On Monday (24 August), global financial markets suffered heavy losses. Markets started to show weakness earlier this summer, weighed down by concerns about a slowdown of China's economy and fears of economic contagion from a potential Greek exit. On Monday morning, Chinese government efforts to inject liquidity to support the tumbling market failed. China's Shanghai Composite Stock Index closed the trading session with a record 8.5 percent loss, erasing all gains made since the start of the year. European stocks, commodities, and emerging markets were all quick to follow the Shanghai Index's lead.
The free fall was aggravated by investors' "flight to quality" and repositioning of carry-trades for major and liquid currencies like the euro and the yen. Unlike in previous years, the decline of risk assets was accompanied by the growth of such currencies as euro, British pound and Swiss franc and the depreciation of US dollar.
The US S&P 500 Stock Index tumbled 3.94 percent on Monday to close at 1893.2 points, the lowest level since November 2014 and the largest single-day and 5-day decline since 2011. Now the main question is: will the market plunge be short-lived or will the markets continue a longer-term decline?
(15 June 2021) The US natural gas spot price at Henry Hub, Louisiana — the benchmark price reference for the US natural gas market and an important price reference in global gas trading — will average $3.07 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2021, a 51% increase from the 2020 average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The agency attributes this year's price growth to rising liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and increasing domestic natural gas consumption outside of the power sector. In 2022, Henry Hub prices are expected to decrease to...
(9 June 2021) The aluminum price reached the value of $2,534 per metric ton on May 7th of this year, the highest price since the two-year high in April 2018. The consensus forecast for 2021 from three leading sources (the IMF, the World Bank, and Innovation and Science Australia, an advisory board to the Australian government) is $2,072 per metric ton. The rise in aluminum prices is a result of high demand in China and growing concerns that China's new climate policy, which focuses on greenhouse gas emissions reduction, could limit future supply of the metal. In 2020, China...
(28 June 2021) Zinc prices showed 50% growth year-over-year in May 2021, an increase to $2,965 per metric ton from $1,975 in May 2020. The increase followed a two-year decline of 45% from the ten-year high of $3,500 in 2018. The price is currently 11.5% above the 5-year moving average — a figure analysts were not expecting, since zinc demand is declining in the era of COVID-19. Several key supply and demand drivers are playing a role. The upward price drivers are as follows: Disruption of zinc concentrate supplies due to the suspension of large zinc mines as a result of the...
From antiquity to 2015, about 5.4 billion carats of diamonds have been mined from the Earth's surface. While marketing suggests diamonds are rare, production and related sales trends globally suggest otherwise. During the last two decades, global diamond production averaged 134.6 million carats per year, a total production that exceeded what had previously been produced from the first diamond production records through 1993. In addition, despite relatively weak production of 125 million carats in 2014, industry analysts anticipate diamond production will increase to approximately...
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