Daily FNArena News - Commodities

It’s been a lacklustre year so far for coal and prices are expected to stay under pressure.

Jonathan Barratt of Barratt’s Bulletin is reducing long gold positions, wary of further falls.

The spot uranium price bounced US$1.25 last week as long awaited larger orders hit a market wallowing up to that point.

Jonathan Barratt of Barratt’s Bulletin suggests the Chinese PMI and Beijing’s moves to cut capacity leave copper vulnerable.

Japanese oil demand, crunching the data in China’s steel sector and the oversupplied iron ore outlook.

In the space of a couple of years, the global rare earth picture has changed substantially. The future balance of supply and demand is a complex and difficult equation to solve, which has ramifications for Australia’s Lynas Corp.

The uranium price has fallen another US$2.00, making it look like sub US$40 prices might be here for a while.

Opportunities in thermal ooal plays are closing, two steel inventory themes play out for iron ore and the copper surplus is seen as increasing.

Goldman takes a look at metal price forecasts, while JP Morgan makes the case for improvement in refined zinc and Macquarie makes observations on the latest Chinese trade data.

The LME’s push to change its warehousing rules, coupled with the Fed’s rethink on US bank commodity trading, suggests the potential for significant base metal price falls.