Close: London Session | Forex, Metals, Oil, Agriculture August 25, 2020

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Agriculture

The iPath Series B Bloomberg Coffee Subindex Total Return ETN product (JO) does an excellent job tracking the price of coffee futures. Since the turn of this century, the price of nearby ICE coffee futures has traded from a low of 41.50 cents to a high of $3.0625 per pound. After trading to a low of 96.90 cents per pound on the active month December futures contract on June 15, the price of coffee recovered. A lot more than coffee futures prices contribute to companies’ earnings, but coffee’s cost is a factor.
The lowest price for coffee futures gave way to the highest since mid-2017 at the end of last year. Since Brazil is the world’s leading producer of the Arabica beans, the currency relationship between the Brazilian real and the US dollar also can influence the price of coffee. While employment, rent, and other expenses are significant factors for companies like Starbucks (SBUX) and Dunkin Brands (DNKN), the price of coffee beans is a cost of goods input.
The markup for coffee is substantial, but a dramatic rise in the price of Arabica beans could impact earnings for both companies. The Brazilian real has weakened steadily against the US dollar since 2011, which has weighed on the price of coffee beans. Meanwhile, hedging the coffee price for anything more than a few months into the future is not an easy task for the leading consumers of the beans.

Currencies

The US dollar is mostly lower, with the European currencies outperforming the dollar bloc and yen. In this article, I would like to outline three reasons to short the Australian dollar against the New Zealand dollar (short AUD/NZD). Source: Author via Tradingview The Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund was designed to establish long exposure to futures contracts in the ICE U.S. Dollar Index. In container, dollar chana (44/46 count) ruled at ₹6,900, while dollar chana (58/60 count) fetched ₹6,500 a quintal.
It shows daily closing exchange rates for 1 Australian dollar to 1 New Zealand dollar. Rising AUDNZD means that the Australian dollar is appreciating, while the New Zealand dollar is depreciating. The US dollar traded on both sides of Friday’s range against the Canadian dollar yesterday, but the close was inconclusive. Declining AUDNZD means that the Australian dollar is depreciating, while the New Zealand dollar is appreciating. A shift toward allowing higher inflation – which some market participants expect – would mean lower interest rates for longer and a weaker dollar.
In the years that followed the 2008 financial crisis, the Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund displayed negative performances for an extended period of time.

Metals

Since silver is used in green energy, mainly in solar panels, silver investors bet this news could provide another boost to future physical demand for silver. Source: Author’s calculations Even though gold may have been partly responsible to silver’s bull run, in recent months, silver has outperformed gold. But I suspect it won’t be enough to keep silver outpacing gold, because the EU’s green energy initiative isn’t likely to change much total demand for silver.
In other words, the shift in expectations over higher physical demand for silver in 2016 didn’t maintain silver’s outperformance over gold. While gold has been among the main drivers for lifting silver, other factors – besides those related to monetary policy – may have raised the price of silver. So, this news could have revised market expectations of silver’s future demand and, by doing so, contributing to silver’s recent bull run. Therefore, I think changes in physical demand for silver tend to take the back seat for changes in demand for silver as an investment.
So perhaps, silver tends to outperform gold whenever gold becomes a crowded trade, as in 2011 and early 2016.
less Short term bearish on silver with a sideways, choppy market for next 1-2 months The next significant resistance for silver is $36. Moreover, in the past, the physical demand for silver hasn’t been the main driver of the silver price.

Oil

The cost cuts are the latest by oil and gas producers as oil demand and prices have plunged due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But, keep in mind, with this volatile oil price environment, EVERY oil company’s dividend is at risk. Producers have shut more than 1.5 million barrels per day of Gulf Coast offshore oil production, nearly 14% of the nation’s total output. Source: Concho Q2 2020 Investor Presentation In terms of Concho’s production volumes, 65% is crude oil while natural gas is 35%.
While oil prices have been subdued because more U.S. production is on land, concerns about products are acute, with prices spiking to pre-coronavirus price levels. BEFORE THE BELL Futures for Canadian main stock index rose, following gains in oil prices after Tropical Storms Marco and Laura forced deep U.S. production cuts. So far 82% of oil production has been shut in the Gulf, and major refineries are being closed, taking offline over 1.0 million barrels a day of refining capacity.
The system’s onset has already shut 82% of oil and 57% of natural gas production in the Gulf. Production platforms are the structures located offshore from which oil and natural gas are produced. Oil fluctuated as one of two storm fronts menacing crude production in the U.S. was downgraded.

United States

But since the big tech companies are basically driving the stock market these days, the ironic thing is that their continued success could help hand Trump the election. As long as interest rates remain this low, and as long as the Fed continues with its expansionary policy, shares of quality companies like Apple will continue to rise. By keeping rates low, the Fed is pricing people out of one market and forcing them into another and this is a perfect example of that,” Harrison said.
Investing.com Follow The Fed gained widespread attention beginning in March for its pledge to support the market in every possible way amid the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The Fed gained widespread attention beginning in March for its pledge to support the market in every possible way amid the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic. This Fed-induced inversion in traditional market trends may last for some time, as long as the Fed maintains its low-interest-rate policy.
Still, so long as the Fed keeps its eyes on the stock market, it will be difficult for it to hike rates to pre-Global Financial Crisis levels of 5%. The benefits of a stock market crash that tarnishes Trump’s financial luster would be of unique value to these Deep State camps. What it actually means is the Fed will simply ignore inflation, and won’t hike interest rates if/when the economy is overheating and inflation rises. SolarEdge (NASDAQ:SEDG) also hit new all-time highs this week, up to $230 a share from the $13 per share at which we were buying it four years ago.

China

They touched on intellectual property and access issues, with neither side expressing dissatisfaction, even as Beijing falls behind in meeting its promises to increase purchases of U.S. goods. China Mengniu Dairy scrapped plans to buy Kirin Holdings s Australian beverage unit after being told the deal would likely be blocked amid strained relations between Canberra and Beijing. China s Ministry of Commerce confirmed in a statement Tuesday morning in Beijing that both sides agreed to create conditions to push the deal forward.

Europe

Downing Street has been forced to deny claims that Boris Johnson could quit as prime minister within six months because of ongoing health problems due to coronavirus. It will provide financial assistance, in the form of loans granted from the EU to Member States, of up to EUR100 billion in total. At the same time, the EU bonds are completely backed up by the payments of those countries if necessary. Macroeconomic outlook The economic contraction in Finland due to the corona crisis has been less severe than feared and relatively moderate compared to other EU-countries.
The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned that the continued deadlock makes a post-Brexit trade deal ‘unlikely’.
According to the EU officials, bond issuance will begin in late September and end by June 2021. The EU Recovery Fund is worth EUR750 billion in total. In order to address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union created SURE unemployment insurance scheme and the EU Recovery Fund. The EU trade agreement with Canada (2017) eliminated tariffs on Canadian lobsters. Continued ECB purchases should limit the upward potential in yields for a long time.

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