The decline of China copper imports in recent months has caused a lot of distress among traders. Much of the focus has been on copper's eventual crash by China's property chock. However, China's property market is not the only game in copper town.
Sentiment in the crude oil market has been quite pessimistic lately with NYMEX front month dropping 8% in one week to $72/b. However, over the coming months, oil price should push higher reflecting the changing global demand/supply pattern resulted from some new development in the sector.
United States Oil Fund (USO) was a big mover on Friday jumping 3.69% outperforming other ETFs. Some of the sharp move could be attributed to crude oil and the Dollar. However, this move on crude, the dollar and USO on a typical light trading day caught some traders off guard.
On Sunday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) has ruled out the one-off revaluation that US politicians had sought. For now, analysts still expect the yuan to slowly rise. Meanwhile, the decision by China should not have come as a surprise as there are several major risks should China implement a faster yuan move as favored by many.
Some additional info came forward since I last quoted a Belgian newspaper that the Jones Act may have caused a delay in the oil spill rescue by forbidding foreign vessels and personnel to work in the U.S. Gulf. As it has turned out, the Belgian companies shouldn't feel too bad, the U.S. also turned down an official offer by the Dutch government as well.