Weekly Round-Up: Commodities Show Signs of Life

The commodities market saw some activity this week, triggered by speculations from the U.S. Federal Bank and overseas mining issues.

Gold prices touched a two-week high on Friday, as sluggish growth of the United States economy and concerns that the Fed could scale back its bond-buying program, urged investors to buy gold. The price hit a high of $1,421 an ounce on May 31, a level not seen since May 15. Gold sales have been sporadic over the past several weeks due to speculation of how the Federal Reserve would react with an economy that appeared to be gaining momentum.

Copper received a boost after data showed that April copper production figures were down in Chile year-over-year because of strikes, production line problems and lower ore grades in deposits. The news was in conjunction that some of China’s largest copper smelters have been shut after scrap shortages, causing a drop of copper from China.

“People are underestimating the pace of growth of demand in China; on the copper side of things we think demand is holding pretty well and the tightness in the scrap market in China is also quite notable,” said analyst Dan Smith of Standard Chartered in London to Reuters.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices experienced their largest slide in a month last week after a high-volume set-off that caused prices to drop more than $1 a barrel in 15 minutes. Spot silver prices were up $0.07 to $22.80 an ounce. Silver prices are nearly 25 percent lower than  from last year.