Industrial and Base Metals Fundamental Analysis – August 17, 2015 – Forecast – Copper, Palladium & More

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Updated: Aug 14, 2015, 09:52 UTC

Analysis and Recommendations: Copper dipped 3 points in the Asian session and held flat for the rest of the day as traders were disinterested in metals.

Industrial and Base Metals Fundamental Analysis – August 17, 2015 – Forecast – Copper, Palladium & More

Analysis and Recommendations:

Copper dipped 3 points in the Asian session and held flat for the rest of the day as traders were disinterested in metals. Copper is holding at 2.35. Palladium dipped $2.30 to trade at 612.50. Copper fell with aluminum as China’s yuan slid for a third day after its worst loss since 1994.

The metal used in power cables and pipes declined 0.3 percent, while aluminum also dropped 0.3 percent.

China’s central bank stepped up verbal support for the yuan and said it will step in when the market sees excessive volatility or becomes swayed by herd behavior. The adjustment spurred by Tuesday’s change to how the country determines the daily reference rate is basically already completed, People’s Bank of China Assistant Governor Zhang Xiaochuan said in Beijing. The currency pared losses.

“The reason we’ve seen things stop a little bit is just because we saw the currency fix was considerably smaller and the market is still looking for a sense of what this all means,” Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said by phone from Sydney. The move “does signal potentially less emphasis on other types of easing or infrastructure-intensive stimulus, which is a negative for some commodities.”

Nickel plunged to the lowest level since 2008 on Wednesday, while copper and aluminum sank to six-year lows after the surprise devaluation. China is the world’s biggest refined metal producer and consumer.

FxEmpire provides in-depth analysis for each currency and commodity we review. Fundamental analysis is provided in three components. We provide a detailed monthly analysis and forecast at the beginning of each month. Then we provide more recent analysis and information in our weekly reports.

Today’s economic releases:

Cur.	Event	Actual	Forecast	Previous
EUR	German GDP (QoQ) (Q2)	0.4%	0.5%	0.3%
EUR	CPI (YoY) (Jul)	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
USD	PPI (MoM) (Jul)		0.1%	0.4%

Upcoming Economic Events that you should be monitoring:

Monday, August 17, 2015

Cur.	Event	Actual	Forecast	Previous
JPY	GDP (QoQ) (Q2)		-0.5%	1.0%
JPY	GDP (YoY) (Q2)		-1.9%	3.9%
EUR	Trade Balance (Jun)			18.8B
USD	NY Empire State Manufacturing Index		5.00	3.86
CAD	Foreign Securities Purchases (Jun)			-5.45B