US stocks continued their decline following the sell-off in the bond market. Fed Chair Powell stated that inflationary pressures might persist for longer than expected in its meeting in front of the Senate. US consumer confidence fell for the third straight month in September, down to a 7-month low, as higher prices dampened sentiment. Home prices posted another multi-decade surge in July, up 19.9% y/y. The dollar strengthened for the third day in a row, and the 10yr US Treasury yield consolidated into 1.5218%; the 30yr yield climbed more than 10bps to 2.0590%, both are at June highs. Meanwhile, the profit growth of Chinese industrial firms softened in August as high commodity prices pushed input costs higher and supply chain bottlenecks limited production.
LME metals were mostly higher yesterday, with nickel and copper losing ground during the day. Aluminium strengthened in the second half of the day, testing resistance at $2,946/t before closing at $2,944.50/t. Lead and zinc were marginally stronger, closing at $2,169/t and $3,079/t, respectively. Nickel sold off to test the support level at $18,450/t but struggled below this level for most of the day, closing higher at $18,564/t. Copper lost some ground yesterday, closing at $9,269/t; cash to 3-month spread tightened into $13.10/t.
Oil futures softened on the day after Brent topped $80/bl for the first time since October 2018. WTI and Brent are trading at $74.86/bl and $78.81/bl. Precious metals weakened, with gold and silver edging down to $1,737.12/oz and $22.46/oz.
For more in-depth analysis of base and precious metals, please see our Quarterly Metals report.
All price data is from 28.09.2021 as of 17:30
