Investors sent crude oil and precious metal prices soaring on Monday on the news from the Middle East. In New York, NYMEX crude oil and gold futures traded as high as $64.72/bbl and $1,590/to yesterday, respectively, but have settled back in early trading this morning.
Reuters reports “Oil prices on Tuesday surrendered some of the gains of recent days as investors reconsidered the likelihood of immediate supply disruptions in the Middle East after the United States killed a top Iranian military commander.” As a result, the major commodity price indexes were down around 0.2% in early trading this morning. After having traded as high as $2.85 per pound in late December, COMEX copper prices have mostly been trading in the $2.78-$2.80 range so far this week. In London, LME 3-mo. aluminum eased to around $1,820 per ton earlier today while LME 3-mo. nickel edged up to around $13,875/mt. In foreign exchange trading the dollar gained ground against most major rivals as the euro softened to around $1.113 while the British pound dipped to $1.311.
