Commodities Week Ahead: Delta Variant The New Fear Watchword For Metals, Energy – Investing.com

Commodities Week Ahead: Delta Variant The New Fear Watchword For Metals, Energy – Investing.com

After months of attempts by market bulls to downplay it, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is beginning to show its most virulent impact yet on risk appetite, not just in stocks but also commodities.

Dominating Monday’s red ink in the raw materials space were the energy and metals, with prices tumbling 1.5% at one point in the Asian session despite OPEC+ announcing a much-awaited production agreement for August that allayed earlier concerns of disunity within the cartel. 

and started weaker as well, though they did not drop as much as , and .

Energy and metals fell along with futures of the , and as the sat near its highest levels in months amid fears of the Delta variant's growing spread. 

Daily infections have been surging from the United States and Europe to Asia, and the global seven-day average of new cases each day is over half a million for the first time since May. Traders are holding their breath as England lifts most social curbs.

When the dollar rallies, commodities priced in the greenback become costlier to own for holders of other currencies, forcing a bearish outcome. The US dollar index