Publications /
Policy Brief

Back
From a Bleak Global Outlook to Speculative Strategies: Understanding the Downturn in Metal Prices
Authors
November 26, 2018

Prices of nearly all industrial and precious metals have been on a downward trend for several months.A tightening US monetary policy and the subsequent dollar appreciation partly explain this trajectory, but it is above all the mounting global macroeconomic gloom that has depressed markets.Escalating trade tensions between the United States and China, among other countries, are not likely to be conducive to global growth and in that respect, to the demand for metals. However, not everything can be justified by market fundamentals.Speculative dynamics are clearly at work and also account for the scale of this decline.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    Mohammed Germouni
    May 29, 2020
    Agence spécialisée du système des Nations unies, l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS) se trouve sous les projecteurs d’une actualité internationale, encore plus que par le passé, en raison de la grave pandémie en cours (Covid-19) qui semble avoir battu un record de mondialisation de cas d’infection en une relative courte période de temps. A tort ou à raison, une controverse, impliquant les principales grandes puissances, se développe autour du profil technique de la pandémie do ...
  • Authors
    May 29, 2020
    Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro is almost a mirror image of U.S. president Donald Trump. They have  considered COVID-19 a “hoax, ”, ( Trump), or a “fantasy” (Bolsonaro). They both believe a potentially toxic drug, hydroxychloroquine, which was developed to fight malaria, to be the miracle cure for the virus. They have refused to wear facemasks. They have both pushed back against lockdown rules. Bolsonaro even issued a presidential decree that exempted churches and lottery houses f ...
  • Authors
    May 27, 2020
    Les tensions dans les relations entre les Etats-Unis et la Chine sont un sujet de préoccupation pour le monde. En dépit des quelques ouvertures éphémères, qui donnent parfois espoir à la détente, la tendance de ces derniers temps est plutôt vers l’escalade. Il ne se passe pas un mois, voire une semaine sans qu’actions, déclarations ou positions de l’un des deux pays contre l’autre ne fasse la Une de l’actualité. Des incidents les plus dangereux en Mer de Chine méridionale, aux mesur ...
  • Authors
    May 27, 2020
    COVID-19 has delivered a powerful double punch to the chin of the global economy, combining a terrifying pandemic with a collapse in production because of the withdrawal into their homes of half the world’s workers. The uncertainty generated by the medical and economic shock is paralyzing consumers and investors, and the dispersion of short-term economic forecasts is far wider than at any time in modern history, about six times greater than during the Great Financial Crisis. The GD ...
  • May 27, 2020
    Next Einstein Forum Managing Director Nathalie Munyampenda talks with Policy Center for the New South Senior Fellow Khalid Chegraoui about the challenges Africa is facing in light of Covid-19. This unprecedented health crisis is severely testing Africa's social, economic and political r...
  • May 27, 2020
    In discussing the potential role of peacekeeping missions in the context of the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic, two main issues arise. The first is of a legal nature, and the second is linked to the management of expenditures and budgets. Legally, the duties of peacekeeping missions are defined by the United Nations Security Council resolutions that mandate the creation of a mission. Financially, UN member states have become less willing to finance peacekeeping operations (PKO ...
  • May 26, 2020
    يتطابق القرن الواحد والعشرين مع "المرحلة القصوى" للعولمة عبر كل أبعادها في مجالات الإنتاج والتبادل والتكنولوجيا والثقافة. ومع تقدمها السريع أصبحت العولمة أكثر "تعقيدا" ومحملة بكثير من "اللايقين". هكذا أصبح الغير متوقع السمة الغالبة للتطورات الجيوسياسية والاقتصادية في عهدنا. لقد عرف العالم منذ بداية القرن، أي خلال عشرين سنة فقط ثلاثة هزات قوية وغير متوقعة. أولها تمثل في حدث جيوسياسي غير مسبوق عبر اعتداءات 11 شتنبر 2001 التي ضربت مدينة نيويورك، والثانية تمثلت في الأزمة الاقتصادية لس ...
  • May 26, 2020
    Le XXIème siècle est celui du « stade suprême » de la mondialisation, avec toutes ses manifestations aux niveaux de la production, de l’échange, de la technologie et de la culture. Avec l’accélération de son avancée, la mondialisation est devenue de plus en plus « complexe » (Thierry de Mont Brial), et, donc, chargée « d’incertitudes » (Edgar Morin). L’imprévisibilité est ainsi devenue la marque de notre temps. Depuis le début du siècle et, donc, en à peine 20 ans, la planète a sub ...