By Taras Berezowsky
Dow Jones Industrial Metals Index: January 2011-December 2014. Made by MetalMiner using StockCharts.com
The excerpt below, outlining the outlook for industrial metals, is from our recently released report, "2015 Metal Buying Outlook: What Can We Expect for Base Metal and Steel Prices Over the Next 12 Months?"
It is not a coincidence that the chart of industrial metals above looks very similar to that of the CRB Index in our previous post. Industrial metals have remained in bearish territory since 2011 and indeed have been the weakest-performing commodity group.
However, since the second half of the year, they have shown relative strength. Some leading metals already hit our buy points this year, but September saw pressure on both commodities and industrial metals as the US dollar kept rising. These developments could keep a lid on metal price increases.
Meanwhile, other industrial metals keep lagging and until they hit our buy points, we see no need for buyers to hedge/buy forward these metals, especially in the face of an unhealthy commodities market.
The 2015 Outlook?
Ultimately, the long-term trend remains bearish and although some metals are performing better than others, the outlook will stay bearish until we see sufficient evidence proving the opposite.
