Employment reports hurt commodities prices

Oil prices were significantly lower on Thursday as investors were bothered by disappointing employment data from the US and the Eurozone, as the Eurozone’s May unemployment rate and the rate in the US in June both reaching 9.5 percent.

August contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude dropped $2.34 to $66.97 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude was down $2.11 to $66.68 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex August futures for gasoline dropped 7 cents during the day to $1.79 per gallon while August heating oil was down 6 cents to $1.70 per gallon and natural gas was 18 cents lower to $3.62 per million British thermal units.

Metals prices were also affected by the bad news on jobs.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange dropped $55 to close at $5,035 per tonne after going as low as $4,966.50 per tonne earlier in the session, while September copper dropped 3 cents to $2.31 per pound in New York trade.

Among other base metals, aluminium was down $23 to $1,640 per tonne while zinc was $35 lower to $1,560 per tonne, lead fell $39 to $1,700 per tonne and tin dropped around $150 as it last traded around $14,300/$14,350 per tonne.

Nickel remained near yesterday’s price as it closed at $16,450 per tonne.

August gold, meanwhile, was $10.80 lower to $930.50 per troy ounce and September silver dropped 35 cents to $13.41 per troy ounce.

October platinum was down $11.80 to $1,193.30 per troy ounce in New York while earlier, in mid-morning trade, September palladium fell $4.35 to $250.50 per troy ounce.

Grains prices were also down as July wheat and corn each dropped 6 cents, to $4.99 per bushel and $3.45 per bushel respectively, while July soybeans were 17 cents lower to $12.41 per bushel.

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