February 4, 2013

After posting solid gains last week, most markets got off to a shaky start today. The DJ-UBS Commodity Futures Index dropped more than 0.25% and the major U.S. stock indexes were all in negative territory this afternoon following earlier losses in Europe as renewed concerns about Spain helped to push the Euro below $1.353. In London, most LME base metal prices were lower this morning including LME official 3-mo. asking prices for copper ($8,265/mt = $3.749/lb.) and aluminum ($2,118/mt = 96.1 cents/lb.) although metals prices were mixed in PM trading. Of note, Fastmarkets reports today that the LME took in 514,215 more tons of metal into its warehouses last year than what it delivered out. In New York, COMEX Mar copper reportedly traded as high as $3.7925/lb. today before easing back to $3.77/lb. Crude oil futures fell below $97/bbl while COMEX gold for April delivery firmed to $1,675/to. On Wall Street, the Dow Industrials were off by more than 100 points in early afternoon trading following last Friday’s first close above 14,000 since 2007 while the yield on 10-year Treasury notes eased to 1.97%.