Commodity Blog

Crude oil rose today (though the WTI grade has lost its gains currently) as positive news about the US-China trade conflict improved the traders’ sentiment. Now, market participants wait for supply reports from the American Petroleum Institute and the Energy Information Administration. Analysts predicted that the government data will show a decrease of US oil inventories by 1.4 million barrels last week following the increase by 1.6 million barrels the week before. Contract for delivery of WTI crude oil in September was little changed at $56.18 per barrel as of 18:42 GMT on NYMEX today. Futures for delivery of Brent crude in October edged up 0.38% to $59.97 per barrel on ICE.

Usually gold performs inversely to crude as the precious metal is often used as a safe haven, while oil is considered to be a riskier asset. Yet today that was not the case. Market analysts speculated that investors were hoarding gold due to concerns about possible global economic recession and continuing trade tensions between the United States and China. Also, markets wait for tomorrow’s release of the monetary policy meeting minutes by the Federal Reserve and the speech of Fed Chair Jerome Powell later at Jackson Hole this week. Specialists expect that the speech will set the stage for another interest rate cut in September, which should be very positive for gold. Futures for delivery of gold in December advanced 0.34% to $1,516.70 per troy ounce on COMEX today. Silver for delivery in September climbed 1.18% to $17.14 per ounce.

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