After the release of the minutes of the Fed’s July meeting last week, eyes are already on Fed Chairman Jeroen Powell, who will appear at the central bank’s annual meeting in Jackson Hole on Friday, for clues on the road map to the outlook for asset purchases that could cause short-term financial market volatility.
Judging by the collective rally in commodities on the first day of the week, it appears that the expectation is that Given the uncertainty caused by the new outbreak, Mr Powell may not offer a definitive view, but will wait to see how the economic data plays out.
It’s been a brutal week for commodities, with WTI crude futures falling for a fifth straight day and hitting their lowest since May. Industrial metals, including iron ore and copper, which are seen as bellwethers for global economic growth, fell more than 5 percent, and even agricultural commodities such as corn and soybeans were not exempt.
As the rapid spread of the mutant Delta strain raises expectations of its impact on the global economic recovery, investors fear that resumed business activity could be affected and supply chain bottlenecks re-emerge. European and U.S. stock indexes, which had been trading at record highs, fell last week as the Federal Reserve Bank of New Zealand delayed an expected interest rate rise after another domestic case was confirmed for the first time in six months.
The strong dollar also weighed on commodity futures as risk aversion kept money flowing back into the U.S. currency and Treasury bonds, pushing Treasury yields lower while pushing the dollar index against a basket of currencies to near nine-month highs. The dollar’s rally took a break on Monday, with the DXY index losing 0.54 percent against the 93 mark. The COMEX gold December contract rose 1.3% to close at $1,806.30 an ounce, its highest close since Aug. 5. COMEX silver rose 2.3%. In agriculture, U.S. wheat futures rose 1.2 percent, soybeans rose 0.3 percent, and corn futures fell 0.1 percent on expectations of a bumper crop.
As a plug and power cables manufacturer, the price of our power cord products is hard to fall due to the rise of commodity prices again, and will remain high.
Post time: Aug-24-2021