Here we look at markets trying to separate our left hand from our right. We’ve seen copper prices drop above $1.25 over the past three weeks and there have been no signs of strong market growth or stimulus from any direction.
We started to see the US dollar rise after the federal reserves raised interest rates, but we started to see commodities shrink. As we enter the rest of the summer, we don’t expect to hear much more positive news as the federal reserve is scheduled to raise rates again in July, which could cut commodities for another month and a half.
We haven’t seen a drop in steel prices in the last few days, but we’ve seen more rumors that there may be more price drops.
Energy Column – Gas and Oil Prices
Prices don’t fly. Gasoline and diesel prices continue to hit record highs, and market analysts believe there won’t be much relief in sight for the average consumer until 2023. Refining capacity has been the main catalyst for increasing and stabilizing record prices for refined products. There is promising news for next year in the Middle East and Africa in terms of capacity additions that could help bring more gasoline and diesel to currently hungry markets. If more products can be transported to Europe from these capacity additions that come online, Europeans will become less dependent on American gasoline and diesel fuel, and Americans’ consumption will increase.
More movements muttered to try to put the Americans off a bit as the White House filled the pump. The Biden administration is examining the idea of restricting gasoline and diesel exports. But if implemented, this decision could cause much more pain for energy prices in the US. Sure, it sounds good on the surface; Keeping the product in the US so that Americans can consume more for less.
We’re going to have one last piece of news from the White House. Biden wrote a letter to major refineries in the US to start more production and increase their capacity to lower gasoline and diesel prices. We are sure that this nothing but love letter to the great purifiers will not change their minds. They were burned in 2020, when prices were negative and still in shock. It’s clear that it takes much more than a powerfully written letter from President Biden to start changing the ways of big oil.
Non-Ferrous Prices and Market Situation
We saw markets fall again as copper dropped above $0.15 earlier this morning. It just shows that there is more pressure from the outages in China and the different supply chain issues we continue to see. On top of that, they talk about gas and oil prices that are too high and will cause more disruptions on the road.
Some of the things we mentioned in the original paragraph will show you that the potential for the federal reserve to raise interest rates again will negatively impact the copper market as well. If you haven’t sold the material you have, you may want to consider selling it now or sitting on it for the foreseeable future.
Iron Price and Market Condition
While oil prices for diesel and gasoline continue to rise above the scale, we continue to see steel prices reverse. Sunday looks set to continue into the weekend and this could be the new normal for a while for the rest of the summer.
Over the past week, we’ve seen an increase in the national average for catalytic converters of about four dollars per cat. We’ve seen a surge in the platinum and palladium market, which are positive signs, and this indicates that the auto industry may be back online after major supply chain disruptions.
