The year of the pandemic put two commodities under the spotlight, but for different reasons. Gold prices hit an all-time high in August, while crude oil slipped into negative for a day in April, when demand crashed and inventories soared. Both oil and gold have seen much volatility this year. Oil prices started 2020 at over $60 a barrel, dipped to the low teens in April – with front-mon... read more

The stimulus stalemate has left lawmakers at odds over how to get more relief to millions of Americans who need it. Earlier this month, Senate Republicans attempted to get a smaller bill through Congress as the standoff between both parties continued. But that relief bill did not include a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks, a measure that both parties had all but signed off on. The b... read more

Gold futures posted a choppy trade last week, but still managed to close higher. The U.S. Dollar and the U.S. Federal Reserve were the primary catalysts behind the two-sided trade. Last week, December Comex gold settled at $1962.10, up $14.20 or +0.73%. Gold prices opened the week flat as investors maintained a cautious approach ahead of the Fed’s monetary policy decisions scheduled f... read more

The next phase of the economic recovery is likely to be driven by commodity-intensive infrastructure investment, analysts have told CNBC, potentially setting the stage for further gains across the industrial space in the coming months. The prediction comes at a time when market participants are closely monitoring the strength of the global economic recovery, as many countries grapple with an... read more

The onset of coronavirus — and the drastic policy response from central banks — has produced an army of companies limping along in the twilight between the living and the dead. A decade of low interest rates had already sustained a rising number of companies that were able to borrow cheaply and amble on with operating profits that fell short of the interest needed to pay their lenders. N... read more

I am going to try something different this morning. So please bear with, and let me know what you think.. I woke up with a headache – from thinking about where markets are going. Markets are very “complex” at the moment. There are a host of conflicting short, medium and long-term dynamics underway – which are happening and interreacting faster and with more impact than many of us... read more

While Wall Street debates if it is time to move on from the Big Short 2.0 (malls) to the Big Short 3.0 (hotels), the broader commercial real estate market continues to implode and nowhere more so than in ground zero of the covid/riot crisis, New York City, where CRE deals have hit a brick wall as the pandemic continues to roil the local economy. According to the Real Estate Board of New York... read more

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 1.37 million in August and the unemployment rate tumbled to 8.4% as the U.S. economy continued to climb its way out of the pandemic downturn. The unemployment rate was by far the lowest since the coronavirus shutdown in March, according to Labor Department figures released Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting growth of 1.32 million and... read more

(Reuters) - San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly on Wednesday urged more government investment in roads, bridges, digital infrastructure, education, climate resiliency and other productivity-boosting infrastructure to help pull the economy from the deep recession brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The role for fiscal policymakers “has never been stronger than it is right... read more

Inflation in the euro area has been below 1% since March, far from the European Central Bank’s target. Eurozone the sinking into a severe recession due to a contraction in demand and supply caused by a coronavirus pandemic will naturally also affect price developments. According to preliminary data published by Statistics Europe on Tuesday, the inflation rate was -0.2 per cent in August... read more