Base Metals and Minerals

It was an explosive opening to the second quarter on Wall Street, aided by better economic data and a successful Lehman capital raising. The Dow rose close to 400 points.

Barclays Capital’s latest analysis of seasonal trends shows equity prices traditionally do well in April, the Aussie market especially, while the Kiwi dollar also generally strengthens.

The worst quarter on Wall Street in six years came to a lacklustre end last night, the Dow rising 46 points as commodity prices fell.

Steady demand growth and ongoing supply side issues remain supportive for the copper market and suggest prices in coming years will continue to remain high.

The Dow fell an uninspired 86 points on Friday as the first quarter winds down.

Tech stocks and financials took Wall Street down again last night, as the Dow lost 120 points.

The Dow fell over 100 points on weak data, a weaker dollar, a resurgent oil price, and renewed concerns surrounding Citigroup.

Weekly musings from your editor. Surely if commodities are about to correct, this implies the current market recovery is non-sustainable?

Wall Street shrugged off weak consumer confidence numbers to post only a small fall in the Dow last night.

JP Morgan upped its bid for Bear Stearns to US$10 which, along with some slightly better housing data, helped the Dow add another 187 points.