FxWirePro Commodities Watch (Metals)

Metals form an important part of global commodities. Precious metals serve beyond their traditional usage and as a store of value or as a hedge against inflation. Industrial metals like Zinc are important gauge to determine the global economic activities.

In this FxWirePro commodities watch, we are to present our readers the performance of the various commodities, categorically classified, which are keys to understand the broader global economy. For example, copper is considered as a barometer of global economic activity or gold is considered as a safe haven.

After being the best performer last year after energy, this year it is struggling to make gains. Nevertheless, it remains a much better performer compared to the energy pack.

In this part, we present the metals, both precious and industrial.

• The best performer in the metal pack has been Palladium which rose 12.3 percent, followed by Aluminium (11.5 percent), Lead (10.4 percent), Copper (9 percent), Zinc (7.5 percent), and Gold (6.6 percent).
• The worst performer is Iron ore, which is down 11.9 percent, followed by Platinum (-4.3 percent), Nickel (-3.9 percent), Tin (-3.8 percent), and Silver (-1 percent).

In 2016, the metals as a pack were up more than 28 percent but this year they are up just 3 percent so far. This pack has moved up by 4.3 percent since our last review back in June.

Despite the decline in oil price, metals have been largely successful in holding their grounds.