US stocks were mixed today as investors weighed on prospects of economic recovery alongside the tightening cycle from central banks. The dollar declined for the first time in four days, and the US 10yr Treasury yield softened. Meanwhile, UK inflation surged unexpectedly to 5.4% y/y in December, the highest level in almost 30 years, putting further pressure on the BOE to hike interest rates again next month. German yield flipped to become positive for the first time since May 2019 as markets are now pricing in a rate hike in September vs October.
Metals prices were on the front foot today as we saw risk appetite across most commodities. We noticed some forward selling in aluminium this morning which was keeping a lid on the market, but this afternoon we saw prices rally to $3,050/t, closing marginally higher at $3,050.50/t. Nickel was the big mover, gaining $1,007/t and breaking $23,000/t to close at $23,154/t. Copper rallied and closed at $9,841.50/t. Tin also pushed higher testing appetite at $43,000/t and closed at $42,650/t.
Oil futures continued to climb, with further upside coming from the IEA report stating that oil demand will return to pre-pandemic levels. WTI and Brent are now at $87.54/bl and $89.05/bl. Precious metals rallied, with gold and silver strengthening to $1,840/oz and $24.11/oz, respectively.
For more in-depth analysis of base and precious metals, please see our Quarterly Metals report.
All price data is from 19.01.2022 as of 17:30