Base Metals and Minerals

Broker downgrades hit Wall Street last night before OPEC called oil to US$170 on a weak US dollar. Oil hit US$140. The Dow fell 358.

With the chance the US dollar will weaken further after the Fed left rates on hold ANZ sees scope for some profit taking among commodities this week, though any downside is expected to be limited.

The Fed left the cash rate unchanged, as expected, while suggesting a more hawkish bias. An unchanged Dow belied a 0.6% rise in the broad market and a 1.4% gain in the Nasdaq.

It was another choppy night on Wall Street ahead of tonight’s Fed rate decision. The Dow lost 34 points.

The Dow closed unchanged last night, but it wasn’t all about a quiet market. A strong energy sector was offset by ever more weakness in financials. Gold took a dive.

The Dow fell over 200 points on Friday as quadruple witching evoked significant volume on a weak bias. Oil bounced back over US$2 after Israel pulled it out and showed to Iran.

De-stocking has meant weak Chinese demand for copper but Barclays Capital expects this will soon end and the increased demand will push up the price of the metal.

The price of petrol will be 17% higher in China tomorrow, prompting a US$5 fall in the oil price last night. But the Dow managed only a 34 point rally.

QMastor is a small company doing big things in mining logistics software.

It was a case of oil up, Dow down on the current broken record that is Wall Street. A 130 point fall puts the March lows in sight.