For the week ending 29 May, a muscular United States dollar and spiking yields triggered a broad paper liquidation. The week’s standout developments were London aluminium soaring to a four-year high on physical delivery squeezes, and a sharp precious metals correction following an inconclusive Trump-Xi Beijing summit.
Gold
The yellow metal remained under pressure as macro traders adjusted to the implications of an extended restrictive monetary regime.
Bullion's near-term momentum has been dulled by hawkish Federal Reserve repricing alongside a sharp climb in the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield.
Institutional desks recently lowered their annual price forecasts due to a temporary slowdown in investor client interest.
However, long-term support persists as emerging market central banks continue to accumulate physical bars for reserve diversification.
Price: US$4,552.26/oz
Silver
Silver values dipped significantly, tracking the broader liquidation sweeping through safe-haven assets.
The prompt tape was heavily impacted by macroeconomic changes following the trade summit in Beijing, given that more than half of global silver output is tied to industrial supply chains.
Long-cycle buyers are noting that the silver-to-Dow ratio stands at a highly compressed historical entry point compared to overvalued equities.
On the manufacturing front, solar cell producers are cutting back on procurement as factories accelerate technology modifications to reduce the volume of precious metal required per cell.
Price: US$75.97/oz
Crude Oil
Crude contracts hovered around a stable baseline as physical market tightness balanced out the cooling global economic outlook.
Official baseline figures show Brent crude settled close to its monthly average, reflecting how the shocks of March and April have structurally altered trade prices.
Upstream producers like Chevron and ExxonMobil are sustaining elevated production volumes to fill the gaps created by ongoing Middle East shipping diversions.
A sharp reduction in global product inventories is keeping a firm floor under near-term spot barrels despite the broader macro sell-off.
Price: Brent US$98.50/bbl; WTI US$94.41/bbl
Natural Gas
Henry Hub futures established a firm upward trajectory after breaking through critical overhead technical resistance.
The front-month contract successfully pushed above its standard trading band as positive speculative flows returned to the gas complex.
Production data indicates that new pipeline takeaway capacity in the Permian basin is supporting mid-year volume growth.
Investment banks expect structural supply constraints to support significantly higher prices during the upcoming peak summer cooling season.
Price: US$3.15/MMBtu
LNG
The international LNG trade remains highly volatile as Asian utilities pay a significant premium to guarantee non-Gulf energy security.
Qatar's massive Ras Laffan export complex remains entirely offline, removing roughly 20 per cent of global transport liquidity from the physical market.
This disruption has forced a complete rewrite of tanker logistics, with shippers facing higher fuel expenses as vessels reroute around Africa.
Producers like Shell are aggressively shifting their portfolios toward Atlantic basin cargoes to shield downstream buyers from the ongoing Persian Gulf blockade.
Price: US$24.00/MMBtu
Coal
Seaborne thermal coal prices held steady near multi-month highs due to robust baseline power generation requirements across developing Asian networks.
A sharp drop in Indonesian export volumes has tightened regional availability, forcing price-sensitive buyers in India to look for alternative cargoes.
Operational margins for western exporters remain highly volatile, with Russian rail shipments to northern ports recording double-digit declines.
Major suppliers, including BHP, are capturing steady margins as utilities execute wide-scale gas-to-coal fuel switching to bypass expensive LNG spot rates.
Price: US$133.90/t
Copper
Copper prices consolidated within a tight band after experiencing an extraordinary multi-month run that set fresh historical benchmarks.
The COMEX contract pulled back slightly after hitting an all-time intraday record of $6.71 per pound earlier in the month.
Analysts confirmed that ongoing force majeure events at core global assets have wiped out significant chunks of global mine supply.
This supply-side crisis has pushed the physical refined balance into a deep structural deficit, overriding near-term anxieties regarding macro demand destruction.
Price: US$13,078/t
Lithium
The lithium carbonate complex is demonstrating a clear price recovery after working through the prolonged inventory overhang of the past year.
Spot values in Northeast Asia gained ground as downstream battery cathode manufacturers stepped up procurement activity to match rising electric vehicle assembly targets.
Senior executives from SQM, the world's second-largest supplier, expect prices to stabilise, noting that the Middle East supply shocks are actively steering consumers toward electric vehicles.
Meantime, hard-rock developers in Western Australia are restricting capital expenditure to protect margins, leaving higher-cost brine assets exposed.
Price: US$23,114/t
Iron ore
Iron ore prices recorded a minor pullback at Chinese ports as weekly pick-up volumes slowed down before the weekend.
The benchmark contract traded lower on regional exchanges, tracking a temporary slowdown in domestic steel mill processing rates.
On the supply side, near-term volatility has smoothed out following the resolution of industrial contract friction between BHP and the China Mineral Resources Group.
However, major miners like Rio Tinto and Fortescue face long-term headwinds as the massive Simandou development in West Africa prepares to add low-cost tonnage to the seaborne trade.
Price: US$107.86/t
Nickel
The nickel tape remained heavily constrained by a persistent global inventory overhang on the London Metal Exchange.
Total LME warehouse stocks hovered near historical highs, effectively neutralising recent production cut signals out of Jakarta.
Upstream refiners, including Glencore, are experiencing compressed margins due to elevated diesel and processing input costs.
Western operators continue to push for green premium pricing structures, though low-cost Indonesian supply continues to dictate the broader physical floor.
Price: US$18,875/t
Aluminium
Aluminium was the standout performer of the industrial complex, with spot cash contracts hitting fresh four-year highs.
Heavy purchasing activity pushed the LME spot market into a sharp backwardation structure against a cheaper three-month forward contract.
A 6.38 per cent spike in cancelled warrants indicates that physical material is being pulled from warehouses at an accelerated pace to cover supply gaps.
Smelters like Alcoa are maximising output to capture record regional premiums while raw material alumina costs remain flat at US$306.75/t.
Price: US$3,769.50/t
Uranium
Yellowcake spot contracts consolidated slightly below recent peaks, mirroring a temporary softening in broader financial risk sentiment.
The prompt price drifted lower, though the underlying long-term contract price remains locked at a 14-year high of US$90/lb.
Traditional electricity utilities are facing severe under-contracting dilemmas as technology giants aggressively secure dedicated nuclear capacity for data centres.
Producers like Cameco and Paladin Energy are holding back material from the spot market, prioritising higher-value, multi-year corporate power agreements.
Price: US$85.05/lb
