On Tuesday, crude oil prices increased slightly, continuing their significant gains from the prior day due to the risk of supply disruptions from Iraqi Kurdistan and optimism that the uncertainty in the banking sector has reduced. The arguments escalated last week, causing the Iraqi government to halt oil exports from Kurdistan to Turkey. This action followed a court decision from the International Chamber of Commerce that was in favor of Baghdad in a case against Turkey, which argued that the country should not have allowed the supply of oil from Kurdistan to Ceyhan without the explicit conse ..read more

It was an extremely difficult week for equities in London after far higher than forecast US inflation numbers were released ahead of US open, raising an instant worry over further central bank policies and consumer confidence. US inflation hit a new four-decade high May, which triggered an almost instant sell off on US index futures. These numbers are a worrying trend, and puts further pressure on families as prices to purchase essentials like food, fuel increase dramatically. Investors are very concerned about inflation. This was true even before today’s US CPI number, which hasn’t been helpe ..read more

Friday brought another rise in Oil prices with a gain of around 4%, as record high prices were seen in US Gasoline. Investors are still rightly concerned that supplies will tighten if the EU does indeed go ahead and ban Russian imports. This was the third consecutive weekly increase in Oil prices, and also the highest close since late March. Brent dropped and it’s been a while, around 2 or 3 weeks since the highs. The volatility in oil prices is due to concerns that an EU ban on Russian oil might reduce supplies, but also there are still fears of a new wave of COVID-19 in China and other areas ..read more

Major concerns were raised on Monday on continued demand from China which sent the copper price and main industrial metals sliding yesterday. Covid continues to be a pest in China, with lockdowns in major cities and ports suffering backlogs of unloading ships. After China promised more support to revive an economy which has been ravaged by the virus, some of Monday’s losses were recouped by copper prices. Copper rose to 2.3% in China on Tuesday as the central bank of the country pledged to boost monetary support for the economy, particularly for small businesses that were hard hit by the pande ..read more

Early last week Natural Gas prices headed to highs not seen since 2008 and for a moment hit over $8 per MCF. However, this was to be the high moment with steep declines for the remainder of the week. So what next? What is driving gas prices right now? The EU and Russia are at odds over Putin’s demand that Russia’s “unfriendly” countries, such as the UK and all EU members, pay in rubles for Russian gas. This is due to the fact that there has been an increase in European demand for gas because of the lower wind speeds. Europe is now preparing for a possible halt in Russian gas supply with April ..read more

The Federal Open Market Committee raised the federal funds rate by 0.25 at the conclusion of Wednesday’s two-day policy meeting. This brings the target range from 0.25 to 0.50 percent. This is the latest step in the recovery of the US economy from the pandemic, and it’s the most significant to date to fight the highest levels of inflation in forty years. This is a new aggressive approach towards inflation which will drive borrowing costs to levels that are restricted by 2023. The FOMC endorsed rate increases that would increase the benchmark fed funds rate (which banks use to charge each other ..read more

Spot gold price earlier this week was close to $2075/ounce, but after traders booked their profits, this saw the yellow metal drop below $2000 after it reached this new high. Inflation is hitting highest levels for decades and the outlook is bleak for the short term. Experts in commodity markets believe that the sharp rise of precious metal prices was mainly due to increasing amount of bad news filtering through from Russia-Ukraine conflict. They stated that the general sentiment for gold prices is still positive, and you are probably going to find a lot of support at lower levels. As U.S. Pre ..read more

Oil prices are souring and don’t look to be stopping. As sanctions hit Russia, the second-largest exporter of oil in the world, after its invasion of Ukraine, a global search for crude oil spare barrels is under way. However, don’t be surprised if Saudi Arabia doesn’t step in to help. The kingdom could reduce global oil prices which have risen to their highest point since 2014. There are claims that Saudi Arabia can increase its production by 2,000,000 barrels per day. Saudi Arabia’s government stated Tuesday that it believes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries should continu ..read more

With June CPI data increasing at an unprecedented rate since 2008, inflation concerns are growing due to loose monetary policy and unorthodox stimulus. This has not yet translated into the gold price, which has not reached $1,900 per ounce since late last year. Data from the USA last week suggest Gold could be on the move once again. After the U.S. core PCE price index reached 3.5% in June, it fell to new lows. This was against the consensus forecast of 3.7%. According to data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce Friday, the core PCE price Index was 0.4% higher than the 0.6% expected. T ..read more

Gold prices have seemingly found a comfortable level above $1500 this last week. This comes after a phenomenal rise in late December in anticipation of the USA China trade deal being signed off and the President’s impeachment. This rise continued to accelerate into January when the USA assassinated the Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Worries of conflict often see a flight of money into Gold, and prices certainly responded – with a rise tipping the $1600 mark in the days following. Since then the possibility of conflict between the USA and Iran seems to have calmed somewhat and Gold has pulled ..read more