US stocks paired moderate losses today, with the recent weakness driven by the latest round of sanctions from the US, calling for an end of trade relations with Russia. Next week, the markets are shifting their attention back to domestic policy and whether the Fed is going to follow a similar trajectory that we saw from the ECB next Wednesday. While the markets are still pricing in 6 or 7 rate hikes this year, the timing and the scale of the tightening cycle has been clouded by the uncertainty surrounding the crisis in Ukraine. From the macroeconomic front, US consumer sentiment fell to the lowest level since 2011 in early March, driven in large by growing geopolitical tensions. The dollar strengthened while the 10yr US Treasury yield was broadly unchanged.
Base metals closed what seemed to be the most volatility week, with mixed performance once again on Friday after there were signs of progress in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Overall, the market moves were relatively muted. Aluminium edged higher to test $3,500/t but struggled to break above that level and closed at $3,483/t; cash to 3-month spread weakened into -$27.00/t. Copper was also seen positive, as the metal gained to test the resistance of $10,330/t before closing at $10,183/t. Lead and zinc were both down on the day, closing at $2,325.50/t and $3,815/t, respectively. Nickel trading was closed Friday.
Oil futures closed the week on the back foot after the commodity saw an unprecedented bounds of volatility driven by the impact of sanctions. WTI and Brent strengthened into $109.69/bl and $112.42/bl. Precious metals were mixed.
For more in-depth analysis of base and precious metals, please see our Quarterly Metals report.
All price data is from 11.03.2022 as of 17:30
