Gold Prices Fall Amid Rate Jitters; Copper Steady as China Stimulus Eyed 
US Import price Index (data due for release 14th Jan) probably fell by 1.1% in December, bringing the cumulative slide over H2-2015 to 5.5%. Imported petroleum costs likely tumbled by 8.5%, accounting for three quarters of the decline in the headline measure.
A stronger greenback, coupled with weakness in metals prices, is expected to have shaved-off 0.4% in the non-oil IPI in December, after a 0.3% dip in the previous month. Net of the weakness in petroleum-product costs, the non-oil IPI probably saw the largest decline since the 4.5% falloff recorded during 2001, contracting by 3.8% from a year ago period.
Societe Generale forecasts the overall IPI to fall by 8.0% over the course of 2015, following a 5.6% decline in 2014 and marking the largest calendar-year drop since the 10.1% swoon posted in 2008.
