| "Bad news is good news" is a meme of this quantitatively eased era. But it was ever thus in commodities markets. Prices for things like fuel and gold have often jumped at the prospect of mayhem descending. So, this week, as it looks like U.S. military strikes in Syria might not happen, commodities have sold off sharply. For investors, this serves as a timely reminder of what has been supporting prices this summer—and what hasn't.
The biggest beneficiary of fears about yet another conflict in the Middle East has been, unsurprisingly, oil. Brent crude jumped to $116 a barrel last Friday from about $108 in early August. Gold, a refuge for many investors when the world looks unstable, added roughly $100 an ounce in August. Less intuitively, prices of copper, aluminum and other industrial metals either stabilized or rallied in August...............................................Full Article: Source
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