Commodity Roundup: Oil ticks lower as China’s factory output disappoints, gold down

Energy markets fell on Monday at the start of a holiday-shortened week, following the biggest weekly gain for crude oil in nearly two months, as traders assessed the demand situation and factory production data in China, while the escalating crisis in the Red Sea was on the verge of collapse. He watches also.

China's industrial production expanded 5.6% year-on-year in May, below market expectations for a 6% rise and down from 6.7% growth the previous month. Retail sales rose 3.7% in May. The data came on the heels of a survey on Friday that showed US consumer sentiment falling to a seven-month low in June.

“The upward move (in oil) was not completely convincing,” Tamas Varga of BVM Oil Brokerage said about last week’s gains. “More weakness was observed this morning due to the slowdown in Chinese factory activity,” he told Reuters.

The latest attack comes a day after the Iran-backed group attacked another ship in the Red Sea. According to the US Defense Intelligence Agency, container shipping through the Red Sea declined by about 90% from December 2023 to mid-February 2024 as a result of Houthi attacks on ships on the main trade route.

Natural gas prices also fell, after two consecutive weekly declines. According to the latest data, total U.S. oil and gas rigs fell by four rigs to 590 rigs last week, according to Baker Hughes. Natural gas-focused drilling rigs remained flat at 98 rigs, the lowest level since October 2021.

Turning to metals, gold prices fell along with other precious metals as the US dollar stabilized. On the data front, global investors will closely monitor US retail sales data for May and the industrial production report for the same month for evidence of interest rate cuts, after US central bank policymakers lowered their expectations for a rate cut to just one cut this year.

In base metals, China's monthly primary aluminum production rose 7.2% year-on-year to reach a record 3.65 million tons in May, as smelters restored idle capacity. a job mentioned Quoting figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Meanwhile, steel inventories at major Chinese steel mills rose to 16.1 million tons in early June, up 10.4% compared with late May, according to data from the China Iron and Steel Association, ING said. All base metals (except lead) fell during the reporting week.

Recent commodity price movements and a look at some ETFs