Daily FNArena News - Commodities

Industry consultant TradeTech left its weekly spot price indicator unchanged at US$74/lb.

Speculators have been driving oil prices and this makes a correction likely short-term but a tight market means prices will remain above US$100 per barrel in 2009 says Westpac.

Surveys of attendees at Barclays Capital’s fourth annual Commodity Investors Conference last week offer some insight into how professional investors are approaching commodity markets.

Barclays Capital suggests a weaker US economy doesn’t mean oil prices should come down as the market is being driven by other fundamentals beyond just the economic health of the US.

A price recovery of spot uranium seems to be in the making now that both industry consultants have raised their weekly price.

On top of this year’s price increases, analysts are looking ahead to more price increases in subsequent years.

GaveKal looks at why commodity prices are soaring but commodity producer share prices are not.

What are the prospects ahead for the forgotten commodity and its associated listed stocks?

Steel producers are passing on higher input costs and steel industry consultant MEPS expects this will see prices move higher through to the middle of the year.

While some arguments suggest it isn’t demand that is driving commodity prices but a weak US dollar SVB shows there has been no re-pricing of commodity costs away from the greenback.