Commodities: Global   Hamas’ Attack on Israel Popped Energy and precious metals as Middle East conflict came again to the fore.  Narrowing the lens to the commodities markets, the brutal incursion directly highlighted the security concerns surrounding the Mediterranean natural gas rigs jointly serviced by Israel and Egypt – threatening…

Ukraine:  Slog Continues   The Ukraine-Russia Conflict slogged forward with the Ukrainian military making little progress despite the infusion of US/EU equipment.  By necessity to avoid higher casualty rates, the attack tempo stayed slow – recall that Ukraine has one-third the population of Russia and its soldiers (and citizens) have…

During the month of September, Energy (+3.62%) and the S&P GSCI (+3.08%) were the top performers. The bottom performers were Grains (-7.93%) and Indices (-4.91%). We are in the midst of harvest season, which is the main contributor to the selloff in Grains (-7.93%) with Corn (+3.42%) being the sole…

Commodities: Global   OPEC Oil Output Rose over 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), reaching 27.6 million bpd in August, as Iranian supply increased to its highest since 2018 (see graphic right).  Per Bloomberg, American officials privately acknowledged a “lighter touch” in enforcing sanctions on Tehran’s oil sales.  Iran has restored…