US stocks fell today on the reversal of the de-escalation talks progress between Ukraine and Russia. In Europe, we continue to see impacts of the crisis on the economy as already record-high inflation increases further, with prices in Spain growing by almost 10% in March, confirming the impact of the geopolitical tensions on the bloc. On the economic data front, the US has added 455,000 jobs in March, slightly down from 486,000 from the previous month, but still a robust level historically, another sign that the labour market remains robust. The dollar and the 10yr US Treasury yield both softened after yesterday's declines.
Base metals group reversed on the previous day's momentum, as risk-on sentiment returned to the market today. Aluminium gained ground, edging higher to breach resistance at $3,350/t, however, not enough to offset yesterday's losses, closing at $3,551/t. Copper gains were much more moderate after rebounding from the resistance of $10,500/t to settle into $10,367.50/t. To combat the impact of disruptions in the raw material market, the US is said to encourage domestic production of critical minerals for batteries, including those used in electric vehicles. Nickel and zinc both climbed, as a result, growing by more than 3% to close at $32,893/t and $4,149/t, respectively, at the time of writing.
Oil rebounded from a two-day decline as talks between Russia and Ukraine stalled, with WTI and Brent growing back to $107.69/bl and $113.83/bl. European gas futures surged to record highs, prompting some companies to halt trading for the day. Precious metals were all seen marginally higher.
For more in-depth analysis of base and precious metals, please see our Quarterly Metals report.
All price data is from 30.03.2022 as of 17:30
