Commodity Blog

Archive for September 2nd, 2010

Copper prices jumped today as unexpected growth of pending home sales and improving labor market in the US suggest that demand for the industrial metal may increase. Pending home sales showed a growth by 5.2 percent in July instead of an expected decline. Claims for unemployment benefits fell from 478,000 to 472,000 last week. December futures for copper delivery rose $0.018 (0.5 percent) to $3.4955 per pound as of 13:17 on COMEX.

Gold rallied today on forecast that central banks around the world would keep interest rates at present levels. The European Central Bank decided today to keep the benchmark interest rate at the record low level of 1 percent. The Federal Reserve has kept the US benchmark rate near 0.25 percent since December 2008. December futures for gold delivery gained $5.30 (0.4 percent) to $1,253.40 by 13:46 COMEX.

Latest commodity prices (ICE, NYMEX, CME) as of 18:26 GMT:

Oil (Brent) — $76.85
Gold — $1,251.12
Silver — $19.62
Palladium — $522.00
Platinum — $1,546.28
Copper — $7,646.00
Aluminum — $2,144.00
Nickel — $21,700.00
Zinc — $2,162.00
Cocoa — $2,691.00
Sugar — $20.72
Corn — $433.00
Soybean — $1007.50