US stocks continued to fall, with the S&P 500 falling for the second day, as investors assessed the geopolitical outlook. US manufacturing output grew in February as it rebounded from an omicron-driven setback in January. The dollar rallied, and the 10yr US Treasury yield sold off into 1.7%, as investors abandoned the bet on a 50bps rate hike in March. Elsewhere, the UK unexpectedly scaled back on borrowing as households saved up to pay for bills.
Iron ore futures advanced to $149.50/t. Russian steelmaker is another company being hit hard by sanctions by both Europe and Russia, as it is said to suspend sales to Europe, its biggest export market. As expected, aluminium and nickel were the biggest winners today, as both metals gained more than 3% on the day to close at $3,478/t and $25,103/t, respectively. Copper shot up to test $10,050/t, closing near the highs at $10,061/t; cash to 3-month spread weakened into $25.50/t. Lead rallied on the news but fluctuated mostly in the second half of the day to close at $2,409/t.
Oil futures skyrocketed, with WTI jumping by more than 10% to $106/bl as IEA's strategic release of stockpiles failed to quell the concerns surrounding the major shortfall that will be created by Russia. Brent rallied to $106.85/bl. Investors turned to gold as a safe haven once more, pushing the precious metal to trade at $1,934/oz; silver was at $25.20/oz.
For more in-depth analysis of base and precious metals, please see our Quarterly Metals report.
All price data is from 01.03.2022 as of 17:30
