ETF Securities Commodity Monthly Monitor – Commodities diverge amid political ascendancy

Your reference guide to commodity markets. Includes the latest outlook for each commodity sector and major developments for individual commodities.

The surprise Trump presidential victory had a resounding impact on global markets leading to a wide divergence in the performance of precious and industrial metals. Mr Trump’s policy on infrastructure spending boosted industrial metal prices and we continue to see optimism in futures market positioning. While the ‘risk-on’ sentiment in the wake of Trump’s victory coupled with his more hawkish stance on monetary policy weighed on precious metals. Market expectations for a December rate hike have spiked to 90% pushing up the greenback. Given that the December rate hike is largely priced in, we expect rising inflation and uncertainty surrounding a swathe of European elections to boost gold’s appeal as a safety hedge. Furthermore, we remain unconvinced in the Fed’s ability to keep up with rising inflation which should lead to low/negative real rates. Further policy mistakes will only enhance the popularity of gold in a negative real rate environment.

Energy prices have come under significant pressure this past month as OPEC’s ability to broker a supply cut seems to be fading. Ahead of the OPEC meeting on 30 November, many oil producing countries have increased their oil production, pointing to an uncertain outcome. Meanwhile agricultural prices are likely to come under pressure as a La Niña weather pattern is expected to emerge. As we head in to 2017, uncertainty surrounding the global political landscape and a move towards more populist leaders in the developed world will continue to be a key driver of financial market volatility.

La Niña back in the picture. A La Niña weather pattern is expected to emerge which will provide cooler temperatures during the Southern Hemisphere summer and reduce heat damage for Arabica coffee and corn. Current rains have produced a good flowering of coffee bushes in Brazil, setting up for a good crop this year.

Prices to correct before industrial metals recover. As there haven’t been any fundamental changes over the past month, a surge of optimism from investors and following the US election may explain the recent price rally within industrial metals. We believe this rally is overdone and see an upcoming correction. We are however more positive on the longer run as the complex is on track to end 2016 in deficit for the first time in 10 years.

Energy prices to remain volatile. Oil prices fell close to 15% last month as optimism about OPEC’s ability to broker a supply cut is fading. A flurry of meetings between both OPEC and non-OPEC countries have taken place, but have so far produced little positive results. Growing scepticism about OPEC’s ability to cut production has led to short positions rising 56% in WTI and 39% in the past month.

Stronger dollar and negative sentiment trump precious metals. Gold’s price suffered the sharpest decline as markets switched to ’risk-on’ mode following Trump’s surprise presidential victory. While we expect the trajectory of gold’s price to remain volatile, we view the current dip as a buying opportunity. Robust global car sales figures coupled with tighter emission standards adds scope for further upside for Palladium as its supply deficit continues to next year.

For those of you following the contrarian model we have the following signals;

BUY                       Ticker

BRENT                  

OILB
BRNT
OSB1 (1yr)
OSB2 (2yr)
OSB3 (yep you guessed it, it’s the 3year contract)
PBRT (GBP Hedged)
00XT (EUR Hedged)
LBRT (2x Leverage)
3CRL (if you want 3x leverage, note this is WTI)
Cocoa                   

COCO
LCOC (2x Leverage)

Lean Hogs         

HOGS
HOGF (longer dated)
LLHO (2x leveraged piggies)

SELL                       Ticker
Aluminium          SALU

For more information contact

ETF Securities Research team
ETF Securities (UK) Limited
T +44 (0) 207 448 4336
E info@etfsecurities.com

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