US stocks rose despite conflicting tweets made by President Trump today. The messages ranged from decisions to halt stimulus talks until after the election to calling for support for the Paycheck Protection Programme. The dollar weakened out to 93.647 ahead of the Fed official comment later tonight, and the yield on 10yr US Treasuries strengthened to 0.7668%. Meanwhile, the EU is close to a deal to obtain more of the remdesivir treatment. In the UK, Brexit negotiations are under threat as talks are at the risk of a collapse if there is no deal next week. UK house prices jumped the most since 2016 in September on resurging demand.
LME metal prices were on the front foot today, apart from tin, which closed lower on the day at $18,110/t. Aluminium prices were well supported and tested resistance at $1,793/t to close below at $1,783.50/t. Copper was well bid in the second half of the day, testing the resistance level of $6,700/t, before closing just off the day’s high at $6,679/t. Nickel prices remained supported above $14,600/t for most of the day, closed at $14,604/t; the cash to 3-month spread widened out into -$45.00/t. Zinc and lead edged higher today, closing on the front foot at $2,357/t and $1,802.50/t respectively. Iron ore advanced today as markets assess Chinese demand ahead of the market reopening on Friday.
Oil futures fell as crude inventories rose, with WTI and Brent falling down to $39.58/bl and $41.64/bl respectively. Precious metals performance improved on dollar decline; at the time of writing, gold and silver trade at $1,883.49/oz and $23.65/oz.
