US stocks weakened once again on Friday, as continued tensions between Russia and Ukraine drove market sentiment this development. Existing home sales in the US increased to a 1-year high, beating forecasts, as buyers rushed to secure homes before further increases in mortgage rates. The dollar rallied in the second half of the day, and the 10yr US Treasury yield softened. In the UK, retail sales rebounded in January, growing by 1.9%, after a 4% plunge in December when omicron cases reached their peak.
Another day of mixed market performance coming from the LME today, as tensions run high between Ukraine and Russia. The momentum continued from yesterday, with nickel rising further to the highest levels since mid-Jan of $24,200/t to close lower at $24,144/t; cash to 3-month spread tightened even further into $368/t. Copper pierced $10,000/t but struggled above that level to close at $9,956/t. Both zinc and lead reversed some of the previous day gains to close at $3,575.50/t and $2,348.50/t, respectively. Iron ore futures weakness cooled today, with prices finding support at $130/t.
Oil futures closed the week on the back foot for the first time in two months, with WTI and Brent at $91.10/bl and $92.71/bl. Precious metals were mixed; gold and silver traded at $1,896.15/oz and $23.93/oz, respectively.
For more in-depth analysis of base and precious metals, please see our Quarterly Metals report.
All price data is from 18.02.2022 as of 17:30
