Commodities Rise on Global Risk and Central Bank Rhetoric

Commodities rose to a nine-month high as crude advanced after a government report showed U.S. inventories shrank and amid concern that violence in Iraq will disrupt supplies from OPEC’s second-largest producer.

The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index (SPGSCI) of 24 raw materials increased as much as 0.3 percent to 665.5475, the highest level since Aug. 29. The gauge added 2.4 percent this month and was at 665.3918 by 12:44 p.m. Singapore time today. West Texas Intermediate oil climbed as much as 0.5 percent in New York.

Islamist militants battled Iraq’s military for control of the Baiji oil refinery, the country’s biggest, as President Barack Obama told top U.S. lawmakers that he won’t need additional congressional approval for the options he’s considering in response to the crisis.

“The crude market is telling us the importance of Iraq,” Jonathan Barratt, chief investment officer at Ayers Alliance Securities, said today by phone from Sydney. “The concerns are smoldering and that keeps oil up.”

WTI for July delivery, which expires tomorrow, increased as much as 57 cents to $106.54 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange before trading at $106.51.

Crude stockpiles in the U.S. fell by 579,000 barrels last week, a third consecutive drop, the Energy Information Administration said yesterday.

via Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza