Crude oil edged lower as the worsening near-term COVID-19 outlook raised concerns over the obstacles to market recovery.

Asian LNG demand rose sharply in early January as temperatures plunged, prompting a rally in the JKM spot Asian LNG price to an all-time high of $32.49/MBtu.

AME's US 5-3-2 crack spread vs Brent averaged US$6.59/bbl in November, decreasing significantly by 15.4% from the August average US$7.79/bbl. The decrease is attributed to consistently low distillate consumption due to decreased vehicle and long-haul truck transportation.

In January, metallurgical prices rose across the board. For the month, the Premium HCC FOB Australia averaged US$117.7/t, up from US$101.3/t the month prior but down from US$147.9/t in the previous corresponding period. Similarly, the prices for lower grades of met coal posted a variety of positive spot market returns.

In November, the thermal coal market strengthened on several positive announcements about Covid-19 vaccine studies prompting optimism for a global economic recovery. Domestic coal prices in China continued to increase ahead of winter, in response China released more import quotas to meet insufficient domestic supply and cope with peak winter demand and higher domestic coal prices.

Iron ore prices edged even higher during November, on the back off continued demand in China despite increased exports from Brazilian mining giant, Vale. The 62% Fe Fines prices had a weekly consecutive climb from US$118.56/dmt at onset and US$131.97/dmt at close.

Month average hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the US jumped in November, continuing a run from the prior month, up 12.57% to US$725/t. The market appears to have gained new confidence since the US election outcome became known, the use of quantitative easing, and general optimism with several pharmaceutical companies showing effective trials of their vaccine.

Copper prices continued their remarkable rally in January on expectations of further stimulus from the US, low visible inventory, the global bounce back of manufacturing and merchandise consumption, as well as the bullish outlook on green energy.

A surge in economic activity as country’s look to kick start their economies from the Covid pandemic has seen nickel prices on a run from the pandemic lows at the end of March to re-reach its price point from a year ago.

China continued its steady recovery to pre-pandemic levels as factory activity accelerated in November, lifting demand for zinc. Meanwhile, with much of Europe in lockdown, manufacturing contracted sharply. The US also had a slowdown in the growth of manufacturing. It seems that an economic recovery in these regions are dependent on the successful roll out of a vaccine.

The European aluminium price spent the majority of January cruising around the US$2,000/t mark, continuing to be held up by the surge in demand from China over the second half of 2020. By the middle of the month, the arbitrage closed—as the elevated Asia price eased.

The recent news on the successful trials of three Covid-19 vaccines, unleashed a considerable amount of pent up “risk-on” demand and saw a clear shift from gold to equities, resulting in a significant fall in the gold price and the Dow breaking 30,000 and setting a record high.