Haywood-1-1With Greece now likely to stay in the European Union for the time being, market focus shifted to a more ‘risk on’ appetite with investors now ensconced in quarterly reporting. Newly released macro data from various Eurozone countries show signs of growth, but lower than estimated jobless claims in the US further highlighting the market’s expectations that the US Fed will look to raise rates later in the year driving a bid to the US dollar. 
The negative trend in commodities from last week was catalyzed on Sunday in North America as gold took a steep dip into the US$1,070’s per ounce in higher volume trading over a short period after the commencement of trading in Asia. Gold bounced back above US$1,100 per ounce later Sunday evening, but tested levels below US$1,080 later in the week to subsequently rally at week’s end to close at US$1,099 per ounce. 
The commodity-related equities followed suit as market confidence was tested as a result declining commodity prices, and individual equities found some support late in the week. The Canadian dollar continued to weaken against the US dollar following last week’s decision by the Bank of Canada to lower interest rates 0.50%, and a continued decline in WTI Oil prices to below US$48 per barrel. 
The week saw most commodities fall with gold dropping 3.2% to $1,099 per ounce. Silver (1.3%), platinum (0.7%) and palladium (1.5%) also finished well down for the week, closing at $14.69, $987 and $625 per ounce respectively. Most base metals were down for the week, with nickel (1.9%), zinc (5.7%), lead (7.3%) and copper (4.1%) each finishing at $5.1, $0.88, $0.77, and $2.38 per pound respectively. Finally, the UxC Broker Average Price (BAP) for uranium was steady for most of the week, finishing slightly lower at $36.19 per pound.
Companies mentioned: $CXB $BTO $EFR $KDX $MPV $TCK $YAL.AX $WSA.AX