Major commodities prices changed direction and rallied yesterday: Gold and silver prices sharply inclined; Crude oil prices also sharply rose; even natural gas (Henry Hub) prices changed direction and rallied yesterday. Major currencies such as the Euro and Australian dollar also shifted and appreciated against the U.S dollar. Here is a summary of the price developments of precious metals and energy commodities for December 20th:
Precious Metals Prices:
Gold price sharply increased on Tuesday by 1.31% and reached $1,617.60; Silver price also increased by 2.29% to reach $29.54. During December, gold price declined by 7.6%, and silver price by 9.96%.
The Euro bounced back as well and appreciated again against the US dollar by 0.65% to 1.3083. The U.S Dollar also sharply depreciated against other currencies such as the Australian dollar.
Oil and Gas Prices:
WTI oil price sharply inclined yesterday by 3.56% to $97.22 per barrel; Brent oil price also inclined by 3.16% to $107.63 per barrel;
Due to these changes, the gap between Brent oil price and WTI oil prices slightly shrunk to $10.40/bbl. During the month, WTI oil price declined by 3.1%, and Brent oil price by 3.3%.
Natural gas Henry Hub future price (January delivery) rose yesterday by 0.65% to $3.12/mmbtu. The Henry Hub spot price also recovered from the recent downward trend and increased by 1.66% to $3.07/mmbtu; the difference between the spot and future price slightly declined to $0.05, i.e. Contango.
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:
Weekly Analysis and Outlook: