Weekly Market Recap – October 21, 2022
After six weeks as the British prime minister, Liz Truss resigned her post, making her the shortest-serving PM in the nation’s history. Her plans for tax cuts and deregulation had sent UK financial markets spiraling. Vladimir Putin declared martial law in four annexed Ukrainian territories, and Russia attacked Kyiv with Iranian-made kamikaze drones.
Monthly economic statistics released during the week, compared with the prior month, were as follows: industrial production +0.4% vs. -0.1%, capacity utilization 80.3% vs. 80.1%, building permits 1.56 million vs. 1.54 million, housing starts 1.44 million vs. 1.57 million, existing home sales 4.71 million vs. 4.78 million and leading economic indicators -0.4% vs. 0.0%. Weekly statistics for initial jobless claims fell to 214,000 from 226,000, and continuing unemployment claims were 1.39 million vs. 1.36 million.
Stock markets strengthened throughout the week. The three indices we monitor all regained levels not seen since mid-September. DJIA rose to 31,082.56, a 4.9% increase from the previous Friday. The S&P 500 went out at 3,752.75 (+4.7%), and the NASDAQ Composite ended at 10,859.72 (+5.2%). Volatility subsided as the CBOE VIX eased to 29.69 (-7.3%). In currencies, USD index futures inched lower to 111.980 (-1.1%). The commodity sector, as a whole, also slid a bit (-1.0%), as per the S&P GSCI, which finished at 625.57 at the week’s end.
Most of the metal futures we track in this recap moved higher; only aluminum ticked lower, with the LME price losing 4.3% for the week, dropping $100 to $2,206.00 per metric ton. The settlements and percentage increases of the other five contracts were: gold at $1,656.30 (+0.4%), silver at $19.066 (+5.5%), platinum at $933.90 (+4.4%), palladium at $2,005.50 (+0.4%) and copper at $3.4745 (+1.5%).
On the energy charts, mixed performances were seen among the products we report in this sector. For the week, the final numbers looked like this: NYMEX WTI at $85.05 per barrel (+0.5%), ICE Brent at $93.50 (+2.0%), heating oil at $3.8323 per gallon (-3.7%), RBOB gasoline at $2.6620 (+1.2%), NYMEX natural gas at $4.959 per MMBtu (-23.2%), and ICE Dutch gas at €113.576 per MWh (-20.0%).
In the agricultural futures markets we monitor, the pendulum swing was on the bearish side for two-thirds of the group. The contracts that lost value were: corn at $6.84¼ (-0.8%), wheat at $8.50¾ (-1.0%), coffee at $1.9090 (-2.9%), sugar at 18.38¢ (-2.4%), cocoa at $2,306 (-3.0%) and cotton at 79.13¢ (-4.8%). The gainers were: soybeans at $13.95½ (+0.8%), live cattle at 152.425 (+3.1%) and lean hogs at 89.125 (+8.4%).
Futures Referenced in Market Recap
Exchange | Commodity | Contract Month |
---|---|---|
CME | Live Cattle | December |
CME | Lean Hogs | December |
CBT | Soybeans | November |
CBT | Corn | December |
CBT | Wheat | December |
ICE | Coffee | December |
ICE | Cocoa | December |
ICE | Sugar | March |
ICE | Cotton | December |
ICE | Brent Crude | December |
ICE | Dutch TTF Gas | November |
ICE | USD Index | December |
NYMEX | WTI Crude | December |
NYMEX | ULSD (Heating Oil) | November |
NYMEX | RBOB (Gasoline) | November |
NYMEX | Natural Gas | November |
NYMEX | Platinum | January |
NYMEX | Palladium | December |
COMEX | Gold | December |
COMEX | Silver | December |
COMEX | Copper | December |
LME | Aluminum | 3 Mo. Forward |
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