Commodities: Oil, Gold Higher Ahead of Fed Meeting

Commodities: Oil, Gold Higher Ahead of Fed Meeting


Commodities are getting a boost today, climbing as the dollar slips in value against the euro ahead of this afternoon's Federal Reserve meeting. Oil is up $0.26 to $88.87 a barrel, reversing yesterday's fall, while the most active February gold contract pressed back above $1,400 an ounce, climbing $8.10 to $1,405.40 an ounce.

Copper also is higher, with the March contract up fractionally from Monday's settlement to 4.21 a pound, after earlier hitting a record $4.2290 yesterday.

A new Goldman Sachs research report yesterday provided precious metals with added momentum, predicting gold will reach $1,690 an ounce by the end of 2011 and peak sometime during 2012.

"We expect a low U.S. real interest rate environment will continue in 2011, particularly given the resumption of quantitative easing measures in the U.S., and expect gold prices to continue to climb" into next year, Goldman analysts said in the report. Gold will peak in 2012, they said.

Gold is up over 28 percent this year, the 10th straight year the metal will post an annual advance.

Oil, paced by heating-oil futures, fell on Monday as a recent cold snap in several parts of the U.S. appeared to be less severe than initially feared. Gasoline inventories, due out tomorrow, also were predicted to climb for a fourth consective week, according to a survey of analysts by Bloomberg.

In company news, Spartech Corp. (SEH) reported a Q4 net loss of $1.78 a share on a 7% jump in revenues to $259.6 million. The higher sales reflected a small increase in volume and the effect of higher prices due to higher raw material costs, including oil, according to the producer of plastic sheeting and other packaging items.

Reuters also is reporting today that Kazakhstan plans to invite either Rio Tinto (RIO) or Vale (VALE) to develop a large copper deposit in the center of the country, quoting a senior government official. The deposit also contains gold and silver.