Big doings in boring old aluminum.
Featured Commodity
CONTANGO WATCH: Aluminum's metrics continue to struggle toward each other with the five-year average historical roll cost for this date widening 1.30 percent and the current cost narrowing 0.33 percent. The disparity doesn't look like much, but the historical figure has been dragged down by data from 2010-2011, when contango was in the 5 percent range.And The rest of the commods:
Aluminum has had a busy week. MarketWatch reported that CME Group announced the first Aluminum Premium Midwest contracts (Aluminum MW U.S. Transaction Premium Platts (25MT) Futures (AUP)) were traded this past Thursday. The product is designed to go hand in hand with the LME contract showcased above and cover freight from Baltimore to the Midwest.
"This innovative aluminum swap futures contract enables commercial market participants in North America to better manage their price risk on an average basis throughout the month," said Harriet Hunnable, CME group managing director, Metals.
As part of the inquiry into LME metals warehousing, Reuters reports that at least four class-action suits have been filed recently with U.S. aluminum end-users blaming metals hoarding by banks and large commodity trades for driving up prices and causing up to 18-month trading delays for consumers and dealers.
These complaints are now receiving serious attention, as regulators and lawmakers seek answers to what role Wall Street plays in physical commodities markets.
ROLL COSTS: It costs investors 9.85 percent annualized to roll front-month aluminum contracts, down from a cost of 10.18 percent.
BOTTOM LINE: Mild Contango
