Commodities Daily - January 10, 2019

> Oil prices surged on stock market gains and weak dollar, while yesterday's EIA data was bearish. This morning, Brent is trending lower following a batch of Chinese data that showed a weaker than expected rise in consumer prices and factory-gate inflation in December, which has somewhat overshadowed the progress in the US-China trade talks. Meanwhile, stock markets seem to be taking a breather after their latest rally. Today, market players are waiting for a speech by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at 20:00 Moscow time. We expect Brent's rally to take a pause today and see the benchmark hovering at around $61/bbl.> Gold climbs toward $1,300/oz following US headlines. Gold prices continued to rally, as the minutes from the Fed's December 18-19 policy meeting showed that the FOMC "could afford to be patient about further policy firming." Additional support came from the continuing political standoff in the US. President Trump walked out of a White House meeting on border security with Democrats, so there is still no end in sight to the government shutdown.> Base metals prices hold firm, with the exception of aluminum. The weak dollar pushed nickel and copper higher, with copper even testing the $6,000/tonne level. Aluminum is lagging, however, remaining weak ahead of today's meeting between US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and congresspeople.