Commodity Tips Free Trial 4 April

“Commodity Tips Free Trial” 4 April

Tuesday morning, we've seen gold and silver surrendering some of their gains. We could see the downward trend continue as participants grow anxious about the release of the FOMC minutes later today and what it might say or imply about the prospects for additional quantitative easing. We don't feel that there will be any major changes to the current stance; however, we would not underestimate the market's capacity to read between the lines, which could see some price reaction.

Copper prices surged higher during Monday afternoon with the metal looking to have broken out of its recent wedging pattern, albeit failing to test its late January highs. After a very quiet start, Tuesday morning was interrupted by a burst of further short covering activity that saw copper briefly trade above $8,800 again, before prices quickly ran out of steam and retraced back towards $8,500 heading into the afternoon.

Nickel has had amazing of a turnaround in its fortunes, with the metal rallying over the past couple of days while others have faltered. With the Indonesian government playing its cards very close to its chest in terms of a potential ban on ore exports. Some participants simply aren't willing to take a risk. Reports of a rush to get nickel ore out of the country ahead of any potential ban have helped boost sentiment, as has a 1,217 mt jump in cancelled. We are still concerned over weak demand however, combined with reports of high levels of refined stocks in China, both bonded and privately held. Nevertheless, nickel does seem to be flavor of the week so far.