View From The Pits

Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Commodities markets have been on a wild ride in recent years, buffeted by pandemic impacts specific to each. The present time finds oil prices weakened by a global supply/demand imbalance, raw industrials prices depressed by China’s weak recovery and US recession fears, lumber prices down owing to soft single-family home construction, and both natural gas and most agricultural prices far from their peaks. … The ripple effects of this commodities scenario include downward inflation pressure and upward dollar pressure. … Also: Joe shares his takeaways from S&P 500 Q1 earnings now that most companies have reported and most analysts have tweaked their forecasts.