European stocks were supported today as investors believe more COVID-19 related stimulus is on its way. The UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has cancelled his Autumn budget and is expected to release new measures to support the UK economy. Euro Area PMIs were mixed today as the Markit manufacturing PMI increased to 53.7 in September, service and composite PMIs fell with services contractionary once again. In the US, equities are weaker so far today as the Fed suggest more stimulus is needed. The dollar has strengthened once again as the index trades back above 94 once again.
Once again the LME was subject to strong selling pressure. Tin was the worst affected as protracted selling pressure triggered a break back through $18,000/t to close at $17,850/t. Copper prices buckled as well this afternoon after holding up this morning. 3-month prices broke below support at $6,700/t and closed at $6,604/t. The cash to 3-month spread has continued to weaken, settling at $12.60/t back. Zinc failed above $2,400/t to close at $2,401.50/t Aluminium continued its decline closing at $1,751.5/t with lead closing at $1,877/t.
Oil markets bucked the commodity trend today, trading higher with Brent and WTI trading at $42.20/bl and $40.35/bl, respectively. Fundamentally we continue to hear reports of more oil being made available for export from either Libya, Venezuela or Iraq which is not conducive to the balance of the market, especially with COVID-19 restrictions increasing. Gold and silver suffered again today, trading at $1,867.84/oz and $23.15/oz at the time of writing.
