Commodity Roundup: Oil gains; gold faces weekly loss on stronger dollar

Oil prices edged up on Friday after losses in the prior session as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to visit the Middle East to try and prevent the Israel-Gaza conflict from widening, while as market participants also awaited U.S. December employment data.

Crude oil has gained on the back of the Israel-Hamas conflict. However, lingering worries over demand remain, with data showing pointing to shaky demand for oil products. Citi’s oil price targets for the first, second, third, and fourth quarters are $76, $69, $70, and $68 respectively for WTI (CL1:COM), and $80, $73, $74, and $72 respectively for Ice Brent (CO1:COM).

Meanwhile, gold (XAUUSD:CUR) along with other precious metals like silver, platinum and palladium fell as the dollar held strong. The dollar index (DXY) rose on Friday, heading for its steepest weekly rise since May as traders scaled back expectations of early interest rate cuts this year.

Spot gold (XAUUSD:CUR) was down -0.18% to $2,039.68 by 6 am ET. Analysts would like you to believe the economy could fall into a recession this year, bolstering the potential for more rate cuts. As a result, it should improve the opportunities for reallocation toward “safe haven” assets like GLD, underpinned by lower interest rates, JR Research said in a note.

Among base metals, copper prices edged lower too, as a stronger dollar made greenback priced metals more expensive for other currency holders. Goldman Sachs in a note said, analysts see value in commodities and expect higher prices to be the result of improved cyclical backdrop. Finally, the green metals economy, including EVs, renewables, and grid energy, have driven “surprisingly strong” China demand for metals such as copper (HG1:COM) and aluminum (DJCIIA) last year, it added.

Nickel fell for a fifth straight session yesterday with prices already down more than 3% since the start of the year. The metal was the worst-performing metal on the LME last year with prices falling 45%, ING Commodities said.

Elsewhere among agriculture commodities, soybean futures fell, while wheat and cocoa rose.

Recent Commodity Price Movements

• Energy

  Metals

  Agriculture

  • Corn (C_1:COM) -0.02% to $466.42.
  • Wheat (W_1:COM) +0.62% to $617.33.
  • Soybeans (S_1:COM) -0.22% to $1,259.25.

  Commodity ETFs

  Gold ETFs:

  • SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD)
  • VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX)
  • VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ)
  • iShares Gold Trust ETF (IAU)
  • Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 2X Shares ETF (NUGT)
  • Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS)

  Other Metal ETFs:

  • iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV)
  • Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV)
  • Global X Silver Miners ETF (SIL)
  • U.S. Copper Index Fund, LP ETF (CPER)
  • abrdn Physical Palladium Shares ETF (PALL)

  Oil ETFs:

  • U.S. Oil Fund, LP ETF (USO)
  • Invesco DB Oil Fund ETF (DBO)
  • U.S. 12 Month Oil Fund, LP ETF (USL)
  • U.S. Brent Oil Fund, LP ETF (BNO)
  • U.S. Natural Gas Fund, LP ETF (UNG)
  • U.S. Gasoline Fund, LP ETF (UGA)

  Agriculture ETFs:

  • Invesco DB Agriculture Fund ETF (DBA)
  • Teucrium Soybean ETF (SOYB)
  • Teucrium Wheat ETF (WEAT)
  • Teucrium Corn Fund ETF (CORN)