Energy & precious metals - weekly review and outlook
Investing.com — Fear across global markets is expected to hit fever pitch in the coming week, with stock markets likely tanking and favorite commodity plays oil and gold rising, as Israel enters the much-anticipated heightened phase of its war with Hamas, attacking Gaza from land, air and sea.
On the global markets front, analysts expect a renewed rush into safe-havens like the dollar, US Treasuries and gold — which hit $2,000 an ounce in Friday’s post-settlement trade itself as a full-scale Israeli ground invasion of Gaza looked imminent.
Stocks are likely to tumble. The S&P 500 has already fallen more than 10% since late July, when it reached its high for 2023, though the index is up over 7% year-to-date.
Oil had one of its most volatile weeks for the year, rising more than 2% in a day, then falling just as much or more in the next session.
Over the past three weeks, global crude benchmark Brent went to almost $94 a barrel. It then tumbled to around $85 as traders realized the war had not impacted Middle East oil traffic — despite the fighting occurring right beside some of the world’s biggest crude exporters, including Iran, the fifth largest shipper of the commodity and an avowed Hamas supporter.
With the full-blown escalation, not many are sure how the crude trade will perform.
“It’s a ‘mess’, in one word,” John Kilduff, a partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital, said, referring to the war. «No oil trader, I can tell you, knows where this thing is heading and everyone is just racing from one headline to another. It’s a field day for vol’ traders though,” he said, using the abbreviation for volatility.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, crude for delivery in December did a final trade of
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