What key commodities tell us about the economy

Copper price action, gold bullion and oil are all good indicators of future economic activity. The RH Asset Management team look at what clues these commodities are currently giving us.

Copper is sometimes called Dr Copper, it is considered to be the most important of all of the industrial metals, its price action is a pointer to future global economic activity. We publish an up-to-date chart. Examination of the chart shows that the price peaked in May, since then there has been prolonged but deteriorating sideways activity. Any weakness from here would, we expect, cause a hole to open up and the price to fall precipitously. Should the price give way, it would add considerable evidence to support our view of a global slow-down.

It's interesting that each sector we examine delivers up an important clue about the underlying conditions, the copper chart is just another example of this.

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