The London Metal Exchange’s annual LME Week is underway, bringing together traders and analysts amid the latest developments in copper. Sugar futures are on track for their best month since January. And US utilities are outperforming other industry groups in the S&P 500, thanks in part to demand for AI.
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(Bloomberg) — London Metal Exchange’s annual LME Week gathering is underway, bringing together traders and analysts amid copper’s latest upswing. Sugar futures are on track for their best month since January. And US utilities are outshining other industry groups in the S&P 500, thanks in part to AI demand.
Here are five notable charts to consider in global commodity markets as the week gets underway.
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Copper
Copper has been on a roller-coaster ride this year, with heavy investment and a massive rally in New York prices driving to a record high in May. Investors then pulled back as doubts about China’s economy emerged. The latest standing data shows that they are not chasing the rally as hard as they did last time.
Energy Investments
The US is investing so much in clean energy that it is now even higher than the peak of America’s renewable energy in the 2010s. The wave of spending created by the climate legislation signed by Joe Biden will be the president’s biggest and most lasting domestic achievement. His policies have helped drive nearly $493 billion in new investment in the production and widespread deployment of solar panels, electric cars and other gas-cutting technologies by mid-2022, according to data analyzed by the Massachusetts Institute for Technology and research firm Rhodium Group.
Natural Gas
Europe is entering the heating season this week with plenty of natural gas to protect against unexpected supply cuts. Continental sites are about 94% full — higher than historical averages, but slightly below last year’s levels — enough to keep some retailers on guard as they carefully monitor the progress of storage builds before the cold weather spreads.
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Energy suppliers
The utilities sector has outperformed other industries in the S&P 500 Index over the past three months. Stocks of US energy providers made big gains in the third quarter on market optimism over prospects for increased demand for electricity from artificial intelligence-focused data centers. Utilities were the best among the 11 industry groups in the S&P Index as the quarter drew to a close, with gains driven by equipment maker Vistra Corp. and Constellation Energy Corp., which recently entered into a power supply agreement with Microsoft Corp. Vistra is notable because it also held its position as the best-performing stock in the broader S&P 500 for the year, after the stock tripled.
Sugar
Sugar has been depressed in September due to unfavorable conditions from Brazil, which is the world’s leading exporter. Although promising production forecasts in India and Thailand snapped last week’s rally on Friday, sugar futures are still on pace for their biggest monthly gain since January. A severe drought in Brazil has been damaging the sugarcane crop, raising fears that production rates will be cut. Traders will be keeping a close eye on the departure of sugar shipments from the South American country in October, as any sell-off in exports means global buyers may struggle to find supplies in the final months of 2024.
—With help from Geoffrey Morgan, Doug Alexander, Dayanne Sousa and Alex Tribou.
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