The Bloomberg Commodity Index was up 0.27% in early trading this morning amid mostly firmer precious and industrial metals prices. In New York, COMEX gold futures approached $1,410 per troy ounce while copper futures were up 2 cents to around $2.68 per pound.
But NYMEX crude oil futures slipped below $57.50 per barrel this morning after having traded above $60/bbl last week. Reuters reports that “Oil prices steadied on Monday as tensions over Iran's nuclear program were tempered by global economic growth concerns and consequently oil demand.” Whatever that means. In London, LME 3-mo. nickel traded as high as $12,645/mt this morning while 3-mo. copper edged up to around $5,914/mt. In foreign exchange trading, the Financial Times reports that the Turkish lira was down 2 percent this morning “…after Recep Tayyip Erdogan sacked central bank governor Murat Cetinkaya over the weekend,” while the dollar was little changed against most major trading partners.
