Commodity Blog

Commodities, led by metals, continued their slump. The leaders of the Group of Twenty nations have met in Washington to discuss the economic problems in the world, most importantly the European debt problems. The meeting had some positive effect on currency markets, but commodities didn’t paid attention to it. Perhaps, commodity traders simply don’t believe policy makers have means to prevent the global economy from sliding into a new recession.

The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 commodities slumped 1.3 percent to 599.25 as of 15:47, following the drop to 594.12, the lowest level since December 2. CME Group Inc. (the owner of the COMEX exchange) increased margins on gold, silver and copper futures.

December futures for delivery of gold tumbled as much as $101.90 (5.9 percent) to $1,639.80 per ounce on COMEX, the biggest drop since March 2008. The metal posted the biggest two-day decline since February 1983 — 9.3 percent. Futures for delivery of silver in December slid $6.477 (18 percent) to $30.101 per ounce, the biggest fall since October 1979. December futures for delivery of copper fell $0.2085 (6 percent) to $3.28 a pound. The two-day decline of the metal was 13 percent, the biggest since October 2008.

If you have any questions and comments on the commodities today, use the form below to reply.