Commodities: gold approaches a historical record level
After a consolidation period in April and May, gold prices continued to rise and could top 1,750 dollars per ounce. Thus, gold prices matched the highest level of October 2012, approaching the historic record level of 2011 of approximately 1,900 dollars. Due to the rising number of corona infections globally, the interest in 'safe haven' investments are not diminishing. The expectation of the Federal Reserve to maintain interest rates at the current low level until the end of 2022, confirms that the opportunity costs of gold will continue to be low for a long time, which supports the price as well.
Brent oil prices managed to rise above 40 dollars per barrel for the first time since the beginning of March. Encouraging signs from the restarting economies supported the price. Early June, the OPEC, and its allies agreed to extend by a month the production limits of almost 10 million barrels per day. In the original agreement of April, this limit would apply in May and June and subsequently would be phased out in stages. The global increase in corona infections, however, put the brakes on the recovery of oil prices. Commodity prices continued their gradual recovery, and this was most noticeable in the price of copper, which gained 12.1% (in USD) in the past month. The improvement of the Chinese economy, which uses about 50% of the global copper production, is an important driver in this respect.