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Commodities rose Friday in anticipation of the US jobs report for December 2013.
A strong jobs report may mean further easing of the Fed’s bond-buying stimulus, a move that has convinced investors to put money in equities rather than commodities. “We are seeing some position-squaring ahead of the nonfarm payrolls report, which really is the main driver for gold right now,” a precious metals trader based in Hong Kong told Reuters.
Silver rose $0.15, or 0.77 percent, to $19.69 per ounce today, influenced by the same market forces that prompted the rise in gold, as per Reuters.
Copper rose 1.1 percent, or $80.256, to $7,296.00 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange today. Investors generally believe the economy is improving overall, Reuters notes, and that is influencing copper prices. Meanwhile, copper for March delivery on the COMEX in New York rose $0.036, to $3.335 per pound, reported The Wall Street Journal. The rise was prompted by increased Chinese imports and a declining global inventory of the metal, FX Empire states. The Chinese government reported that copper imports rose 29 percent in December year over year.
Brent crude oil rose $0.26, to $106.65 a barrel, after a volatile session on Thursday. This rise was influenced by concerns about North African oil supply, according to Reuters. Traders in the energy and petroleum space are also eagerly awaiting the US jobs report. “It is very much a double-edged sword,” Ben LeBrun, market analyst at OptionsXpress in Sydney, told Reuters. “A positive jobs report will be supportive for oil prices, but then that could bring forward tapering. It’s very very hard to preempt.”
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