Major commodities suffered one of the sharpest declines of 2011: Gold and silver prices sharply decreased as many attribute the catalyst for this reaction was the recent decision of the FOMC to purchase $400 billion long term securities by the end of June 2012. Crude oil prices followed the sharp falls in the other major commodities and sharply declined as well; natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) also fell yesterday. Here is a summary of the price movements of precious metals and energy commodities for September 22nd:
Precious Metals prices:
Gold price sharply decreased yesterday by 3.67% to $1,741; Silver price plummeted by 9.61% to $40.47. During September, gold prices decreased by 4.9% and silver price lost 12.4% of its value.
The EURO to US Dollar exchange rate also sharply fell yesterday by 0.80% to 1.3464 – i.e. the USD appreciated against the EURO. The USD also appreciated yesterday against other currencies including the AUD and CAD. During September, the EURO to US Dollar declined by 6.30%.
Oil and Gas prices:
WTI spot oil price plummeted yesterday by 6.30% to $80.51 per barrel; Brent oil price also decreased by 3.14% to $107.56 per barrel; during September the WTI spot oil price declined by 9.3% and Brent oil price fell by 7.7%.
Due to these changes, the difference between Brent and WTI sharply inclined to $27.30/bbl.
Natural gas Henry Hub future price (October delivery) slightly declined by 0.8% to $3.70/mmbtu. The Henry Hub spot price also declined by 2.11% to $3.71/mmbtu; the gap between the spot and future price slipped to -$0.01, i.e. backwardation. During September, natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) fell by 6.5%.
A summary of yesterday’s Prices Changes:
The table below includes: closing prices, daily percent change, and change in prices and indexes in USD (except for USD/CAD, in which the change is in Canadian dollar):
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For further reading:
Monthly Analysis and Outlook: