Analys

Metals rallied ahead of spot fundamentals, but better times are indeed ahead

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9 månader sedan

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8 juni, 2024

Industrial metals rallied close to 25% from 1 Dec-2023 to 20 May-2024 as marginal optimism replaced recession fears. But prices have pulled back a bit since then as economic growth optimism has run ahead of spot fundamentals. Industrial metals prices rallied close to 25% from 1 Dec-2023 to 20 May-2024. A solid gain on the back of reviving optimism as global manufacturing PMI’s rose from depressed levels in December to now just above the 50-line. Speculative money rolled into the space to catch a ride on economic revival as well as wanting to hold commodities as a sort of protection against inflation. But the actual state of the global economy isn’t all that strong yet.

Bjarne Schieldrop, Chief analyst commodities, SEB

Rather it is quite weak in absolute terms with the global manufacturing PMI barely just above the 50-line and barely in expansionary territory. Thus, prompt weaknesses can be seen in many places in both metals and energy with rising inventories and weakening curve structures and premiums. The price rally has thus been on a collision course with spot fundamentals. And that eventually helped to bring metals prices back down a bit since 20 May.

That said we do hold the view that there are better times ahead. Consumer prices are cooling, Covid-19 induced inflation is fading and central banks across the world are set to lower policy rates over the coming year. The ECB just cut its policy rate by 0.25% which is the first cut in 5 years. We think other central banks will follow suite as inflation cools around the world. And that is the real start of economic revival. The global economy will then shift from current patchy growth here and there to a more broad-based upturn. And as such the investors who have driven the bull-train so far will likely be right in the end. It is just a bit early.

Brent Crude. Steady as we go: OPEC+ keeps on holding large volumes off market to support prices. The group has flagged that it wants to return volumes to market but is in no hurry to do so. Fading shale oil growth is shifting market power back to OPEC+.

Nat gas TTF. Crisis behind us but still some tightness. The crisis is now clearly behind us, but the market is still on the tight side with some need for demand destruction as the global LNG market has not yet fully managed to compensate lost Russian gas.

EUA carbon. The trough is behind us. Back to EUR 100/ton in 2025. The EUA price crashed to EUR 49.54/ton intraday on 23 Feb depressed by a crash in nat gas prices, low emissions and front-loading of supply. Prepare for EUR 100/ton or more in 2025.

Aluminum 3mth. Too far, too fast. Back to USD 2400/ton before gains in 2025. Aluminum has rallied more than USD 400/ton since February to now USD 2613/ton without support from a comparable gain in coal prices or drawdown in inventories. Helped higher by speculative appetite and increased friction in global trade flows due to new sanctions on Russian metals.

Copper 3mth. Prompt market not that tight. Back above USD 10,000/ton in 2025. The LME 3mth rallied to USD 10,889/ton (LME 3mth) and US Comex copper rallied to USD 11,285/ton. Rally was driven by tightness in the US (IRA++) and speculators frontrunning economic acceleration and global copper deficit. But signs of physical weaknesses many places to be seen in premiums and curves. Flat price now coming back off. But back up above USD 10,000/ton in 2025 and later as market tightens.

Nickel 3mth. Dragged along with the copper rally but Indonesia still looking to grab more market share. The LME 3mth nickel price rallied to USD 21,615/ton in May, dragged along with the industrial metals rally. But decline has been sharp since then. We are not very bullish on Nickel going forward as Indonesia seems to focus on growing market share rather than profits.

Zinc: Joined the rally. Now back down to USD 2800/ton which could be fair price nearest years. The zinc price spent a long time around USD 2500/ton before rallying to USD 3139/ton. But USD 2800/ton will likely be a fair price for zinc the nearest years.

Relaterade ämnen:bjarne schieldrop seb analys

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Analys

Stronger inventory build than consensus, diesel demand notable

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1 dag sedan

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21 februari, 2025

Redaktionen

Yesterday’s US DOE report revealed an increase of 4.6 million barrels in US crude oil inventories for the week ending February 14. This build was slightly higher than the API’s forecast of +3.3 million barrels and compared with a consensus estimate of +3.5 million barrels. As of this week, total US crude inventories stand at 432.5 million barrels – ish 3% below the five-year average for this time of year.

Ole R. Hvalbye, Analyst Commodities, SEB

In addition, gasoline inventories saw a slight decrease of 0.2 million barrels, now about 1% below the five-year average. Diesel inventories decreased by 2.1 million barrels, marking a 12% drop from the five-year average for this period.

Refinery utilization averaged 84.9% of operable capacity, a slight decrease from the previous week. Refinery inputs averaged 15.4 million barrels per day, down by 15 thousand barrels per day from the prior week. Gasoline production decreased to an average of 9.2 million barrels per day, while diesel production increased to 4.7 million barrels per day.

Total products supplied (implied demand) over the last four-week period averaged 20.4 million barrels per day, reflecting a 3.7% increase compared to the same period in 2024. Specifically, motor gasoline demand averaged 8.4 million barrels per day, up by 0.4% year-on-year, and diesel demand averaged 4.3 million barrels per day, showing a strong 14.2% increase compared to last year. Jet fuel demand also rose by 4.3% compared to the same period in 2024.

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Analys

Higher on confidence OPEC+ won’t lift production. Taking little notice of Trump sledgehammer to global free trade

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3 dagar sedan

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19 februari, 2025

Redaktionen

Ticking higher on confidence that OPEC+ won’t lift production in April. Brent crude gained 0.8% yesterday with a close of USD 75.84/b. This morning it is gaining another 0.7% to USD 76.3/b. Signals the latest days that OPEC+ is considering a delay to its planned production increase in April and the following months is probably the most important reason. But we would be surprised if that wasn’t fully anticipated and discounted in the oil price already. News this morning that there are ”green shots” to be seen in the Chinese property market is macro-positive, but industrial metals are not moving. It is naturally to be concerned about the global economic outlook as Donald Trump takes a sledgehammer smashing away at the existing global ”free-trade structure” with signals of 25% tariffs on car imports to the US. The oil price takes little notice of this today though.

Kazakhstan CPC crude flows possibly down 30% for months due to damaged CPC pumping station. The Brent price has been in steady decline since mid-January but seems to have found some support around the USD 74/b mark, the low point from Thursday last week. Technically it is inching above the 50dma today with 200dma above at USD 77.64/b. Oil flowing from Kazakhstan on the CPC line may be reduced by 30% until the Krapotkinskaya oil pumping station is repaired. That may take several months says Russia’s Novak. This probably helps to add support to Brent crude today.

The Brent crude 1mth contract with 50dma, 100dma, 200dma and RSI. Nothing on the horizon at the moment which makes us expect any imminent break above USD 80/b

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Analys

Brent looks to US production costs. Taking little notice of Trump-tariffs and Ukraine peace-dealing

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5 dagar sedan

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17 februari, 2025

Redaktionen

Brent crude hardly moved last week taking little notice of neither tariffs nor Ukraine peace-dealing. Brent crude traded up 0.1% last week to USD 74.74/b trading in a range of USD 74.06 – 77.29/b. Fluctuations through the week may have been driven by varying signals from the Putin-Trump peace negotiations over Ukraine. This morning Brent is up 0.4% to USD 75/b. Gain is possibly due to news that a Caspian pipeline pumping station has been hit by a drone with reduced CPC (Kazaksthan) oil flows as a result.

Brent front-month contract rock solid around the USD 75/b mark. The Brent crude price level of around USD 75/b hardly moved an inch week on week. Fear that Trump-tariffs will hurt global economic growth and oil demand growth. No impact. Possibility that a peace deal over Ukraine will lead to increased exports of oil from Russia. No impact. On the latter. Russian oil production at 9 mb/band versus a more normal 10 mb/d and comparably lower exports is NOT due to sanctions by the EU and the US. Russia is part of OPEC+, and its production is aligned with Saudi Arabia at 9 mb/d and the agreement Russia has made with Saudi Arabia and OPEC+ under the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC). Though exports of Russian crude and products has been hampered a little by the new Biden-sanctions on 10 January, but that effect is probably fading by the day as oil flows have a tendency to seep through the sanction barriers over time. A sharp decline in time-spreads is probably a sign of that.

Longer-dated prices zoom in on US cost break-evens with 5yr WTI at USD 63/b and Brent at USD 68-b. Argus reported on Friday that a Kansas City Fed survey last month indicated an average of USD 62/b for average drilling and oil production in the US to be profitable. That is down from USD 64/b last year. In comparison the 5-year (60mth) WTI contract is trading at USD 62.8/b. Right at that level. The survey response also stated that an oil price of sub-USD 70/b won’t be enough over time for the US oil industry to make sufficient profits with decline capex over time with sub-USD 70/b prices. But for now, the WTI 5yr is trading at USD 62.8/b and the Brent crude 5-yr is trading at USD 67.7/b.

Volatility comes in waves. Brent crude 30dma annualized volatility.