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Energy, Metals Drag Commodities Lower
The commodities markets are having a tough day. Index futures are down; energy futures are mostly down; metals, precious and otherwise, are down; grains are mostly down; and only lean hogs are up among livestock futures.
In the energy markets, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded down about 2.4% at $51.25, after falling as low as $50.58, and Brent crude traded at $55.62, down more than 1.6%. The drop comes after a report from Platts that OPEC pumped 31.28 million barrels of crude per day in June, up 170,000 barrels a day compared with Platts’ May estimate.
The Platts May total is below the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) estimate of 31.33 million barrels a day. OPEC itself cited secondary sources that put the cartel’s May output at 30.98 million barrels a day. It is questionable if there is any person or entity anywhere that knows exactly how much oil any country produces, but these are the numbers we have. The United States Oil Fund (USO) traded down 2.2%, at $17.33 in a 52-week range of $15.61 to $38.42.
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Gold prices are down about 1.8% and traded at $1,152.60 just before noon on Tuesday. Silver traded down more than 5.7% at $14.85, and copper traded at just below $2.40 a pound, down more than 5.5%. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) traded down 1.2%, at $110.67 in a 52-week range of $109.67 to $129.21.
Among the grains, corn traded down 1.7% at less than $4.20 a bushel, and wheat traded down about 1.8% at $5.85 a bushel. The cash price for live cattle has increased from around $1.50 to $1.53 a pound since the beginning of the month. The Powershares DB Agriculture Fund (DBA) dropped more than 1% to trade at $22.95, in a 52-week range of $21.70 to $27.21.
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