CommodityHQ.com provides weekly information about any material impact of a major economic, corporate and/or geopolitical event on the global commodities market. The report also analyzes the weekly change in prices of the major commodity futures and commodity-focused ETFs as a result of market changing events and trends. This report covers events and analysis for the week ranging Jul 12 to Jul 19.
- Oil prices recovered this week as global demand picked up and inventories fell.
- Gold prices hit a three-week high as investors became skeptical that Trump’s promised tax reforms might not happen.
- Unseasonable warm weather helped lift natural gas prices along with wheat, corn and soybeans.
- Be sure to check our previous week’s edition to keep track of trends in the commodities space.
Weekly Market Wrap-up
Energy – Oil recovered this week as rising worldwide demand helped reduce inventories while natural gas continued to climb on bullish weather predictions.
- Oil – Rising demand for oil helped reduce inventories and lift crude and Brent oil prices to $47.03 and $49.51 per barrel respectively.
- Natural Gas – Natural gas prices hit a three-week high of $3.095 per million British thermal units on bullish weather forecasts.
- Coal – CSX, a major railroad company, announced that despite Trump’s efforts to revitalize the coal industry, the company will not be buying new locomotives to transport coal as they believe the resurgence will be short-lived.
Metals – Copper prices for September delivery rose to $2.7355 a pound on bullish Chinese GDP and industrial production data.
- Precious Metals – Gold prices rose to a three-week high of $1,239.46 a troy ounce before settling slightly lower on doubts that Trump’s tax reforms will happen.
- Other – Chinese steel and aluminum production hit a new record, taking advantage of the price increases from an earlier promise to cut production.
Grains – Production estimates for wheat declined, lifting prices higher with September deliveries as high as $8.50 per bushel before settling down around $8.
- Corn and Soybeans – Corn and soybeans prices rose this week on unseasonably warm weather.
Softs – U.S. coffee prices hit a six-week high mainly on the relative value of the Brazilian real.
If you are wondering which commodity might be right for you, check out our Commodity Investing Database.
Weekly Movement Across Commodity Futures
For this week, we analyzed all commodities by weekly performance and listed the top three performers by weekly percentage gain. All commodities were taken into account and analyzed from a performance perspective only to find the top three.
Commodity | Weekly Gain (%) | Contract Expiration | Contract Price (as of July 19th) | 52-Week Price Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
U.S. Coffee | 7.67% | Sept. 17 | $135.82 | $113 - $176 |
Heating Oil | 4.75% | Aug. 17 | $1.55 | $1.2466 - $1.7647 |
Brent Oil | 3.64% | Sept. 17 | $49.51 | $41.51 - $58.37 |
US Coffee was the best-performing commodity this week while heating oil and Brent oil followed close behind. The value of the Brazilian real helped lift coffee prices while bullish weather and inventory data helped heating oil and Brent oil prices, respectively.
Weekly Commodity ETF Movers
For ETF investors, we tracked the top three biggest gainers and top three biggest losers for the past week. Not included are ETN’s, which behave differently than ETF’s, as well as leveraged ETF’s which may not be suitable for some investors. Some ETF’s that have less than one year on the market have been excluded due to lack of long term data.
You can use ETFdb.com’s Screener to see a complete list of commodity ETFs.
Top Three ETF Winners This Week
ETF Ticker | ETF Name | Commodity Category | Assets ($ million) | NAV (as of July 19th) | Return (weekly %) | Return (YTD %) | Expense Ratio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CANE | The Teucrium Sugar Fund | Sugar | $7.90 | $9.90 | 4.54% | -23.85% | 1.00% |
UGA | United States Gasoline Fund | Gasoline | $64.22 | $25.19 | 3.58% | -19.57% | 0.75% |
CPER | United States Copper Index Fund | Copper | $10.59 | $17.65 | 3.52% | 7.95% | 0.80% |
This week’s best-performing commodity-based ETFs were a mixed bunch with sugar leading the way on bullish technical trading activity. Gasoline rose on weather predictions while copper prices were lifted by positive Chinese GDP data.
Top Three ETF Losers This Week
ETF Ticker | ETF Name | Commodity Category | Assets ($ million) | NAV (as of July 19th) | Return (weekly %) | Return (YTD %) | Expense Ratio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WEAT | The Teucrium Wheat Fund | Wheat | $61.08 | $7.64 | -6.94% | 11.05% | 1.00% |
CORN | The Teucrium Corn Fund | Corn | $64.73 | $19.06 | -4.65% | 1.87% | 1.00% |
SOYB | The Teucrium Soybean Fund | Soybeans | $13.21 | $18.86 | -3.53% | -1.26% | 1.00% |
This week’s worst-performing commodity-based ETFs were all agricultural related. But the performance was based on profit-taking activity considering how wheat, corn and soybeans are on the rise and expected to go higher.
We provide this report on a weekly basis. Be sure to check our News section to remain updated on the latest happenings in the commodity space.