Market Summary: Demand worries still dominate sentiment in the base metals

Demand worries still dominate sentiment in the base metals
Most base metals are continuing to trade sideways-to-lower as they wait for fresh developments to improve the macro picture and their demand-side fundamentals. After last week’s Jackson Hole symposium and the weekend’s G7 meeting failed to provide much of a boost, yesterday’s news from China that the government is considering ways to boost domestic consumption, especially targeting the auto industry, could be a source of optimism creating a brighter Q4.

Aluminium: Lack of reaction to Chinese disruptions

The lack of reaction in the LME aluminium price to recent production outages at Chinese aluminium smelters is ominous. Given the large net short speculative position in this market, we thought there was the potential for a short-covering rally. But selling pressure remains...