysts at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) led by Melbourne-based Mark Pervan, said in a report today. Bernanke’s testimony offered very little guidance on the outlook for monetary policy, they said. The interest-rate cut by China, which represents 41 percent of global copper demand, was the first since 2008 after growth slowed for five quarters. Bernanke told Congress the central bank was ready to act should conditions worsen. Oil for July delivery fell to as low as $82.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and last traded at $82.23. Copper for delivery in three months dropped to as low as $7,264.25 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange and last changed hands at $7,288.50. Gold lost as much as 2.1 percent to $1,556.68 an ounce, the lowest intraday level since June 1. To contact the reporter on this story: Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in Singapore at cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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