On Monday, commodities prices fell across the board. Energy complex led losses – the front-month contract on Brent (ICE) shrunk by almost 4 USD per barrel (USD/bbl) in the afternoon. The sharp fall in Brent price might be attributed rather to technical than fundamental factors (US officials swiftly denied rumors about Strategic Petroleum Reserves release) and is subject to CFTC investigation.
Meanwhile, ICE released its Commitment of Traders report which showed an increase in net speculative position in Brent futures.
Base MetalsBase metals prices gave up a part of previous gains on Monday and thus followed the rest of risky assets. LME aluminium therefore returned below 2200 USD per ton (USD/t) level whereas copper price fell by about one percent.
Later this week, the market will focus on HSBC Manufacturing PMI Flash index for September. Recall that the latest figures on China’s external trade and industrial output fell short of expectations. On the other hand, lower PMI figure might spur bets on additional monetary stimulus and therefore may reduce the negative impact on prices of both metals.