Major commodities changed direction again and yesterday most of the commodities prices declined. The major announcement came yesterday as the FOMC decided to purchase additional long term securities at $400 billion by the end of June 2012. Gold price slightly declined, while silver price inclined; crude oil prices changed direction and dropped as well; natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) also declined yesterday. Here is a summary of the price movements of precious metals and energy commodities for September 21st:
Precious Metals prices:
Gold price slightly decreased yesterday by 0.06% to $1,808; Silver price on the other hand fell by 1.52% to $40.47. During September, gold prices decreased by 1.3% and silver price lost 3.1% of its value.
The EURO to US Dollar exchange rate also slightly fell yesterday by 0.94% to 1.3573 – i.e. the USD appreciated against the EURO. During September, the EURO to US Dollar declined by 5.54%.
Oil and Gas prices:
WTI spot oil price declined yesterday by 1.15% to $85.75 per barrel; Brent oil price slightly decreased by 0.89% to $111.05 per barrel; during September the WTI spot oil price declined by 3.4% and Brent oil price fell by 4.7%.
Due to these changes, the difference between Brent and WTI nearly didn’t change and settled at $25.30/bbl.
Natural gas Henry Hub future price (October delivery) declined by 1.84% to $3.73/mmbtu. The Henry Hub spot price also declined by 1.04% to $3.79/mmbtu; the gap between the spot and future price slipped to -$0.06, i.e. backwardation. During September, natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) fell by 4.5%.
A summary of yesterday’s Prices Changes:
The table below includes: closing prices, daily percent change, and change in prices and indexes in US dollars (except for USD/CAD, in which the change is in Canadian dollars):
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For further reading:
Monthly Analysis and Outlook: