Yesterday’s rebound on the US stock exchanges was short-lived, and the markets continued to break lower today ahead of the Fed meeting this week. US consumer confidence dropped for the first time in four months in January, as sentiment surrounding labour conditions and the overall state of the economy soured. Geopolitical tensions in Ukraine continued to intensify, creating volatility in global markets. Meanwhile, the IMF cut the 2022 growth forecast from 4.9% to 4.4%, with the prospects of weaker growth coming from the US and China as well as persistent inflation driving the downgrade.
Activity on the LME was mixed today, with tin, zinc, lead and nickel weakening but aluminium and copper firmed. Nickel on SHFE was limited down overnight, closing at $22,340/t; the cash to 3-month is still in a steep backwardation at $264/t. Copper was bid across CMX, LME, and SHFE today, with the market holding above the moving averages, closing at $9,801/t. Aluminium was bid, trading up to $3,100/t but failed at this level; the metal closed at $3,092/t. Lead and zinc softened, closing at $2,334.50/t and $3,572.50/t, respectively.
European natural gas prices fluctuated as markets weighed on the impacts of rising shipments from Russia and the tensions in Ukraine. Oil futures recovered some of the losses today as markets shifted their focus back to the demand outlook. WTI and Brent traded at $84.63/bl and $87.47/bl. Precious metals were mixed, with gold finding support at $1,845/oz, while silver softened into $23.78/oz.
For more in-depth analysis of base and precious metals, please see our Quarterly Metals report.
All price data is from 25.01.2022 as of 17:30
