Gold price continued to slide and sharply declined for the second straight business day; silver price remained virtually unchanged; crude oil prices bounced back and inclined; natural gas prices on the other hand changed direction and sharply fell. Here is a summary of the price movements of precious metals and energy commodities for October 18th:
Precious Metals prices:
Gold price decreased by 1.42% and reached $1,652; Silver price, on the other hand remained nearly unchanged with a 0.03% increase to reach $31.83. During October, gold price inclined by 1.9% and silver price increased by 5.8%.
The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate slipped yesterday by 0.11% to 1.3752 – i.e. the USD depreciated against the Euro. Furthermore, the USD depreciated yesterday against other currencies including the AUD and CAD.
Oil and Gas prices:
WTI oil price changed direction and increased yesterday by 2.27% to $88.34 per barrel; Brent oil price slightly inclined by 0.90% to $112.68 per barrel;
Due these changes, the difference between Brent and WTI declined to $24.34/bbl. During October, WTI oil price rose by 7.9%, and Brent oil price increased by 6.9%.
Natural gas Henry Hub future price (November delivery) sharply fell by 3.79% to $3.55/mmbtu. The Henry Hub spot price also sharply decreased by 2.42% to $3.63/mmbtu; the gap between the spot and future price sharply fell to -$0.08/mmbtu, i.e. backwardation.
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):
For further reading:
- Gold & Silver Prices – Daily Outlook October 18
- Oil Prices – Daily Outlook October 18
- Weekly Outlook for October 17-21
Monthly Analysis and Outlook: