Referendum on Greek Austerity Draws Near
At the time of writing, the people of Greece were preparing for a referendum on whether to accept austerity measures imposed by creditors as part of a bailout the country desperately needs. Negotiations stalled after Greece and its creditors failed to reach an agreement on conditions for releasing emergency funds, resulting in the southern European nation effectively defaulting on its debts. According to polls, Greece is split down the middle in terms of whether to accept European imposed reforms as part of the bailout package. Earlier in the week, capital controls on its banks were imposed as the public struggled to withdraw funds from the banks. In commodities, both gold (↓0.58%) and silver (↓0.70%) trended downward this week, finishing at $1,168 and $15.66 per ounce respectively. Meanwhile, platinum prices was flat, while the price of palladium (↑0.92%) was up for the week, finishing at $1,083 and $686 per ounce respectively. Copper was flat after its 2% rise last week, closing at $2.61 per pound, while nickel continued its slide, down another 3.7% this week, representing a 20% slide since the beginning of the year. Lead (↓0.4%) and zinc (↓0.66%) were down slightly, with several commentators suggesting a 200,000-tonne oversupply of zinc globally in 2015. Both metals closed at $0.80 and $0.91 per pound respectively. The UxC Broker Average Price (BAP) for uranium was down slightly after remaining flat last week, finishing at $37.25 per pound. Finally, the price of WTI crude fell more than 5% to finish at $55.52 per barrel.