Daily Close | Forex, Metals, Oil, Agriculture July 29, 2020

By 2011, prices skyrocketed, and cocoa went along for the bullish ride. The primary ingredient in chocolate is the cocoa bean. Spring Wheat here is developing under good growing conditions but futures prices closed higher. The iPath Bloomberg Cocoa Subindex Total Return ETN product (NIB) follows the price of cocoa futures higher and lower. Nearby cocoa futures on the Intercontinental Exchange rose to just shy of $3000 per ton in mid-February, the highest price for the soft commodity since August 2016.

One thing that stands out is that if you put your fingers over March and April and block out that historic spike in volatility and a massive surge in demand for dollar liquidity, the dollar is basically just trading in the same range it’s traded in for years. Here’s the one-year performance of the dollar against the euro, yen, Canadian dollar, and British Pound. Much of the recent USD weakness is due to (1) buoyancy in risky “reflation”-sensitive assets, which continue to decouple from challenging economic conditions and recently worsening COVID-19 dynamics; as well as (2) the accelerating EUR rally driven by market participants concerned over missing out on bullish price action post-EU Recovery Fund approval (which however does equate to broad dollar weakness as discussed previously). Ergo, the intent is to reduce upward pressure on the dollar as foreign countries seek dollars to satisfy dollar debt obligations. Kennedy clarified that the state government at the time had offered people to either be vaccinated or pay a five-dollar fine.

Most of the money, as you said, has been going into the gold bullion ETFs, not so much into gold stocks, but gold stocks are a great way to access the gold market. He added that gold ETF has emerged as the best-performing asset and a preferred destination among investors so far this year, delivering an average return of 29 percent with economies around the globe staring at a recession due to the pandemicSimilarly, gold funds of mutual funds have also delivered stupendous annualized return of 70 percent to 47 percent in past one year.

According to the company, if reserves increase the way it foresees it happening with higher gold prices, the company could double its processing rate from 10,000 tons per day to 20,000 tons per day. This is a dirt-cheap valuation for a gold producer that added over $14 million to its balance sheet and should add upwards of $15 million to its balance sheet based on the higher gold price in Q1 2021. In 2020, U.S. Gold updated its economic analysis of the project to adjust for increased gold prices.

“We’re back,” he declared, despite recent volatility in crude oil prices and US production rates, with crude prices hovering around $40 per barrel after hitting nearly $69 per barrel in April 2019. BEFORE THE BELL Futures for Canada’s main stock index rose, supported by higher oil prices as a surprise drop in U.S. crude inventories buoyed hopes for a recovery in demand. The draw in part may be storm influenced in the U.S., yet should be on a path of falling supply in the coming weeks and should continue to keep oil in an upward trend. The API reported that the U.S. gasoline supply increased by 1.144 million barrels and distillate up by 187,000 barrels. Enbridge’s profit was 5% lower than last year as it transported reduced oil volumes after a plunge in demand for gasoline and jet fuel, caused by pandemic-related lockdowns.

Ahead of the trial, markets were mixed overnight, with Asian stocks seeing a varied session as investors fretted about tonight’s US Fed announcement. But Mr. Trump’s resistance likely is reflected in this finding of the Pew survey, according to a summary drafted by the organization: “Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say protesters have been motivated by longstanding concerns about the treatment of black people.” A day after Donald Trump called a Senate Republican Covid-19 relief measure “semi-irrelevant” since Democrats have a laundry list of their own demands, he and his treasury chief did little to raise hopes for another assistance bill. Asked about Mr. McConnell and other Republicans calling for that funding to be removed from any final bill, Mr. Trump said this: “Then Republicans should go back to school and learn.” “This was not briefed up to the president because, in fact, it was not verified,” she said, declining to say what, if anything, Donald Trump might do in retaliation to the Kremlin, if the intelligence is eventually verified.

Direct China-US military conflicts, or even the severance of diplomatic ties, are being discussed more frequently by the mainstream media outlets and scholars, so the danger of military conflicts exists and is growing,” Jin Canrong, associate dean of Renmin University of China’s School of International Studies in Beijing, was cited as saying. Yesterday, Chinese officials reported a new case in Beijing (the capital city’s first case in 3 weeks) that authorities purportedly linked to an outbreak in the northeastern port city of Dalian. Over the past few months, health authorities have moved quickly, imposing lockdown measures, closing schools, and rolling back other freedoms wherever new clusters were discovered be it Beijing, Wuhan, Dalian, Xinjiang, Urumqi, or another city. The report, which no doubt is also intended as a warning, said the unexpected surge of hawkish fervor focused on Beijing out of Washington has only served to make the Chinese defense establishment respond in the same measure. ”
Most of the infections were tallied in Urumqi, the capital of China’s far-western Xinjiang Province, while one case was reported in Beijing.

“I’m afraid you are starting to see in some places the signs of a second wave of the pandemic” – the words of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson when referring to “our European friends” angered many in the old continent, and especially in Spain. The association handed a petition to Downing Street to ask Prime Minister Boris Johnson to allow circuses to reopen E. Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, which re-opened to the public after being closed due to the coronavirus lockdown. People visit Columbia Road Flower Market, London, as it reopens following the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions across England. A member of bar staff wearing PPE in the form of a face mask pours drinks inside The Goldengrove in Stratford AFP via Getty Cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands prior to the League One play-off semi-final match between Portsmouth and Oxford United at Fratton Park. A diver cleans the inside window of the seal tank at Tynemouth Aquarium in North Shields, as it prepares to open on Saturday after further coronavirus lockdown restrictions are lifted in England. Slackliner Sandor Nagy practices on the beach in Boscombe, on the south coast of England AFP via Getty (left to right)
Downing Street cannot say how many coronavirus test results are coming back within 24 hours – one day before Boris Johnson’s deadline for all to be returned that quickly. News > UK > UK Politics Close Wrong to return to ‘what people called austerity’, says PM ahead of major speech The non-binding verdict for EU governments means external borders remain closed to people from most countries for at least two more weeks.