US stocks recouped the previous day’s losses as investors assessed the car price data. User car prices rose once again in September after softening during the summer months, which could exacerbate the CPI figures once again later this month. The dollar rallied, and the 10yr US Treasury yield strengthened to 1.3719%. Meanwhile, UK retail sales fell for a fourth straight month in August, down 0.9% m/m after a 2.8% plunge in July. China injected $14bn into its banking system as it seeks to avert the funding squeeze amid intensifying debt at Evergrande.
Metals on the LME were mostly weaker, only with aluminium and tin edging higher on the day. Copper weakened in the second half of the day but managed to find support around $9,300/t to close at $9,312/t. Nickel shot up to test $20,295/t, as top supplier in Indonesia said it plans to ban or tax exports of semi-processed products used for making stainless steel; the metal later erased those gains and close at $19,358/t. Aluminium and tin were seen higher on the day at $2,885.50/t and $34,140/t, respectively. SGX Iron ore finished the week down by 26% as Chinese still mills dumbed commodity in response to government production curbs, the metal closed at CNY657/mt.
Oil prices softened on signs of rising output from Russian and dollar strength. WTI and Brent softened into $71.80/bl and $75.04/bl. Precious metals were mixed, with gold and silver trading at $1,754.15/oz and $22.52/oz, respectively.
For more in-depth analysis of base and precious metals, please see our Quarterly Metals report.
All price data is from 17.09.2021 as of 17:30
