Commodities rose Wednesday, led by gold, oil, and iron ore as the Fed kept US monetary policy on track and markets ignored the continued rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths in the US and globally.
Gold led the way with Comex futures up for a ninth day in a row on Wednesday to settle at yet another record.
They then moved even higher after the US Federal Reserve reiterated plans to keep interest rates near zero until the economy sees further improvement.
Comex gold for August delivery settled at $US1,953.40 an ounce, up $US8.80, or nearly 0.5%.
In after session trading, it topped $US1,961 an ounce after the Fed’s statement was issued.
Comex September silver added 2 cents, or 0.09%, at $US24.321 an ounce. It edged up to $US24.34 an ounce after the Fed statement.
Silver prices, which settled Monday at their highest since April 2013, are 25% higher year to date, gold is up nearly 30%.
Comex September copper meanwhile edged up by 0.05% to $US2.919 a pound. It rose to $US2.93 a pound in after-hours trading. It’s up nearly 5% year to date but more than 23% in the last three months.
Oil futures ended higher Wednesday after US government data showed a more-than-10-million-barrel weekly decline in crude stocks — the largest so far this year.
The Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday that US crude stocks fell 10.6 million barrels for the week ended July 24, the largest weekly decline since the 11.5 million-barrel fall in late December 2019.
West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery in New York was up 23 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $US41.27 a barrel. It was trading at $US41.32 just ahead of the EIA supply data.
In Europe, September Brent crude the global benchmark, climbed 53 cents, or 1.2%, to close at $US43.75 a barrel.
The EIA data also showed crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub edged up by about 1.3 million barrels for the week, but total oil production was unchanged at 11.1 million barrels a day.
Iron ore prices rose sharply on Wednesday, ending several days of range-bound trading.
The price of 62% Fe fines delivered to northern China jumped $US3.91 or 3.6% a tonne to $US110.57.
