During the week of August 26 to 30, 2024, commodities experienced varying levels of performance. Gold saw a slight decline of 0.4%, while Silver dropped more significantly by 3.34%. Copper and Platinum also declined, with Copper decreasing by 0.27% and Platinum by 3.69%. In the energy sector, Brent Oil fell by 2.64% and Crude Oil WTI by 1.58%. Notably, Natural Gas was the only commodity to rise during this period, increasing by 6.13%. Heating Oil experienced a small decrease of 0.6%.
In the agricultural commodities sector, US Coffee C fell by 2.85%, while US Corn increased by 2.56%. US Wheat and London Sugar both saw substantial increases, rising by 4.45% and 4.22%, respectively. US Cotton decreased slightly by 1.3%, and US Cocoa experienced a significant drop of 21.89%, marking the largest decrease among the commodities listed.
As for the closing prices on Friday, Crude Oil WTI closed at $73.65 for the October 2024 contract, and Brent Oil at $76.93 for the November 2024 contract. Gold closed at $2,536.00 for the December 2024 contract, while Silver and Copper closed at $29.245 and $4.219, respectively, both for December 2024 contracts. Platinum closed at $931.2 for the October 2024 contract, and Natural Gas at $2.146 for the October 2024 contract.
The key observations for the week include Natural Gas emerging as the top performer with a rise of 6.13%, while US Cocoa experienced the most significant decline, falling by 21.89%. Energy commodities like Crude Oil WTI and Brent Oil saw modest declines, with Brent Oil slightly outperforming Crude Oil WTI. Precious metals, including Gold, Silver, and Platinum, all experienced declines, with Platinum leading the drop among them. In contrast, agricultural commodities displayed mixed results, with US Wheat and London Sugar showing significant increases, while US Cocoa suffered a sharp decline.
XAUUSD
Gold is $ 30 away from its record high and last week developed a trading range. The short term bullish trend developed a channel. The commodity is still above the most relevant daily moving averages. Weakness would manifest likely below the lower band of the channel, while a breakout above the higher side could trigger a positive leg in unchartered territory. The Stochastic oscillator (which is showing a divergence) is leaving the overbought territory. Most of catalyst action would come from Central banks and geopolitics.
XAGUSD
Silver is making lower highs and is between two major dynamic resistance/support.
The trendline which links lower highs is a relevant resistance and the red line is the 200 day simple moving averages.
Traders and investors should pay attention in case prices would either break above or below these levels.