Crude oil futures fell a touch on Friday amid continuing international tensions about the shooting down of MH17 and the Israeli invasion of Gaza saw heightened concerns about supply disruptions which in turn kept a floor on prices.
But fear levels eased a touch.
US crude (West Texas Intermediate) oil futures for delivery in August fell 6c to end at $US103.13 a barrel in New York.
That left them up 2.2% for the week, the first weekly gain for a month.
But gold is still up around 9% for the year so far, better than US shares in 2013 and its 28% slump in 2013.
In London, September Brent crude exchange fell 65c to settle at $US107.24 a barrel on Friday.
It ended the week flat (OK, down a cent on the previous week).
Oil prices cooled from Thursday’s rises in the wake of the shooting down of MH17 and the invasion of Gaza.
Comex gold for August delivery fell $US7.50, or 0.6%, to settle at $US1,309.40 an ounce in New York, following the 1.3% gain on Thursday.
That couldn’t stop gold futures prices losing 2.1% for the week in New York.
Comex September silver futures also lost ground after gaining 1.7% on Thursday.
Silver fell 25c, or 1.2%, to $US20.89 an ounce and was down over the week as well.
Comex copper for September delivery dropped 4c to $US3.18 a pound and was also weaker over the week.
But wheat futures for September delivery fell 3.4% on Friday to close at $5.3225 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade.
The price was up 4.7% in the previous four days, including a 2.4% on Thursday.
And cotton is the latest key commodity to suffer price weakness (like the grains and oil seeds complex).
Bloomberg points out that US cotton futures last week extended their longest slump in 55 years.
New York cotton futures fell for an 11th straight week last week, according to Bloomberg, the worst fall since July 1959.
Cotton futures prices settled at 67.74 US cents a pound in New York, close to the lowest in more than two years.
That means world cotton prices are now down 20% so far in 2013, the largest fall of all the commodities in the major indices (which exclude coal and iron ore which have lost more ground, especially iron ore).
The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) latest report contained the explanation – global stocks of the fibre are forecast to rise 5.1% in 2015, up from a smaller forecast made in June as growing conditions around the world improve.
Production in the US, the world’s biggest exporter, is forecast to rise 30% this year, by some private forecasters.
Wheat and cotton are two of our major rural exports.
The futures markets are telling us to expect lower returns for these two in coming months.
