Precious tops, metals and oil without panache
The cease-fire in Gaza has changed the scenario, but the flight into gold and speculation on copper do not stop. Crude oil on the brakes
The geopolitical turmoil of recent years has shot up commodity prices by miles.
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the yellow metal traded at less than 1,800 dollars and at the beginning of this year it was still at 2,600 dollars, a level that already seemed a vertiginous threshold to many.
Energy resources, on the other hand, have sunk underground and over the same period show a negative price gap: oil, after an initial flare-up, has started to fall due to fears of an economic slowdown and, consequently, demand, especially from China, which is the largest global consumer; renewable resources have given way to the need to quickly have enough fuel to power the military industry and the domestic production of strategic goods.
Gold, the star
Behind gold went the precious metals, such as silver, and copper, another metal susceptible to speculation. Most industrial metals, such as zinc or lead, remained hooked like crude oil on the mishaps of growth.
Strategic Land
Then, there are real raw materials hostage to tensions, such as rare earths, used by China as a political bargaining weapon with the United States and Europe, which badly need them for numerous production of goods of extreme importance in such a delicate scenario, from magnets to missiles to the most advanced software systems.
