Weekly Commodity Podcast With Ravindra Rao | 13th Feb 2023

Highlights of this week's Commodity Podcast: - Commodities largely skewed towards consolidated declines in the week gone by owing to reiteration of hawkish stance by the Fed. Prospects of Chinese demand recovery in the coming weeks managed to provide some cushion. - Dollar pulled back from weekly high of 103.8. - This week’s ultra-important CPI print should be the driver for the next leg. - COMEX Gold and Silver traded in a narrow range this week, in line with stronger dollar and higher U.S. treasury yields. - The focus will now shift on the U.S. CPI data for more cues on Fed’s hiking path. - Any uptick in the U.S. inflation might prove further weakness for gold prices and vice versa. - WTI and Brent Crude both rebounded sharply and closed the week with 8% upside. - EIA expects China oil demand to increase by 700,000 bpd this year and by 400,000 bpd in 2024, as the country pivots away from a zero-COVID strategy. - Supply concerns from the devastating earthquake in Turkey and demand optimism as Saudi raising its Official Selling Price (OSP) for Asian buyers has supported oil prices. - LME base metals mostly remained under pressure. - Aluminium slipped below $2500/tonne, weighed down further by a sharp increase in LME stocks which jumped by 105,550 tonnes. - This week, markets’ risk appetite will be largely dependent on the most important economic data point - the U.S. CPI print which could drop crucial hints on whether inflation risks are moderating or not.