Commodities Daily - September 17, 2019

> Gold prices holding near $1,500/oz ahead of Fed decision. The attacks on Saudi Aramco's oil facilities over the weekend set the tone for trading in commodity markets yesterday. Despite the company's promise on Saturday to provide an update on the state of its damaged facilities within 48 hours, we have yet to hear further details from the management, which has only added to the uncertainty. Donald Trump criticized the Fed again yesterday, calling on the regulator to shift to an even looser policy stance given the rise in energy prices. Today will see a number of important political events, including the start of the UN General Assembly and the beginning of a review in the UK Supreme Court of a legal challenge to the current suspension of Parliament. In the absence of bad news, we would expect gold to continue trading in the $1,490-$1,500/oz range. However, if political tensions in the Middle East escalate, gold could climb to $1,510-1,515/oz.> Base metal prices slip again this morning. This morning, the PBoC left its medium-term lending facility rate unchanged at 3.3%. This pushed the yuan weaker and put Asian stock markets under pressure, while prices on a range of metals have moved lower, including copper (-0.9%), lead (-1.2%), nickel (-1.9%) and zinc (-0.8%).