Weekly Commodity Podcast With Ravindra Rao | 6th March 2023

Highlights of this week's Commodity Podcast: 1. As February ended, the main theme remained to be inflation that remained sticky for most major economies prompting central banks to remain hawkish 2. Money markets and interest rate futures are now expecting Fed funds terminal rate to rise to 5.5% by September 2023 3. Expectations of rate cuts have also come down, with traders now pricing in less than 15 basis points of rate cuts in 2023, from almost 60 basis points a month ago 4. The Dollar Index closed the week with a 0.7% decline, while it closed the month of February on a positive note with gains of 2.7% 5. Gold prices rebounded from an 8-week low of $1,810.8 per troy ounce and ended week with gains of more than 2% 6. Prospects of higher rates might be a headwind in the short term for precious metals 7. WTI and Brent Crude Oil prices closed the week with 4.5% and 3.2% gains, respectively 8. NYMEX Natural Gas closed the week with 23% gains, buoyed by colder weather projections and higher LNG exports 9. However, gas prices may remain volatile as US stocks remain high 10. Price action might be volatile in the week as the U.S. Labour data and Powell’s testimony before the Congress will be in focus. Non-farm payrolls data will be closely watched to gauge more cues on Fed’s March policy decision