All eyes continue to be on the conflict in the Ukraine. The western world has responded with sanctions that are having a significant effect on the movement of a number of commodities. Russia is a major exporter of a large variety of products, mostly commodities. Here is a list of Russia's 10 top exports (2020):
Mineral fuels including oil: US$141.3 billion (42.1% of total exports)
Gems, precious metals: $30.4 billion (9%)
Iron, steel: $16 billion (4.8%)
Cereals: $9.5 billion (2.8%)
Machinery including computers: $8.3 billion (2.5%)
Wood: $8.2 billion (2.5%)
Fertilizers: $7 billion (2.1%)
Copper: $5.6 billion (1.7%)
Aluminum: $5.5 billion (1.6%)
Fish: $4.6 billion (1.4%)
While oil and gas has captured most of the headlines Ukraine and Russia together account for nearly 30% of the world wheat exports and about 15% of corn exports. We can expect continued volatile moves in the price of these products for the foreseeable future.
Energy prices reached new multi-year highs with WTI closing the week at $115.70 a barrel. As expected, these higher crude oil prices are affecting the price at the pump and gas prices here in my home of Vancouver reached $2.00 per litre. Time to dust of my bicycle....
The Bank of Canada raised its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday for the first time since 2018 raising rates by 0.25% to 0.50% and said they would need to rise further despite increased uncertainty following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
World stock exchanges were once again mostly to the downside this past week. While the Dow Jones Index dropped 1.3% and the Nasdaq was down 2.8%, the energy and commodity heavy TSX bucked the trend and was higher by 1.4%
Energy and commodity stocks continue to dominate the top gainers and new 52-week high lists while once high-flying tech and life science companies littered the new 52-week low lists.
And while most stocks have been under pressure lately not all stocks are in a bear market. A few familiar names hitting new 52-week highs this week include Verde Agritech (NPK.T), Bri-Chem Corp. (BRY.T) and Fab-Form Industries (FBF.V).
