Market Report

Friday Report: Feb. 29, 2008
It's Friday morning and the LME is off a bit from late-Thursday...nickel, however, continues to firm (it traded at a three-month high)...London gold was last indicated @ $968/$969 – it's firm...and in New York this morning, Comex copper is expected to open two cents lower... yesterday, the May contract closed up @ $3.8780, with a high of $3.9105...April crude oil finished at a record $102.59...and speaking of oil, we note that Barclays Capital is now forecasting crude to average $97.70/ bbl this year, that's up from an earlier forecast of $87.40...last year's average, by the way, was figured @ $72.30...so far this year, crude oil is up some 15%...

Friday Report: Feb. 22, 2008
This morning, the LME has scaled back some on profit taking...precious metals were mixed: London gold was last indicated @ $945.70/$946.50...platinum was trading at $2,145/$2,155 – it hit a record high of $2,192 earlier...in New York this a.m., Comex copper is expected to open several cents lower...yesterday, the May contract closed @ $3.8220, up more than 10 cents on the day with prices visiting a level last seen at end-May 2006 (!) What a week...

Friday Report: Feb. 15, 2008
This morning (Friday) the LME was mostly higher (ex-nickel and tin)...aluminum continues to draw strength from fears of reduced supply owing to power shortages in South Africa and China...prices were holding above the $2,800 level at mid-day...South Africa's state utility is considering a complete power supply buy-back from both of the country's aluminum smelters plus one in Mozambique for the balance of 2008, which could remove around 1.5 mmt of aluminum from the global market...zinc, meanwhile, continues to feel the weight of deliveries into LME warehouses...

Monday Report: Feb. 11, 2008
LME base and precious metals were all trading higher at mid-day...3-mos. LME copper, benefiting from lower inventories and last week's upward momentum, traded to a 3 1/2-month high...lead was also firm, trading above $3,000/mt...in the precious metals arena, platinum hit a record $1,915/oz...London gold was also firmer, last indicated @ $923.90/$924.80...